Charm Keywords
These rules use the following keywords to describe qualities of a Charm.
Action-Only
A reflexive Charm with this keyword can only be activated on a tick when the character acts and only once per tick. It may not be used on the ticks between actions.
Avatar (Rating)
These Charms draw directly on the power of the Neverborn through the psychic link of their Whispers. Characters must have the minimum rating in that Background listed in parentheses to purchase or use Avatar Charms. Moreover, the effects and/or use of these Charms are considered outside fate since they disrupt the Tapestry with Primordial Essence. The Neverborn cannot withhold their power from being tapped in this fashion any more than they can prevent powerful necromancy spells from doing the same.
- List of all Avatar 1 Charms
- List of all Avatar 2 Charms
- List of all Avatar 3 Charms
- List of all Avatar 4 Charms
- List of all Avatar 5 Charms
Blasphemy
Charms with this keyword snarl the Tapestry when activated in Creation or Yu-Shan, triggering alerts in the Loom of Fate and the Realm Defense Grid's central control room that each display the Charm's basic effect, the Infernal's Essence rating and the location where the Charm was activated. How the forces of Heaven respond generally depends on available resources and the relative threat posed by the incursion, but any use of these Charms invites some possibility of intervention by Sidereal demon hunters or their often-unwitting pawns in Creation. As a very rough benchmark, Storytellers can roll one die and dispatch a Celestial intervention if the result is less than or equal to the Charm's minimum Essence. Teams responding to blasphemy Charms with a minimum of Essence 7+ will almost certainly include Aerial Legion reinforcements or comparably deadly forces. Unless the Infernal uses a Charm that seems to threaten Creation as a whole, she can at least count on finishing the current scene before any response team arrives.
More locally, players of all gods and Celestial Exalted within a mile of a blasphemy Charm activation make a reflexive (Perception + Occult) roll at difficulty (10 – the Infernal's Essence rating) for the characters to mystically sense the waves of Infernal Essence radiating from the Exalt for the duration of the Charm. This numinous awareness typically manifests as pain, nausea or vertigo but inflicts no actual penalties. However, characters who can feel the presence automatically succeed on all attempts to track the Infernal, pierce her Stealth with Awareness or otherwise know the tainted Exalt's exact location relative to their own position. Charms cannot conceal or disguise an Infernal from individuals who sense her presence unless they explicitly state they are capable of doing so. Observers whose players fail the roll to sense a Blasphemy Charm can make additional attempts with miscellaneous actions, but the difficulty increases normally for retrying. Blasphemy effects that are also Sorcerous (see below) do not necessarily betray the Infernal's location. Instead, the Blasphemy radiates from the target(s) and the center of any affected area.
Combo-Basic
Exalted can place this Charm in a Combo with reflexive Charms, including the Excellencies. They cannot place this Charm in a Combo with simple Charms, extra action Charms or supplemental Charms.
Combo-OK
Exalted can place this Charm in a Combo.
Compulsion
This Charm's special damage is a Compulsion effect. See Mental Influence.
Cooperative
If a Charm has this keyword, then multiple Dragon-Blooded who all know the Charm can use it simultaneously while in close contact. By doing so, the animas of all participants interact, improving the potency of the Charm. Often, Elemental Charms are also Cooperative Charms, and Dragon-Blooded using them in tandem can generate more sophisticated elemental effects over much larger areas than a single Dragon-Blood could while working alone. Only Dragon-Blooded can use such Charms cooperatively. Eclipse or Moonshadow Caste Exalted can learn these Charms, but the anima of a Celestial Exalt is not designed to interact with that of other Exalted so as to produce the same effect. Generally, Charms with this keyword can be used in Combos unless otherwise noted. A Cooperative Charm can never be used in a Combo if it is also being used in a cooperative manner, though, i.e. with two or more Dragon-Blooded using it simultaneously to gain the cooperative benefits.
Latest Errata: "Close contact" means that each participating Dragon-Blood must be within five yards of one or more other participants to harmonize animas.
