Tiger's Eye

Tiger’s Eye

Appearing initially much like a gemstone or mineral cluster the size of a melon, the tiger’s eye — so named for one of its more common manifestations — is actually an ambush predator par excellence, possessed of a stone’s own patience as well as its fantastic durability. When it attacks, it opens along all-but-invisible seams to reveal its true form: not a spirit of the earth, but an armored stone beast reminiscent of a thin, sharp-edged pangolin the size of a large dog. Crystals encrust its underbelly like a geode, and it has jaws and claws to match. Tiger’s eyes frequently crunch their prey’s bones between their crystalline teeth and devour them, but when shattered the beasts’ bodies are stone through and through.

Despite its lanky form, a tiger’s eye’s mineral construction means it masses much more than it looks like it should. Threatened by something more dangerous, a tiger’s eye curls up into its gem-like form to protect its comparatively fragile crystalline belly, becoming rockhard and almost impossible to injure. Miners and scavenger lords encounter these creatures more than anyone else, but they are sometimes found on the surface, particularly in rocky or mountainous regions. They are extremely territorial and attack anyone or anything that intrudes near their nests, which they line with gems of similar substance to their bodies; given time, these hatch like eggs, giving rise to a litter of young tiger’s eyes.

Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 5
Health Levels: −0x4/−1x4/Incap
Actions: Disguise: 8 dice; Navigating Underground: 5 dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 10 dice; Senses: 6 dice; Threaten: 6 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 3

COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 6 dice (Damage 9); Tags: Piercing
Attack: (Claw): 9 dice (Damage 5)
Attack (Body Slam): 7 dice (Damage 7); Tags:
Smashing
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 15/7

[AN UNDEFEATED CHAMPION
Glassjaw is famous in some circles in Nexus. An obsidian-edged jet tiger’s eye captured by a scavenger lord and
sold to a pit-fight maestro, it’s won over a hundred bouts against attack dogs, armed gladiators, and once, a wild
bear. This lithe creature’s fans credit it with an animal cunning as sharp as its claws, known to circle and observe
opponents before attacking.

Perhaps it’s too clever for its own good — it’s killed more than one handler over the last year, and the last match
was a total bust, with Glassjaw refusing to uncurl and fight a claw strider. Only the maestro knows the truth, and
it terrifies him: that chunk of jet they turned loose in the ring wasn’t Glassjaw, and he has no idea where his prize
fighter really is.]

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ambush Hunter: The tiger’s eye gains +3 on attacks made while successfully disguised as stone.
As Stone Itself: The tiger’s eye curls up into its stone form and can roll Disguise to fool observers. It may also spend a Willpower to add +5 to its Hardness while in this form. This lasts until it uncurls again. It can’t take any actions while in this form.

MERITS
Flawless Visage: Observers can’t differentiate a tiger’s eye in stone form from a large gemstone or mineral deposit without magic.
Sturdy as Stone: A tiger’s eye cannot be knocked back or prone except by magical effects or creatures  of legendary size. A grappled tiger’s eye cannot be thrown or slammed unless magic such as Dragon Coil  Technique (Exalted, p. 280) is used, or if the attacker is of legendary size.

Stone Cannot Bleed: A tiger’s eye takes one fewer health level of damage from successful decisive attacks using blunt weapons, but one extra health level from those using sharp or thrusting weapons.

Storyteller Tactics
Tiger’s eyes like to nestle among other rocks, then burst open and slam into victims, stunning them long enough to sink their diamond-hard fangs in. They are protective of their comparatively fragile, geodic underbellies, and retreat or curl up into stone form if a foe lands a solid blow there. Doing so is a difficulty 3 gambit that reduces its soak and Hardness each by two for the scene. Tiger’s eyes reside most often in caves, much to spelunkers’ surprise. Some particularly courageous (or foolhardy) treasure hunters make a living trapping and killing tiger’s eyes, whose valuable gemstone bodies are worth a fortune.

Most tiger’s eyes are solitary, tolerating each other only lukewarmly — while they may be encountered in numbers, each looks out for number one. Tiger’s eyes made of lazurite, however, while rare, are far more likely to congregate and engage in complex pack tactics. Since lazurite composes the majority of lapis lazuli, miners extracting this valuable commodity must take especial care, lest the promise of a mother lode lead them down a tunnel from which they will not return.