Celestial Monkey Re-Write by JIVEX

Update of My Celestial Monkey Re-Write.

MONKEY TAIL DISTRACTION STRIKE
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt can move from a perfectly relaxed pose to strike her opponent unexpectedly, ambushing him despite being in full view. This charm allows the exalt to ignore the penalties for initiating a surprise attack from plain view, and adds a number of successes equal to half the opponent's Highest Virtue to the attempt.  This charm only functions at the outset of combat and does not aid attempts to re-establish surprise.  

FLOWING MIRROR OF OPPOSITION TECHNIQUE
Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 1 or 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Stackable
Duration: One Tick
Prerequisite Charms: Monkey Tail Distraction Strike
This Charm makes its user frustratingly hard to attack. The Exalt engages his opponent and dances around her like a monkey, moving alternately too close for proper leverage and tantalizingly out of reach in no predictable pattern.  Weaving and bounding thus, the Exalt makes it near impossible to bring weapons to bare against him. This ridiculous capering
subtracts negates any accuracy bonus the opponent might gain from a close ranged weapon he employs against the martial artist.  Used to aid the Exalt's  attack, this charm instead negates the Defense bonus a close ranged weapon provides.   Though it persists for a full tick, this defensive boost applies to only one specific weapon wielded by one target.  No more than (essence) iterations of this charm may be active at once. This charm does not function of the opponent's (Combat Ability-Highest Virtue) exceeds the Blissful Sage's (Essence/2).  The enlightened tomfoolery of the Blissful Sage can confound foes, but against the most well versed, and composed combatants, it is a liability.


Illimitable Whimsy Kata
Cost: 3m 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Ok, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Flowing Mirror of Opposition Technique
The Exalt, having trained herself in the art of exploiting the weakness of others and turning hardship to her advantage, often seeks to battle on terrain upon which her enemies fear to tread.  Capering with mad glee upon narrow precipices while dancing away from blows, or weaving out of the path of arrows as she runs along a narrow wire far above the ground, the martial artist turns the precariousness of her terrain to her defensive advantage, though she must be aware of her own limitations lest she put herself in a position she cannot manage. Should she stand on a terrain with an instability rating which is low enough that she may remain standing on it without requiring a check, she adds the instability rating as bonus successes to her DDV. Furthermore, even if she must check to remain standing, while this charm is active, the martial artist checks to maintain balance in the face of unstable terrain reflexively, rather than as a miscellaneous action, and does so only once per action, when her DV refreshes, and not after she is subject to an attack.


WITHERING PAW STRIKE
Cost: 4m (+1wp); Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Touch
Duration: Instant (One Scene)
Prerequisite Charms: Flowing Mirror of Opposition Technique
With this Charm, the martial artist attacks his opponent’s weapon arm in an attempt to disarm him.  Batting aside the weapon, with a casual swat of his palm, the exalt suffers no called shot penalties on this attack. If the attack succeeds, the target’s player is automatically disarmed, provided their (Weapon Ability) was less than or equal to the Exalt's (Martial Arts).  Otherwise the disarm is resolved normally.  In either case the Exalt May choose spend an additional 1wp, if the attack succeeds, and take the opponent's weapon from them.   They do not gain ownership of the weapon, but can still wield it as if it were a form weapon for the style so long as they keep motes committed to this charm. Though attuned artifacts and essence created weapons are not valid targets for this theft, the charm (minus the willpower cost) may be used against them.   Disarmed weapons fly a number of yards equal to the Martial Artists (Dexterity+Net Successes)x2.   

