Master Scribe's Transcription
Roll: Dexterity + Linguistics (difficulty 3)
Duration: One scene
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Linguistics: 3
Minimum Heroism: 2
Normally, transcriptions are imperfect, containing errors, blots, and other flaws. A hero, however, can flawlessly reproduce a document written in any language with which he is literate without fear of error. The copy takes the usual amount of time and is in the hero's handwriting, but the text is identical in content to the original.
Message in a Bottle
Roll: Manipulation + Linguistics (difficulty 4)
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Linguistics: 4
Minimum Heroism: 2
The hero designates a letter or other written missive upon activating this Heroic, which insulates it against the whims of fate. The letter is assured of eventually reaching its destination, though it might still take time for it to do so. This Heroic works whether the message is entrusted to a professional courier or merely stuffed in a bottle and thrown into the ocean. It can only find locations, however, not individuals, so it is imperative the hero have an address in mind. Additional successes increase the speed with which the missive travels to its destination.
Coincidence of Tongues
Roll: Intelligence + Linguistics (difficulty 4)
Duration: One scene
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Linguistics: 4
Minimum Heroism: 3
Due to the hero's extensive linguistic knowledge, he has acquired a basic grasp of spoken languages, even those with which he is not especially proficient. The hero is capable of expressing and understanding factual information spoken in a language she does not normally speak. In order to speak, she must know which language the intended recipient speaks. The hero may only understand a foreign language if the speaker's words are directed at her. The information the hero may exchange by means of this Heroic is limited to simple questions and answers about subjects such as names, directions, physical descriptions, accommodations, and basic needs. It also covers basic greetings and forms of address. Anyone familiar with the language will recognize the hero is a foreigner, for his tongue is extremely clumsy.
Wisdom of Death's Messenger
Roll: Manipulation + Linguistics (difficulty 5)
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Linguistics: 5
Minimum Heroism: 3
The hero designates a letter or other written missive upon activating this Heroic, which guarantees it will eventually reach its recipient. The hero must merely know the name of the recipient and send the letter by some means. Given enough time, the letter will reach the individual, if she is alive by the time the missive reaches her. As with Message in a Bottle, this letter's journey is not necessarily swift, but it is assured of success, though the one entrusted with the letter is not likewise protected. Additional successes increase the speed with which the missive travels to its recipient.
Honoring the Spirit Approach
Roll: Charisma + Lore (difficulty 3)
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Lore: 3
Minimum Heroism: 2
Until the end of the scene, the hero is especially attuned to the expectations of a spirit with which she is interacting. The hero will reflexively, almost accidentally, respond in the appropriate and mannerly fashion toward the spirit. This does not, in itself, grant the hero the ability to speak the spirit's language, nor does it allow deep scrutiny of the spirit's interests, desires, or thoughts. However, even if the hero is not able to understand the spirit, she will not offend it with her ignorance unless the spirit is particularly malicious (and some are). This Heroic includes providing knowledge of proper prayers, rituals, and sacrifices to honor the spirit, but not to request favors of any kind.
Wield the Weapons of the Ancients
Roll: Intelligence + Lore (difficulty 3)
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Lore: 3
Minimum Heroism: 2
To activate this Heroic, the hero must spend 8 hours examining the entirety of the target device without restriction or significant interruption. The hero may discern a single intended function of an unfamiliar device (such as one created during the First Age). Most of the time, this is the device's primary function. Each additional success allows her to discern one additional function, until the hero either determines all functions of the device or learns a number of functions equal to her Heroism. Activations of this Heroic, as usual, are not cumulative. Only a more successful use of this Heroic provides additional information about a given device.
Repository of Forgotten Lore
Roll: Intelligence + Lore (difficulty 4)
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Lore: 4
Minimum Heroism: 2
If asked a question based on obscure knowledge of some kind - the answer to a riddle, the name of historical figure, the entirety of a poem for which only a few lines are known, etc... - the hero may activate this Heroic to immediately know the answer. This allows the hero to add her Heroism in dice to a Lore check related to commanding knowledge. Each additional success adds another die, to a maximum number of additional dice equal to the hero's Heroism. If this attempt to command knowledge is not resolved by means of a roll, the player may instead ask the Storyteller a number of questions related to the required information equal to the hero's Heroism. Additional successes increases the number of questions by one each, to a maximum number of additional questions equal to the hero's Heroism.