Counterattack
This Charm is or involves a counterattack—something extra that happens during the course of attack resolution, usually but not always the defender counterattacking the attacker. Characters cannot use counterattacks to respond to other counterattacks, and characters cannot use multiple counterattacks to respond to a single attack unless otherwise stated.
Making a counterattack imposes a cumulative counterattack penalty of -1 to your DV until your next action.
Crippling
This Charm's special damage is a Crippling effect. See also Medical Conditions.
Crippling injuries, meaning those inflicted by a Charm with the Crippling descriptor, must first be diagnosed to be treated. If not stated in the Charm, the difficulty to diagnose is the Essence of the character who used the Charm. The difficulty to treat it is the (Essence + governing Ability of the Charm that caused it).
Dawn
Solars of the Dawn Caste may buy Charms with this Keyword for eight experience points, even if they do not Favor the Ability the Charm is located in. Training these Charms takes as much time as training a Caste or Favored Charm. This Keyword applies to the following Charms:
Resistance: Essence-Gathering Temper, Durability of Oak Meditation, Spirit Strengthens the Skin, Iron Skin Concentration, Iron Kettle Body, Adamant Skin Technique, Unbroken Chain Resolve, Ruin-Abasing Shrug.*
Occult: Spirit-Cutting Attack, Ghost-Eating Technique.
Athletics: Thunderbolt Attack Prana, Increasing Strength Exercise, Hill-Hurling Might, Lightning Speed, Godspeed Steps, Speed of Light Approach.*
Awareness: Panoptic Fusion Discipline (Ink Monkeys, Vol. 8).
Dodge: Seven Shadow Evasion, Reflex Sidestep Technique, Leaping Dodge Method, Refinement of Flowing Shadows, Divine Witness of Utter Safety.*
* The last two listed Charms are from Dreams of the First Age, pp. 67, 77 and 77-78 respectively.
Desecration
Infernal Shaping Charms with this keyword inflict mutations on targeted beings. These effects are modeled with Wyld mutations, examples of which can be found on pages 288-291 of Exalted, pages 207-209 of The Manual of Exalted Power—The Lunars and pages 144-148 of The Compass of Celestial Directions, Vol. II—The Wyld. Mutations imposed through Desecration Charms are considered internal mutations and do not inhibit a creature's viability in Creation or Essence potential unless they state otherwise. Any positive mutations permanently imposed on a character are considered a Training effect costing (mutation points x 2) experience points. Permanent negative mutations inflicted with Desecration Charms may offset this cost by their (mutation point cost x 2) experience points, but these cannot reduce the experience required below 0. The experience cost discount can be banked and applied toward the cost of future positive mutations. No combination of effects that includes Desecration Charms can bestow more dots of temporary positive mutations than the target's (Willpower + Essence). The mutation points associated with each category are: 1 (pox), 2 (affliction), 4 (blight), 6 (abomination), -1 (deficiency), -2 (debility) and -4 (deformity).
If the target of a Desecration Charm is not already a creature of darkness, the only mutation that can be bestowed is that deformity (which helps offset the experience cost of positive mutations as normal). The mutant becomes a native of Malfeas vulnerable to and unable to use Holy effects. Targets marked by this mutation or who are creatures of darkness already may be further mutated in any way permitted by the Desecration Charm in question. Note that Infernals can't impose mutations that a being isn't capable of having. For instance, Essence Channeler can't be given to a being that already wields Essence. The Storyteller may also decide a particular mutation is inappropriate for a given target even if no rules prohibit the combination. All mutations should be thematically appropriate to their Infernal source. Even a gift of beauty is ultimately alien and probably at least mildly disturbing; Erembour is nearly as beautiful as Venus but not quite so desired.
Dusk
Abyssals of the Dusk Caste may buy Charms with this Keyword for eight experience points, even if they do not Favor the Ability the Charm is located in. Training these Charms takes as much time as training a Caste or Favored Charm. This Keyword applies to the following Charms:
Resistance: Injury-Absorbing Discipline, Spirit-Hardened Frame, Wounds Mean Nothing, Far Beyond Ruin.
