Tool Whispering

Tool Whispering (Shape ••)

 * Action: Instant and resisted
 * Dice pool: Wits + appropriate Skill - object’s Size/2
 * Cost: 1 Wisp
 * Duration: concentration

The tools of a Noble’s craft are so eager to serve her desires that she may operate them from afar. The Noble uses this Charm on a single object that she can see; the Skill she uses to activate it is the one used normally to operate that object (e.g. Computer for electronics, Drive for a vehicle, Firearms for guns, and so on.)
 * Dramatic Failure: The Noble’s occult force mishandles the targeted object and breaks it. Remove 1 point of the object’s Structure.
 * Failure: The object remains inert.
 * Success: The object animates, responding to the Noble’s will. As long as she concentrates, she may take mundane actions that manipulate the object’s internal mechanisms - pushing buttons, flipping switches, turning knobs, and so forth. She cannot pick the object up, or directly move it from its location; actions which require that fail automatically. Thus, the scope of possible actions depends on the complexity of the target object. A simple tool with no moving parts can’t do anything; a gun can be made to unlatch its clip, or to fire, but can’t be aimed; a car can be made to start its engine and drive itself; a computer can be operated almost normally, except for plugging in cables and peripherals.
 * The Noble cannot control the object if she loses sight of it, and the Charm ends when she stops controlling the object. If someone else is using the object at the same time she controls it, that starts a Clash of Wills; a mundane operator uses the same dice pool for the Clash as he does for operating the device.
 * Exceptional Success: The Noble controls her tool with great skill. Her mundane actions to control it gain a +2 bonus.

Upgrade: Charged

 * Cost: +1 Wisp

The modern world runs on electricity, but when that’s lacking, the Noble can create a few sparks to get it moving. When the targeted object is a machine powered by electricity, the Noble may turn an extra Wisp into the power it requires, so it will run with a dead battery or while unplugged during the Charm’s duration. However, a dramatic failure when activating the Charm overloads its circuits - remove points of Structure equal to the Noble’s Inner Light.

Upgrade: Dancing

 * Cost: +1 Willpower
 * Duration: 1 scene

The targeted object, once animated, will carry out the Noble’s wishes without her conscious attention. The Charm does not end if the Noble stops concentrating on the object; during any turn when she does not control it, the object repeats whatever action she most recently used it for. The object can’t adapt to changed circumstances, and will continue mindlessly repeating itself until the Noble controls it again or the Charm ends.

Upgrade: Forceful

 * Cost: +1 Wisp

The Noble can now lift, push or pull the targeted object without touching it, as easily as she manipulates it; while she does so, the object is surrounded with a visible sign of her attention, such as a glowing halo, a heat shimmer, or a swirl of dust or leaves. The Noble can move the object remotely with the same Strength that her muscles give her, and at a Speed up to her own running Speed. She may also throw the object with a standard Athletics action, although doing so immediately ends the Charm.

Upgrade: Thinking (Acqua ••)

 * Requires Dancing

When the Noble releases her concentration, in addition to providing the object with further instructions she may grant it a measure of adaptability. For each dot of Acqua she may instruct the object to react to one condition, altering its behavior in response. For conditions that require senses to recognize, the object has a Perception dice pool equal to the Charm’s activation successes.

Upgrade: Free (Aria ••)
The Noble may set her will not on a solid machine, but on the air that surrounds her. Until the Charm ends, she can manipulate any object that she can see, as long as operating that object is covered by the Skill she used to activate the Charm. The Noble cannot manipulate more than one object at a time; when she moves to a second object, the first is no longer animated.