Unlock the Secrets of the Ancients
Roll: Intelligence + Lore (difficulty 5)
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Lore: 5
Minimum Heroism: 3
To activate this Heroic, the hero must examine and dismantle a functional device over the course of 8 hours. If the Heroic fails, the device is ruined beyond mundane repair. The hero is able to draw up a blueprint for the device of sufficient detail that a craftsman with the right materials and skills could duplicate it. Note that some First Age devices require the ability to employ Exalted Sorcery in order to reproduce them.
Humble Mortal's Plea
Roll: Charisma + Lore (difficulty 5)
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Lore: 5
Minimum Heroism: 3
The hero begs a spirit for mercy, offering promises of obedience in exchange. So long as the hero has not attacked or deliberately wronged it, a spirit with a Permanent Essence equal to or less than the hero's Heroism must spare the hero and offer him an opportunity to attone. This can be anything from merely leaving the spirit's domain forever to serving the spirit for a specific period of time to making a sacrifice in the spirit's honor, but it will always be a task of which the hero is capable, and it will never be directly fatal to him (though it might require the sacrifice of someone close to him). So long as the hero agrees to this bargain and makes a sincere effort to accomplish it, the spirit cannot harm the heroe either directly or through another agent loyal to it. Be warned, though, that any tasks an angry spirit assigns can be decidedly unpleasant - from finding a white rose in a hedge maze of red rose bushes to cleaning the foulest slime from some creature's lair to undertaking a pilgrimage to some distant temple to missionary work in a violent city. If the hero breaks his oath, the spirit may choose the manner of his punishment, and even suicide seldom preserves an oathbreaker from this fate. There are, after all, ways to punish and torment even the dead. If the hero breaks the oath, he may never again use this Heroic on the spirit. Additional successes increase the maximum Permanent Essence by one, to a maximum number of additional successes equal to the hero's Heroism.
Impenetrable White Crane Defense
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts (difficulty 3)
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Heroism: 2
The hero may parry one incoming attack of which she is aware with her normal Dexterity + Martial Arts pool provided she could normally parry an attack of that kind.
As With Four Hands Defense
Roll: Wits + Martial Arts (difficulty 4)
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Heroism: 2
The hero may, before combat damage is calculated, roll a Martial Arts parry a second time, choosing the better of the two rolls and discarding the other. Each additional success allows the hero to reroll the parry again, to a maximum number of parry rolls (including the initial parry) equal to his Heroism, choosing the best result. This Heroic can only be attempted once against each incoming attack that the hero is able to parry.
Crane Among Cobras Technique
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts (difficulty 5)
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Heroism: 3
If the hero successfully parries a hand-to-hand attack (counters all successes) using her Martial Arts Ability, he may designate any other opponent within hand-to-hand range as the attacker's new target. The attacker uses the same number of successes he scored on the initial attack as though her original target was the new target instead of the hero. The new target may parry or dodge as normal, and damage is calculated normally if the attack hits. This Heroic counts as a counterattack and thus cannot be used in response to any other counterattack.
Poison Hand Technique
Roll: Intelligence + Martial Arts (difficulty 5)
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Heroism: 3
The hero must touch an opponent with her empty hand for just a moment to activate this Heroic. If this touch is masked in harmless contact - a firm handshake or pat on the back, for example - it seldom requires an attack roll. The attack inflicts a number of dice of lethal damage equal to the hero's Heroism to the target. This damage is soaked separately from any damage the hero's touch would normally inflict. If this Heroic is used in combat, the hero must make a normal unarmed Martial Arts or Brawl attack to deliver this attack, and additional successes scored on the attack do not increase the damage inflicted by this Heroic. Additional successes scored on the roll to activate this Heroic increase the damage by 1 die of lethal damage, to a maximum number of additional dice of damage equal to the hero's Heroism. The cause of the damage is immediately obvious to the victim and requires little imagination from observers (Perception + Investigation at standard difficulty).