Occult: Corpus-Rending Blow, God-Slaying Torment.
Athletics: Corpse-Might Surge, Headstones Flung Like Pebbles, Falling Scythe Attack, Shadow Races the Light, Death Draws Near, Swifter Than a Scream.
Dodge: Flickering Wisp Technique, Uncanny Impulse Evasion, Foe-Shaming Defense, Thousandfold Shadow Dance, Shadow Fades at Dawn.
Dynasty
A Charm with this keyword has special effects on human descendants and occasionally other blood relatives. For these purposes, a blood relative is defined as anyone with whom the character shares a common ancestor no more than five generations back. A descendant is anyone who traces direct lineage to the Exalt, regardless of the number of generations. Some Charms differentiate between relatives who are mortal versus Dragon-Blooded, as noted in their description. Celestial Exalted are never considered blood relatives or descendants unless a Charm explicitly says so.
Elemental
A Charm with this keyword has an elemental effect. In some cases, this effect is purely cosmetic, and the underlying Charm functions the same way regardless of the aspect of the Dragon-Blood who uses it. More often, however, the Charm functions somewhat differently depending on the Exalt's aspect. For example, Elemental Bolt Attack produces the same base damage effect regardless of who uses it, but if a Fire Aspect uses it, it inflicts additional burning damage, whereas the version fired by a Wood Aspect poisons the target with a plant toxin. The Charm descriptions explain how such Charms change by aspect. An Eclipse or Moonshadow Caste Exalt who learns an Elemental Charm understands only the version used by the Dragon-Blood from whom she learned the Charm.
Latest Errata: When the same or different Charms list effects that vary by element which are functionally identical, these effects never stack. For example, a target choking on seawater cannot have his action delayed more than three ticks by repeatedly hitting him with further action-delaying attacks. Some common Elemental effects function differently than printed. The -2 internal penalty for buffeting should be a -1 external penalty. Charms that induce knockback or knockdown with a successful hit always function and do not afford a roll for the victim to avoid falling prone. Further, hurling someone back or prone is a Knockback effect and only imposes the buffeting penalty on complementary unit targets unless the Charm encompasses most of the area the unit occupies. References to bonus levels of damage (usually via fire) add dice instead. Wood toxins are a Poison effect and any penalties they impose are internal. Although they do not stack, these toxins automatically take hold with a successful hit to impose their usual penalty; the victim receives no roll to avoid this. For reference, the Wood anima toxin is: Damage (Essence)L/action, Toxicity (Essence), Tolerance None, Penalty –(half Essence) and inflicts one dose per action to each victim who makes skin-to-skin contact, whether momentary or continuous.
Emotion
This Charm's special damage is an Emotion effect. See Mental Influence.
When an Emotion effect instills a feeling but does not specify a particular result, treat the Emotion as a sceneduration one-die situational internal penalty that applies to all actions that do not fall in accordance with the emotion (such as attempting to decipher a First Age text while enraged), and a three-die penalty for all actions that run directly counter to the emotion (such as resisting a seduction attempt while feeling lust). Beyond these mechanics, players should endeavor to represent their character's emotional state in their choice of actions as befits the balance of the character's Virtues, especially Temperance.
Enhanced
This keyword denotes ‘hero style’ Charms which grant an enhanced benefit when used by the Exalt type they belong to (for example, Solar Hero style Charms used by a Solar).
Fate
Latest Errata: Omit this Keywords from all Charms. Replace it instead with the following general rule: Sidereal Charms which function by altering reality cannot alter the memories of beings outside of fate. For example, May Blossom is drinking in a bar in Nexus when Ligier enters the room. She uses Avoidance Kata, retroactively declaring that she was never present in the scene. The bar's patrons are granted new memories which agree with the Charm’s assertion—they remember that May Blossom was never present in the bar that day. Ligier, on the other hand, experiences no alteration to his memories—he remembers the Sidereal being present when he walked in.
