Exalted Rework Part 16: Custom Charms

Canon Exalted talked a lot about Custom Charms, but I never really saw them made.  While there were tons of examples of charms you could have, since it was a game about being hugely powerful, trying to figure out where to draw lines with Charm design was challenging at best.  Since most of the game-established limits were mechanical or dice-based, we still didn't have good ideas of the limits of Solar (or any Type) power and where to draw lines.

That said, Custom Charms are very much necessary for defining unique powers and adding in effects that whatever idiot developed the charm list didn't think of.  However, there need to be limits.  Fortunately for the Rework, we don't have any of those pesky mechanics to define power limits, we just need to define the Narrative stops for each Exalt Type.

A few basic rules of Custom Charms:

• You never get a bonus to Conflict Resolution from a Passive charm, not even under extremely limited circumstances.  In general, non-Excellencies don't provide bonuses to Conflict Resolution at all.
• Charms should have a choice point in their power: either their power is only accessible when your Anima is Ignited (and thus is very obvious) or some other complication is necessary (such as Invisible Statue Spirit's requirement of stillness).  Dragon-Blooded Charms don't have this disadvantage, but instead have the limitation that they don't provide blanket Impossible Stunts.
• If a charm invalidates a previous effect the character had access to (such as all the Solar charms permitting Improbable Acts or All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight for Twilights), it should lessen the choice point on the invalidated effects.
• If the Charm has a use that is capable of a time-limited or instantaneous but dramatic expression of power, it should cost Essence.
• Passive Charms cannot directly prevent Enemy Goals from occurring if you lose a Conflict.  It's reasonable for Active Charms to prevent specific goals or effects at the cost of Essence (IE: Block mental influence on mortals around me at the cost of 1 Essence, for example).

Usually, a Custom Charm will provide specific Impossible stunts or blanket Improbable Stunts, or possibly a specific extraordinarily powerful effect at the cost of Essence.  For prerequisites, Charms should normally have Essence requirements based on their overall power.  Essence 3 is typically the minimum for any charm that directly affects dozens of people.  Essence 4 Charms allow persistent breaking of the laws of physics (like flying) or supernal, but still fundamentally human powers (like having senses 100,000 times better than a normal human... but still the same 5 senses).  Essence 5 is where Charms start being able to make blanket statements about a Solar's power, such as "I see through all deception."  It is at this level that Charms begin to provide mythic powers, such as hearing whenever one's name is spoken, being able to make anyone who looks upon you fall in love with you, or being able to immediately understand how anything you lay eyes on was constructed.  Above Essence 5, charms remain on this scale, but become broader and broader in application as restrictions that should be in place on Essence 5 charms (I hear my name... whenever it's said in a city I have control over, Everyone falls in love with me... if I fit their orientation) start to fall away.  By Essence 8+ the power arms race is such that you really should be just doing whatever you want assuming you've bought charms to allow you to do it.

... So it really is kind of hard to talk about Custom Charms, but hopefully the guidelines and examples are good enough to work with.

Tomorrow I'll post some Dragon-Blooded Charms (again assuming that I get to post here at all, next week is going to be bussssyyyyyy)...