CELESTIAL MONKEY FORM
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2;
Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Form-type, Counterattack
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Illimitable Whimsy Kata,  Withering
Paw Strike
The state of careless confidence to which disciples of this style aspire is known as the “Free Mind.” Practitioners release the fetters that bind him and restrain his soul.  Emotions, Attachments, even Ego, are shed as the Exalt relaxes into the Celestial Monkey Form. Performing a brief meditative kata, which appears both playful and serene, she releases her mind from pain and limitation. Flush with the joy of freedom, he martial artist smiles blissfully. For the Rest of the scene the Martial Artist is immune to Emotion, Compulsion or Illusion based effects used against her by character's of lesser or equal (essence), Adding +2 to her DMDV to resist those she must.   
    Unwilling to be tied to any one conflict or opponent, the Monkey is as physically free as he is mentally. Whenever any close ranged attack targets him, the character may pay 1 mote, in Step 2, to leap away from his aggressor the length of one  Move action, although the character does not actually move until after Step 10 has been resolved.  This does not count as a Move action for the tick and functions as a Counterattack.


Body of War Mediation
Cost: -- [2m]; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2;
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Form-Enchancing
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Celestial Monkey Form
    The Celestial Monkey is empowered by his resistance to the chains of the ego.  This charm permanently enhances the form, reducing its Speed by 1 (to 4), and providing the following benefits:
The Martial Artist Gains no limit from spending willpower to shrug off the influence of others, but adds each point of willpower spent in this manner as a +1 bonus to the Accuracy, Defense and Rate of her unarmed martial arts attacks for the rest of the scene.  The more she exercises her mental independence, the more in harmony with the principles of this style she becomes and the more free she is to practice it.  No Trait increases by more than (Essence-1) points in this manner.  This charm is not compatible with other charms which increase barehanded Accuracy, Defense and Rate, only the highest bonus to any given trait apply.  

WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TEN THOUSAND
THINGS
Cost: 7m (+2xp); Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3;
Type: Refl exive (Step 2)
Keywords: Obvious, Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Body of War Meditation
 It is said that nothing human disgusts the blissful sage, for they have walked in the ways of a ten thousand things.   By meditating on every aspect of the natural world around
them, Blissful Sages can understand the manifold ways Essence flows through Creation. By emulating the phenomena on which they meditate (by walking in the footsteps of ten thousand things) they can evoke such things in themselves.  This charm requires the Martial Artist spend a number of actions in close range combat with an opponent equal to that opponent's (Essence) earlier in the scene and an equal number of successful applications of physical DV's against attacks by that enemy (which also must be made at close range).   Defenses which are enhanced by charms that have a Flaw of Invulnerability do not count towards fulfilling this minimum.  This charm cannot be invoked unless the Exalt has met both these criteria.  During this time the Martial Artist comes to understand his foe and their passions, his not sympathetic per-se, sympathy requires attachment which the Blissful Sage does not allow himself.  He views the foe with a sort of mirthful pity.  Many take umbrage to this percieved mockery, but the sage's jests serve the cause of enlightenment, showing his foes that their passions are indeed a liability. To foes whom he adequately observed earlier in the scene, the sage is a illusive as laughter and unassailable as bliss.  His freedom of mind is reflected in his movements as he seems to flow with impossible flexibility and ease out of the path of enemy attacks.  

Activating this charm enables  the martial artist successfully dodges any attack the opponent makes (which could be dodge).  If the attack was enhanced by a virtue channel, reduce the cost of this charm by a number of motes equal to the attackers Virtue.   An exalt who uses this charm cannot channel a virtue on the same tick as he activates this charm.  Whenever the Martial Artist activates this charm, he may spend 2xp to commit to memory his opponent's combat style.   This provides several benefits.  First, the martial artist can use this charm against that target on future encounters without needing to observe him for several actions.   Second, he may employ this charm against unexpected attacks that target him specifically which an internalized foe launches at him.   Should the opponent raise his essence, the exalt looses the benefits of this effect and must spend another 2xp to internalize them. This charm cannot dodge attacks made by entities who are not sentient, such as certain automata, zombies and impersonal forces of nature.