Form-type
This Charm is a martial arts Form-type Charm. Characters cannot use more than one Martial Arts Form-type Charm at a time. The character must end one Form-type Charm to use another.
Fury-OK
A Charm marked Fury-OK can activate automatically when the character uses Relentless Lunar Fury.
Gift
Gift Charms can activate automatically when the character wears the Deadly Beastman Transformation. Motes committed to the Gift Charms' activation cannot be uncommitted until the character leaves the war form.
Holy
These Charms have special effects against "creatures of darkness." These are the enemies of the world, so named—where judgment is required—by the judgment of the Unconquered Sun. These include, but are not limited to: Yozis, demons, Neverborn, walking dead, ghosts, Deathlords, unshaped Fair Folk, Abyssal Exalted and Infernal Exalted.
The Storyteller can make exceptions or add other groups to this list as appropriate. A sympathetic ghost might not be a creature of darkness, while a horror that eats at the world's heart would be.
A complementary unit primarily composed of creatures of darkness is itself considered such for the purpose of Holy Charms.
Holy effects fail to function when invoked by creatures of darkness, whether they attempt to activate a Holy Charm or try to direct the Holy powers of an artifact.
Illusion
This Charm's special damage is an Illusion effect. See Mental Influence.
Knockback
This Charm knocks its target backward. Appropriate Charms can resist this effect.
Leader
Any character capable of acting in mass combat may use Charms, including unit commanders. However, applying non-Excellency Charms to enhance the entire unit's action or to extend the benefits of a personal Charm to the entire unit normally require justification as a form of special stunt. Charms with the Leader keyword do not require this justification and have the same overall function in mass combat when leading a complementary unit as they do normally, whether to enhance the unit or the unit's actions. Unit bonuses also apply normally to use of these Charms. Unless specific differences are noted, Leader Charms operate identically in both personal and mass combat. When the Leader keyword lists a number beside it, an Exalt must have that Essence rating to apply the Charm to a unit she leads. Cooperative Charms with a Leader function allow the led unit to join with its special characters to produce the usual magnified effect. By definition, Charms with the Leader keyword automatically have the War keyword.
- List of all Leader Charms
- List of Leader 1 Charms
- List of Leader 2 Charms
- List of Leader 3 Charms
- List of Leader 4 Charms
- List of Leader 5 Charms
- List of Leader 6 Charms
Maiden
Before a character can learn a Charm with this keyword, she must obtain special permission from one of the Five Maidens or from their deputies, the five gods who administer the divisions of the Bureau of Destiny. This is typically because the Charm in question can force a god to obey the character. The Bureau of Heaven witnesses every use of these Charms in Creation and records each use in the character's file. If the Charm was not used to advance a plan sanctioned by the Bureau of Destiny, the character has committed an offense whose Severity is at least equal to the Essence Minimum of the Charm. The character might not face an audit immediately, but when the character does get in trouble, the improper exploitation of gods will be added to the charges. Indeed, the character may need to justify any use of these Charms, if a bureaucratic enemy decides to make trouble for the character.
Latest Errata: The Five Maidens cannot withhold Charms with this keyword. Their use may still be subject to sanction.
Mandate
Mandate of Heaven Charms.
Martial
Charms with this Keyword may also be used with or applied to the listed Abilities when the Exalt's rating in those Abilities meets the Charm's minimum Ability rating.
Martial-ready
This Keyword replicates all the effects of the Martial keyword. In addition, the character may use the Charm with or apply its benefits to any of the listed Abilities that he has as a Caste or Favored Ability, even if their ratings are lower than the Charm's minimum Ability requirement.
Merged
Charms with this keyword can be bought from multiple sources, but they all count as a single Charm purchase. For instance, a Solar learning Call the Blade from Melee also learns Call the Blade from Thrown at no additional cost or training time. The list of other Charms with which one is Merged are listed at the end of the Charm.
Messianic
A Charm with this keyword requires the character to have a minimum rating in the Cult Background (listed with the Charm's Essence minimum) to use it. No Cult rating is needed to learn the Charm, however. Permanent Charms are never Messianic.
