Face of Lover's Alarm

Face of Lover's Alarm (•, Specchio ••)

 * Action: Reflexive
 * Dice pool: Wits + Empathy
 * Cost: 1 Wisp
 * Duration: 1 attack

One would not threaten a loved one, would they? And as the Queen of Mirrors teaches, the True Heir will be beloved by all. This Charm is activated in response to an attack; the Noble must be able to apply her Defense against that attack.


 * Dramatic Failure: The attacker sees through the imposture and is outraged. His attack gets a +2 bonus.
 * Failure: The imposture has no effect on the attacker.
 * Success: The Noble’s appearance blurs to resemble one beloved by the attacker. The Noble’s Defense against the attack increases by her Specchio, as the attacker reflexively pulls his blow.
 * Exceptional Success: The Noble unconsciously impersonates the beloved’s mannerisms for the rest of the scene; she reminds the attacker so strongly of his beloved that he finds it hard to injure her. He takes one level of the Lover’s Alarm Tilt: any attack he makes on the Noble has a -1 penalty to its dice pool. Levels of the Tilt can accumulate up to the Noble’s Specchio.

The Charm relies on the empathy and the goodness of the target. Against a target with no Integrity or equivalent trait, such as a Darkspawn or an animal, the Charm fails to activate.

Universal

 * Cost: +1 Wisp
 * Duration: 1 turn

The Noble appears to everyone in the form of their first love. She may activate the Charm with this upgrade once per turn to protect herself from all her foes. For that turn, any attack on the Noble is penalized by her Specchio, even if her Defense doesn’t apply against it. If she achieves an exceptional success, anyone who attacks her gains a level of the Lover’s Alarm Tilt. The Noble cannot use the Charm on a single attack before it expires.

Inviolate

 * Requires Specchio •••
 * Cost: +1 Willpower

The shock of his beloved appearing in the middle of a fight is so great that the attacker’s blow hits the wrong person. The Noble may choose any other person within range of the attack to become its new target in her place, except the attacker himself. If no such person exists the upgrade has no effect.

If the Noble applied Universal, she must spend 1 Willpower to redirect each attack.