FOUR HALO GOLDEN MONKEY PALM
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration:  One Tick
Prerequisite Charms: Walking in the Footsteps of Ten
Thousand Things
Essence fl ows through all things, and supernatural martial arts provide a way to channel and direct this energy.
Just as Essence concentrates in certain geographical nexus points known as demesnes, so too do similar nexus points exist in the body. Blissful Sages pay special attention to
four of these chakras, which they call the Gates of Virtue. Celestial Monkey practitioners believe each gate is attuned to one of the Divine Virtues: the Crown of Temperance
(head), the Chalice of Compassion (sternum), the Throne of Conviction (stomach) and the Root of Valor (groin). When the martial artist invokes this Charm in combat, she
sees glowing rings encircle these gates on her opponent, each of which glows with an intensity proportional to the strength of the corresponding Virtue. These rings provide more than knowledge about a foe’s personality.  Activating this charm, the exalt's eyes glow, reflecting the lights of the nimbuses of essence she perceives on the body of a single target.                                                                                                                                                                                         With a +1 difficulty called shot, the martial artist may strike these gates while the charm is active.  Succesful unarmed martial arts attacks against these Chakras add a number of post soak damage dice equal to value of whichever of the target's Virtues is associated with the Gate.  This damage is of the same type as the attack that inflicted it.  The Martial Artist may, by striking multiple Gates, benefit from this charm several times, but cannot add more than (sum of the Opponents Two Highest Virtues) cumulative dice of post soak damage against a target.  Each activation of this charm reveals the gates of a single target, but multiple simultaneous activations can reveal the Virtue Gates of several targets.   Automatons or entities without self awareness are immune to this effect.  

FOUR HALO GOLDEN MONKEY INVULNERABILITY
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3;
Type: Refl exive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms:
The Celestial Monkey is the master of his virtues, not the other way around.  Virtues are potent indeed and like any savvy fighter, the Celestial Monkey utilizes such things, drawing on the strength of their influence when doing so serves his interests.   Activating the gates of virtue in his own body, the blissful sage spreads the essence that flows through them over his form.  To the observer, it appears as if rings of light manifest around the locations on the body corresponding with the gates, and then begin to soften in intensity, diffusing into a single, soft, flowing nimbus that surrounds the martial artist's body.  For the Duration of the scene, the Exalt's DVs may not suffer more points of penalty than the value of her highest Virtue.   Furthermore, the martial artist does not consider any attack that has been aided by a virtue channel to be undodgeable regardless of circumstances, provided he is aware of them.  He knows the fundamental forces at work in the minds of his enemies and no force on earth can deny him the protection his enlightened transcendence of virtue affords him.

CELESTIAL GODBODY UNDERSTANDING
Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Four Halo Golden Monkey Invulnerability
Blissful masters of this martial art transcend its limits as surely as they transcend any other. Wearing armor no longer hinders the character from performing the Charms of this martial art, his freedom is not so fragile it can be constrained by mere metal.   Learning this charm enables the Exalt to practice this style in armor, provided the armor's Fatigue and Mobility penalty are cumulatively less than his (Essence)/2. 

 This enlightenment is pervasive, enabling the Martial Artist to wear light armor with any other Celestial or Terrestrial style he knows up to the Form charm, provided it doesn't already permit armor. 
 
Furthermore, while the form charm is active, increase the maximum benefits provided by Celestial God Body Meditation to (Essence)  and broaden the scope of its benefits such that it also applies +1L/+1B in addition to its other rewards for resisting mental influence.

This is well worth passing along to a monkey stylist I know.  Will you nice PDF be updated with these changes?

Also a few bits of editing:

JiveX:

This ridiculous capering subtracts negates any accuracy bonus the opponent

Tikor:

This ridiculous capering negates any accuracy bonus the opponent

JiveX:

No more than (essence) iterations of this charm may be active at once

Tikor:

No more than (Essence) iterations of this charm may be active at once

JiveX:

CELESTIAL MONKEY FORM

This doesn't appear to differentiate between Unnatural and Natural Mental Influence. It reads to me that you can ignore any mental influence from someone who is Essence <= to your Essence, though I guess there are some forms of influence that might not be classified as Emotion, Compulsion, or Illusion maybe? Is this all accurate for what you intended?