Mirror
As mockeries of Solar power, deathknights wield comparably potent Charms arranged in similar structures. Abyssal Mirror Charms list their Solar analogues in parentheses, which always have the same total number of prerequisite Charms and minimum trait requirements. For Eclipse and Moonshadow Castes, a mirror can substitute for its analogue with regard to any prerequisites as if it were the same Charm. This keyword also guides Charm reallocation for redeemed Abyssals or Solars corrupted to darkness.
Note that some Abyssal Charms mirror Solar Charms that are not in general use (i.e., not in the Exalted rulebook itself). In such cases, the Charm description appends a brief description of the Solar analogue. Storytellers can introduce these new Solar Charms to their series—or perhaps a Solar who wants to learn these Charms must seek an Abyssal teacher. At the Storyteller's option, cross-training Solars and Abyssals can deduce the Mirrors of each others' Charms. For instance, a Dawn Caste could study with an Abyssal who knows Lightning Clutch of the Raptor, and after four days he could learn its Mirror Charm, Deft Hands Deflection. Solars and Abyssals thus become valuable but morally objectionable sources of Charms for the other side to learn.
Native
Powers like the Eclipse, Moonshadow and Fiend anima do not allow acquisition of Native Charms. Only natural wielders can learn Native charms. Exalted Charms and herostyle expansions are natural to the appropriate type of Chosen. Spirit Charms are natural to gods, elementals, demons and akuma. Arcanoi are natural to ghosts. Raksha Charms are natural to Fair Folk. Primordial Charms are natural to Primordials, Green Sun Princes and Exalted akuma. The God-Blooded children of natural wielders cannot learn their parents' Native Charms. Martial Arts Charms that are not Hero Style expansions cannot have the Native keyword.
Obvious
Observers can tell that the Exalt is using a Charm, and they have a rough idea of its effects. Obvious permanent Charms are only obvious when actively in use.
Overdrive
Charms with this Keyword create a temporary pool of Peripheral Essence, which can only be filled by terms outlined in the text of the Charm. Motes in these pools may only be used to activate offensive Charms with a duration of One action or less. Charms whose mote cost are paid for entirely from a character's Overdrive pool do not count as Charm activations, but must obey normal Combo rules if used in conjunction with other Charms. Other restrictions may be present in the text of the Charm. Motes gathered into the pools created by Overdrive Charms dissipate at the end of the scene, barring additional Charms to prolong their existence. Temporary mote pools created by the Overdrive keyword share their motes and stack together to determine the storage capacity of the overall pool. This Overdrive pool may store no more than 25 motes, regardless of the size of the pool generated by individual Charms with the Overdrive keyword.
Poison
This Charm's special damage is a Poison effect. See also Medical Conditions.
Reactor
No combination of effects including any Charm carrying this Keyword may cause the character to gain more than 20 motes during the course of a single action. Stunt rewards explicitly do not count toward this limit.
Servitude
This Charm's special damage is a Servitude effect. See Mental Influence.
Shaping
Integrity and Lore Charms treat this Charm's effects as a Shaping effect.
Sickness
This Charm's special damage is a Sickness effect. See also Medical Conditions.
Social
This Charm is often used when the character participates in a social conflict. It affects actions on the social time scale.
Sorcerous
Charms with this keyword channel Essence according to the patterns the Primordials negotiated amongst themselves when they seared the principles of sorcery into the Wyld's shinmaic substrata. As such, these Charms may be countered or dispelled by appropriate effects as if they were spells with a circle based on their minimum Essence: 1-3 (emerald), 4-5 (sapphire) and 6+ (adamant). Necromancers may also dispel Sorcerous Charms without their countermagic losing a circle of relative potency, provided they do not have an Essence rating lower than the Infernal's rating at the time the Sorcerous Charm was activated. On the plus side, these effects require no commitment of Essence to sustain, even those with Duration greater than instant. However, their creator can't deactivate such effects at will unless stated otherwise. Countering a Sorcerous Charm does not release any sort of Essence backlash unless noted. During the Primordial War, Solar and Lunar Exalted developed specialized Charms to dispel sorcerous effects; these anti-Primordial techniques fell out of favor with the advent of sorcery among the Exalted, since countermagic spells were both easier to learn and more efficient.
