Vanishing from Mind's Eye Method- Charm Clarification

[RedMantis]

OK guys, I've been talking about my namesake, Red Mantis the Night Caste Burglar, for awhile and there's something I need to know before I buy the last of the base book Stealth charms for him. How the heck does VftMEM work?


http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/inde ... Eye_Method


I get the basics of it, you use it and someone forgets that you were the one they saw. I play a bit more Vampire than Exalted so my mind keeps blurring into the level of obfuscate with nearly the same name. I've asked my storyteller and his explanations don't make much more sense to me.


Does this charm make one person forget one instance of you being seen?


Can it be used on someone who isn't anywhere near you?


Can it be used to make someone forget they saw you years after the fact?


The duration is indefinite, does that mean that a person will never remember who they saw?


Do you have to choose a target after you've been spotted or do you use it in case someone can see you while you're sneaking around?


Again, I can wrap my mind around "This Charm causes people to forget having met or even seen the Chosen, replacing her presence in their memories with a vague stranger or no one at all." but it's the HOW in a game mechanics sense that I need. So that I don't plan a heist from one of our Abyssal foes only to have the Storyteller tell me I'm doing it wrong at step 6 of the heist.


The foremost application of this is that I want to see if my character could use it on Tepet Ajava to make her forget that he was part of the circle of Solars she's hunting. If that was successful I would be able to meet with her in person in some other powerful and trustworthy persona and give misinformation. I'm not worried about the guards since,well, we killed all the old ones the first time they met us. I know that the Bronze faction saved her the first time but that's OOC knowledge so I have to deal with that when it comes up.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

It would be much simpler to understand if you just referenced the actual book rather than WW's wiki, cause the wiki doesn't give you any of the mechanics of the Charms.


You can use it retroactively, and it affects anyone who saw you, making it harder for them to try and remember or reconize you.

 

[StarHawk]

for the situation you described, yes, in theory (and ST approval) this charm should allow you to approach Roseblack again and mislead her, assuming you roll well enough, and she doesn't.

 

[RedMantis]

It would be much simpler to understand if you just referenced the actual book rather than WW's wiki, cause the wiki doesn't give you any of the mechanics of the Charms.
You can use it retroactively, and it affects anyone who saw you, making it harder for them to try and remember or reconize you.

I posted from Work and didn't have the book, Anyone with a book should have no trouble finding the charm, sorry I couldn't conjure up a page number for you.


So I activate it and apply it to a whole scene?


Is there a statute of limitations on how long I can wait before using it?

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Not really. The text of the charm says it is usually used retroactively, after the action has ended, sometimes even years after.

 

[Kyeudo]

Here's how I think the Charm works:


You turn it on and roll your [Wits or Manipulation] + Stealth and add your Essence to set the difficulty to remember you. The duration is indefinate, so the Essence is committed until you decide you want to start being remembered or want to readjust the difficulty.


As long as the Charm is in effect, anyone trying to remember ever seeing you, even your allies, even if you arn't present at the time, has to succeed on a Wits + Lore roll against that difficulty. If they fail, it's as though they don't know you. If they succeed, they know the whole deal. They only have to check the first time each day that they meet you, so you can't try to make 12 first impressions. When you turn the Charm off, things go back to normal.


Essentially, it's like a Solar version of the Sidereal Arcane Fate that can be turned off and on at will. In my opinion, it needs work to be actually useful, since your allies forget you just as easily as your enemies.

 

[RedMantis]

Essentially, it's like a Solar version of the Sidereal Arcane Fate that can be turned off and on at will. In my opinion, it needs work to be actually useful, since your allies forget you just as easily as your enemies.

That's what I thought after I went over it a couple of times since that's the precedence that's been set in game. The problem is the retroactive terminology doesn't fit then.


I'm getting bits of the puzzle but I haven't been able to piece them together very well.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Think about a Night Caste. Years ago she broke into the one fo the Great houses of the realm and stole something. She is keeping contacts within the Realm that alert her everytime someone tries to find out what happened, at which point she turns this charm on, and makes it so much harder to find her or about her.


It can also be very effective for an Eclipse or a Zenith who goes around trying to persuade people or change society, and then turns this on whenever the Wyld Hunt comes looking for him.


Yes, I agree that it can wreck havoc with your circle mates, but it depends on how well you roll, how good their own stats are. The Twilight is usually the more likely to see through this more easily, and hopefully vouch for you to the rest of them.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Think about a Night Caste. Years ago she broke into the one fo the Great houses of the realm and stole something. She is keeping contacts within the Realm that alert her everytime someone tries to find out what happened, at which point she turns this charm on, and makes it so much harder to find her or about her.
It can also be very effective for an Eclipse or a Zenith who goes around trying to persuade people or change society, and then turns this on whenever the Wyld Hunt comes looking for him.


Yes, I agree that it can wreck havoc with your circle mates, but it depends on how well you roll, how good their own stats are. The Twilight is usually the more likely to see through this more easily, and hopefully vouch for you to the rest of them.

And you could always send a note to your Circlemates saying: "You probably don't remember me, but that'll be because I used the Charm that makes you forget me. If you do happen to remember me, or if you don't, then meet me in two weeks at the North corner of the Little Market, next to that swordsmith's stall [the Dawn Caste] likes visiting."