JiveX:

close ranged weapon

You use the term 'close ranged' a lot. For my benefit, you mean attacks within roughly melee range correct?

JiveX:

Body of War Mediation

Do the bonuses here count as dice from charms, I would think not, but I wanted to check since at least accuracy adds to your attack pool.

JiveX:

WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TEN THOUSAND

Would it be fair to refund the 2 XP if an opponent goes up in Essence, or at least waive the cost to 're-attune' to that opponent at a later fight?

Also, should Crossed Wings Denial be included as something that does not count toward the cost of activation (it has no Flaw of Invulnerability, but is a perfect parry)?

JiveX:

FOUR HALO GOLDEN MONKEY INVULNERABILITY

This charm seems to be either really weak during a fight (you don't have Walking In the Footsteps of 10k Things up), or incredibly powerful (You do have Walking In the Footsteps up).

JiveX:

This ridiculous capering
subtracts negates any accuracy bonus the opponent might gain from a close ranged weapon he employs against the martial artist.

JiveX:

Whenever any close ranged attack targets him, the character may pay 1 mote, in Step 2, to leap away from his aggressor the length of one  Move action

JiveX:

This charm requires the Martial Artist spend a number of actions in close range combat with an opponent equal to that opponent's (Essence) earlier in the scene and an equal number of successful applications of physical DV's against attacks by that enemy (which also must be made at close range)

I'm not sure why these three charms function only against close combat attacks. I can't really imagine why reading a Bowfighter's style wouldn't allow you to slip out of the way of his arrows easier, or how moving unpredictably wouldn't make it harder to hit you with a boomerang. The Form's ability to move as a reaction might be powerful against a ranged opponent, so I can kind of understand that restriction. Still, it seems strange to limit effectiveness against ranged opponents on three of the style's charms.

Actually, a lot of this style ends up depending on the opponent's actions to be effective, requiring the opponent be channeling virtues and attacking at close range, and to try to convince the Sage with a social combat before the physical combat breaks out, or to use further mental influence once the battle begins.

I like the flavor justification for adding the Armor at the pinnacle, but I still dislike how the visual style changes at the very end. I also think that if the charms themselves are fine being practiced with armor, then the style should get armor at the beginning rather than having to wait until the end.

Other than that, it's pretty cool. I may have gone a slightly different way, but this is a neat style this way. Celestial Monkey is one of my favorite thematically, but its mechanics are so bad as to be laughable, so I love to read alternative interpretations.

Jericus Rex:

Actually, a lot of this style ends up depending on the opponent's actions to be effective, requiring the opponent be channeling virtues and attacking at close range, and to try to convince the Sage with a social combat before the physical combat breaks out, or to use further mental influence once the battle begins.

While I agree on the channeling virtues point of this, there are a decent number of charms that work in combat time that are considered Illusions, Compulsions, or Emotion effects.

Tybar:

I guess there are some forms of influence that might not be classified as Emotion, Compulsion, or Illusion maybe

My take is that it protects against many Charm-based Social Charms, but not NMI (which doesn't have any a Charm keywords beyond Social in my understanding).  I could be totally wrong.  Jive?

Tybar:

You use the term 'close ranged' a lot. For my benefit, you mean attacks within roughly melee range correct?

Perhaps this means not weapons with the reach tag or a listed range?

Tybar:

Would it be fair to refund the 2 XP if an opponent goes up in Essence, or at least waive the cost to 're-attune' to that opponent at a later fight?

I, too, am not a fan of xp draining Charms, from a Gamist perspective.  A sufficient amount of committed motes/health levels should be able to substitute for the effect.

Tybar:

Also, should Crossed Wings Denial be included as something that does not count toward the cost of activation (it has no Flaw of Invulnerability, but is a perfect parry)?

I don't see Crossed Wings Denial?  I just see WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TEN THOUSAND THINGS, which is a dodge and has clear Flaws of invulnerability (entities who are not sentient, such as certain automata, zombies and impersonal forces of nature).  I would make that this is the Flaw more clear, and would probably state it as anything following Autonama Virtues, but that's just me.