Spectral
This keyword identifies Charms that specifically depend on the metaphysical properties of the Underworld. Although characters can use Spectral Charms beyond the realms of the dead (which are defined as the shadowlands, Underworld and Labyrinth), doing so adds a +1 Willpower surcharge to the activation cost. Once a character activates a Spectral Charm at this increased cost, further Spectral Charms do not require this surcharge until the character's next action.
Stackable
Multiple invocations of this Charm are cumulative—the Solar can use it more than once to increase the bonuses or penalties the Charm inflicts.
Taint
This keyword allows Abyssals to make a Charm's effect permanent, enabling her to use it without further expended or committed costs. This is not done lightly, however, as the transformation is irreversible and such Charms always carry some kind of drawback. Therefore, for every persistent advantage gained with this keyword, an Abyssal also bears a new curse to compound the doom of his Dark Fate.
Turning a Charm into a permanent Taint also costs bonus points or experience points. The sample costs are based on comparison with Wyld mutations (see The Compass of Celestial Directions, Vol. II—The Wyld, p. 144). The more extreme (or useful) the effect of making a Charm permanent is the more points doing so costs.
Touch
The Exalt must touch the target to use the Charm.
Touching a non-consenting target requires a (Dexterity + Martial Arts) attack.
Training
This Charm trains other characters. Characters who receive training and aren't extras must pay the normal experience cost for any trait increases. If they can't afford this cost, they go into "experience point debt." They must pay at least half of all awarded experience points, rounded down, toward this debt until repaid.
Velocity
Some Adorjani Charms with durations longer than Instant have this keyword, requiring that the Infernal maintain a minimum speed. If the character spends longer than one tick moving slower than this limit, the Charm automatically deactivates (but may be reactivated). Note that this means actual movement. Running in tight circles does not count; the beginning and end of the character’s movement path each tick must be spaced no closer than the distance the Infernal Exalt may cover with a Move action. Riding on a mount or vehicle also doesn’t count—the character’s speed must come from his own power and means of locomotion. The most common Velocity requirement is that the character must continuously dash at maximum possible speed.
Wanton
Inserted into the human species, the Exalted were chosen in part for their propensity to reproduce in numbers large enough to perpetually replenish the supply of foes for the Primordials. To evolve human promiscuity, certain Charms best serve those whose sexual inhibitions are less pronounced than normal. If there is a roll for the Charm's effects, the player of the Exalt gains one to three additional dice, depending upon how explicitly she describes the sexual actions of her character (subject to Storyteller judgment). If there is no roll involved, then the character instead gains two, four or six motes of Essence, although the player may choose to gain one temporary Willpower instead of a mote value of four or higher. Although this mirrors the stunt system, the benefits of the two add together; a player who explicitly describes her character giving Sesus Lahor oral sex still gets the relevant bonuses from also describing her aerial acrobatics and interaction with the furniture of his Dynastic bedroom. If the Charm also has the Obvious keyword, then the Essence expelled also leaves unmistakable signs of sex, from the odors of well-used beds to smears of semen.
This keyword appears in Scrolls of Esoteric Wisdom Vol. 6: Scroll of Swallowed Darkness
War
This Charm is often used when the character participates in a war, by means of the Join War action. It affects actions on the war time scale.
All special characters in a complementary unit and that unit's champion during mid-battle duels are fellow officers to one another. If a Charm functions differently when targeting a fellow officer, it deactivates if that relationship no longer applies due to either character leaving the unit. Cooperative Charms ignore their usual range limit for close contact when used by fellow officers, as the unit itself conducts the harmonization.
Wyld
Charms with this keyword only function in at least the Bordermarches, or they have increased functionality within the Wyld.