Charms description

Motive Discerning Technique (Socialize)

Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Wise-Eyed Courtier Method

This charm allows an Exalted to tell, through a short, topical interaction, what the target's true motives in a situation are. For example, an Exalted who talked to a woman about her sick father would be able to tell if she was at his bedside out of love, filial loyalty or greed for her inheritance. Where there are mixed motives, the Exalted will gain a rough feel of in what proportions they occur. This power is especially useful for Exalted leaders, as it lets them keep their entourages free of the self-serving and the corrupt.

Knowing the Soul's Price (Socialize)

Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Mastery of Small Manners, Motive-Discerning Technique

Everyone has a price, though it may not be in gold. It could be help in a personal endeavor, flattery, sex with an unachievable object of desire, the recovery of a lost possession or any number of things. But there is invariably something that, when offered, will crack the strongest morals and ethics. To have it, an individual will betray trusts, engage in corruption, plant evidence; almost anything. This charm allows the character to know what that thing is for a given individual. It is up to the Storyteller to define precisely what a given person's weakness is, the things some people require may be difficult or impossible to obtain, while other characters may simply need to be offered a large sum of money. Generally, the higher a character's temperance score, the more likely her price will be something other than money and the more likely it will be difficult to arrange.

Spirit-Detecting Glance (Occult)

Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Occult: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None

This charm allows the character to perceive unmanifested spirits. Normally, spirits must manifest (appear but remain intangible) or materialize (appear in physical form) to be perceived. However, characters with this charm can see spirits when they have done neither. Spirits in their natural form appear as much as they do when manifested or materialized, though the character can clearly distinguish them from those that are actually visible. Note that this charm does not make the character any more able to strike or harm spirits, though it does make it much easier for her to direct her attacks.

Terrestrial Circle Sorcery (Occult)

Cost: 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Minimum Occult: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: None

While some mortals can manage, by supreme effort, to perform magical rituals, magic is simply another, more draining way of channeling Essence to the Exalted. Characters who have learned the Terrestrial Sorcery Charm are able to hone their will into the needle-sharp focus needed to perform magic of the so-called First Circle. Note that the cost of the charm is only to enable the character to cast a single spell. The actual spell itself has an Essence cost, often very high, that the character must pay to actualize the spell. Terrestrial Circle Sorcery can never be part of a Combo.

Ten Magistrate Eyes (Investigation)

Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Investigation: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None

The character attunes himself to the world's ambient Essence and becomes preternaturally aware of the order of and links between objects. For the remainder of the scene, add his Essence score in automatic successes to any investigation rolls.

Deft Official's Way (Bureaucracy)

Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One Task
Type: Simple
Minimum Bureaucracy: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None

An Exalted who uses this charm becomes preternaturallyadept at navigating through bureaucracies. The character can naturally sense who to talk to in order to produce results, who expects or is amenable to bribes, which functionaries are actually useful or friendly and which are simply petty individuals enjoying their tiny sliver of power. A player whose character uses this charm may add the character's Essence score in automatic successes to any bureaucracy rolls when attempting to achieve a given result in a bureaucracy (for example, obtain a license, passport, grant or audience). Note that this charm does not make the impossible possible or allow an impoverished character to pay bribes she cannot afford, but it may allow the character to find a way around such obstacles.

Wise-Eyed Courtier Method (Socialize)

Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None

Use of this charm allows a character to instantly read the superficial subtext of a social situation. The surface attitudes ("she is angry at him") and relationships ("she respects him a great deal, perhaps he is her father or like a father") of the individuals involved are apparents at a mere glance. Characters who are skilled at concealing their motives will project the exterior emotions they are pretending. It's up to the storyteller's discretion as to how skilled a character must be to appear to feel other than they really do, socialize or performance 2 and a serious effort should suffice. This charm is not a form of mind reading, nor does it offer precise results, it simply allows the exalted get his bearings when faced with confusing or unfamiliar social situations.

Personal notes: This charm is very useful when the character steps in a village debate, or when he first arrives in a tavern where people have an argument, but keep in mind that it does not really works on skilled liars: spy, courtisans...

Mastery of Small Manners (Socialize)

Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Socialize: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None

The character attunes herself to the patterns of human interaction and allows essence to guide her responses to social situations. While this charm is active, the character will reflexively respond in the appropriate and mannerly fashion for the situation at hand. These manners are not deep, covering only simple things such as greetings, eating customs, gift customs and flirtation mores. The character will never make an unintentional faux pas but is not charismatic so much as simply well behaved. Too much active interaction spoils the effect of this charm.

Personal notes: low essence cost, long duration, it is a good charm, especially when you are invited to the table of the greatest bloody worrior of all the empire and a faux pas would cost you the right hand...