Tybar:

While I agree on the channeling virtues point of this, there are a decent number of charms that work in combat time that are considered Illusions, Compulsions, or Emotion effects

Yeah, that's true, I guess I might be reaching a bit with that particular criticism. It does seem to be a style whose best benefits are triggered by the tactical choices of the opponent, but that's not unprecedented or invalid I guess.

If I were JiveX, I'd drop the melee range restrictions on some of its defensive charms and write a different pinnacle from scratch, but that's me, and aside from the giant-sized chip on my shoulder about Celestial Godbody which others don't have to share, the other is a minor complaint/suggestion.

Tikor:

I don't see Crossed Wings Denial?  I just see WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TEN THOUSAND THINGS, which is a dodge and has clear Flaws of invulnerability (entities who are not sentient, such as certain automata, zombies and impersonal forces of nature).  I would make that this is the Flaw more clear, and would probably state it as anything following Autonama Virtues, but that's just me.

I assume I wasn't being clear enough, here's the specific bit I'm referencing:

JiveX:

This charm requires the Martial Artist spend a number of actions in close range combat with an opponent equal to that opponent's (Essence) earlier in the scene and an equal number of successful applications of physical DV's against attacks by that enemy (which also must be made at close range).   Defenses which are enhanced by charms that have a Flaw of Invulnerability do not count towards fulfilling this minimum. 

Crossed-Wings Denial is a perfect defense without a flaw of invulnerability (the 'flaw' in the charm is the increasing cost, but it's never spelled out as counting as such). This should probably not count toward fulfilling the minimum successful applications of DVs, which is what I was pointing out.

Tybar:

This should probably not count toward fulfilling the minimum successful applications of DVs, which is what I was pointing out.

The intent is that it would not count.  But I'd be willing to leave it open to interpretation, the intent is fairly clear though I could point it out.   More comments on other points to follow later, thanks for all the feedback so far though its all been helpful and I appreciate the patience while I get back into charm design.  I'll write more when I make some fixes in response to the commentary

JiveX:

The intent is that it would not count.  But I'd be willing to leave it open to interpretation, the intent is fairly clear though I could point it out. 

Probably best to point it out (in my opinion), as it would prevent rules headaches.

JiveX:

More comments on other points to follow later, thanks for all the feedback so far though its all been helpful and I appreciate the patience while I get back into charm design.  I'll write more when I make some fixes in response to the commentary

Thanks a lot! I know that I like Celestial Monkey Style as a theme, but the mechanics have been frustrating sometimes. I do actually like most of what you have, I'm just nitpicking so I can use this someday...whenever Tikor decides to stop being lazy and rerun his game >.>

Also, another question...does your style have the same limitation on raising Virtues as the original style? I noticed that one charm had a cap on the amount of penalties your DV could take, which would always be 3 for anyone practicing the style (Your highest virtue has to be at least 3 for the Great Curse, and can at most be 3 due to the way Monkey Style works).

A couple notes. I'm dropping melée rang and adding Essencex20 yards as range restrictions. This simulates the fact that the idea of reading the personality of a being you couldn't even see is a bit tenuous. I'm adding the not on automata. Yes the charm which costs xp does not require xp be re spent, just that the observation period be made again. Going to re work the pinnacle along similar lines. The style is balanced to provide fairly potent but non-scaling benefits (DV penalty negation that cuts all but 3 points of penalty, weapon accuracy and defense ignoring powers, 1-4 point DV boosts (built to synergize with the penalty ignoring check so that the monkey was at his best, defensively, fighting on a microfilament wire stretched over a yawning chasm in the middle of a hurricane.) these things are powerful up to Essence 4, but beyond that threshold the introduction of armor becomes a real nessecity unless. Thus in making the style, I have designed it with the intent that higher level pcractioners get to use it in armor while lower essence practitioners cannot. This actually maintains style balance and scalability.

This re-write is amazingly thematic and some of the changes are true improvement in the way MA should works.