Medicine Woman's Vile Potion
Roll: Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 3)
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Medicine: 3
Minimum Heroism: 2
One patient in the hero's care who is suffering from an unpleasant but temporary, non-fatal illness recovers completely after 24 hours spent in the hero's care. This includes colds, flus, food poisoning, severe sore throats, coughs, and so forth. Additional successes reduce the time required for this cure by 3 hours, to a minimum recovery period of 3 hours.
Master Physician's Ministrations
Roll: Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 4)
Duration: Special
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Medicine: 4
Minimum Heroism: 2
If the hero tends only one patient and takes no other significant action while doing so, the patient heals more quickly. Whenever the patient would normally heal one health level of bashing or lethal damage, she instead heals two health levels. This Heroic lasts until the patient stops resting, the hero stops tending the patient, all health levels are recovered, or the patient has healed an extra health level. Each additional success allows the hero to extend the duration of this Heroic's effects for the time it takes the patient to heal one additional health level, to a maximum number of additional health levels recovered equal to the Hero's Heroism. This Heroic is cumulative with other Edges, Heroics, and Charms.
Plague-Defeating Care
Roll: Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 4)
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Medicine: 4
Minimum Heroism: 2
One patient in the hero's care who is suffering from a serious illness receives the hero's Heroism in additional dice to her Endurance check to survive the disease. Additional successes add 1 more die, but the total number of bonus dice granted by this Heroic cannot exceed twice the hero's Heroism.
Whiskey and Hot Iron Application
Roll: Wits + Medicine (difficulty 4)
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Medicine: 4
Minimum Heroism: 2
One patient in the hero's care who is suffering from an infection receives the hero's Heroism in additional dice to her next Endurance check to overcome the infection. Additional successes add 1 more die, but the total number of bonus dice granted by this Heroic cannot exceed twice the hero's Heroism.
Shallow Wound Coincidence
Roll: Manipulation + Medicine (difficulty 5)
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Medicine: 5
Minimum Heroism: 3
The hero must tend one of the patient's wounds for fifteen minutes to activate this Heroic. As it turns out, one lethal wound the patient suffered within the last hour is not so serious as it seems. This Heroic converts 1 health level of lethal damage to bashing damage. Additional successes convert 1 additional health level, to a maximum number of converted health levels of lethal damage equal to the hero's Heroism. This Heroic will not work on a patient more than once unless she suffers new injuries, and even then, wounds that existed when this Heroic was used on the patient the last time cannot benefit from this Heroic. This restriction applies even if multiple heroes employ this Heroic. If several heroes use this Heroic on one patient to tend the same injuries, the number of health levels of damage converted is equal to the highest result achieved by one of the members.
Loyal Defender
Roll: Wits + Melee (difficulty 3)
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 3
Minimum Heroism: 2
The hero must be wielding a shield to activate this Heroic. If the shield is a buckler, the hero may not activate this Heroic against missile attacks of any kind. This Heroic allows the hero to parry an incoming attack of which she is aware using her full Dexterity + Melee pool provided the attack can normally be parried.
Heart and Hands Feint
Roll: Wits + Melee (difficulty 4)
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 4
Minimum Heroism: 2
The hero may, before an enemy's defensive actions are declared, roll a Melee attack a second time, though she must accept the result of the second roll. No attack may benefit from this Heroic more than once. Each additional success increases the number of times the hero may reroll the attack by 1, to a maximum number of rerolls equal to the hero's Heroism, but the hero must always accept the result of the last reroll he makes.
Dicing with Death Guidance
Roll: Wits + Melee (difficulty 5)
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 5
Minimum Heroism: 3
The hero may, before an enemy's defensive actions are declared, reroll a Melee attack and choose the more desireable of the two results. The hero may not reroll any attack more than once. If this Heroic is successfully comboed with Heart and Hands Feint, the result is slightly different. In this case, Dicing with Death Guidance does not allow the hero to reroll the attack but, rather, allows the hero may choose the most desireable result of all the rolls made with Heart and Hands Feint.