Spirit-Chaining Strike

Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Occult 4, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling, Leader
Duration: Five minutes
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Detecting Mirror Technique

With this Charm, a Dragon-Blood can temporarily immobilize a spirit, often as a prelude to more permanent measures. The character must successfully strike the spirit with an attack, then the player can make a reflexive (Intelligence + Occult) roll with a difficulty equal to the spirit's Essence. Each extra success imposes a one-die penalty to all actions the spirit takes for the next five minutes. If the extra successes exceed the spirit's permanent Essence, the spirit is completely immobilized and unable to act for the remainder of the scene. Subsequent uses of this Charm have a cumulative effect as long as the original application of the Charm has not lapsed, as do applications of the Charm by other Dragon-Blooded. The Charm also affects unmanifested spirits, but the Exalted must be able to see and touch the spirit to bind it. The Charm does not automatically render an attack capable of affecting unmanifested spirits. Spirit-Chaining Strike is explicitly permitted to be made a part of a Combo with Charms of other Abilities.

Latest Errata: Each threshold success on the activation roll imposes a cumulative -1 internal penalty. A spirit becomes Inactive but fully conscious for a scene once the total penalty imposed by all activations of this Charm exceeds its Essence rating. The only actions a paralyzed spirit can take are mental actions that do not affect others. Leader only applies if attacking a solo unit or special character spirit while commanding a unit whose attacks can hit that spirit. A paralyzed spirit ceases to be a special character and drops out of its unit.