General Exalted Thread

[Kymme]

Citrine Poxes is looking absolutely great. I love it!

 

[SerGregness]

Also if anyone is worried abotu this being utterly borked - just limit the soak-stacking from multiple Forms. It's still strong at that point, but you can knock a fair amount of soak off it, depending on how you limit it.

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Solars can hardcounter this at chargen, I'll note, as can anyone with Hardness-cutting Evocations and decent Overwhelming. It's only +1 over the usual passive Defense cap, costs a lot of motes committed, and reduces your flexibility a lot.

The raw numbers are cool, but well into the realm of diminishing returns. It's definitely good, but far from anything I'd consider problematic at Essence 5.

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Yeah, at a certain point higher soak is just bragging rights. 30 soak and 50 soak are mostly the same against defense-piercing charms.

 

[mothematics]

Shamefully, I must double-post (please forgive me!) to ask if anyone else thinks Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style is too strong? I feel like there's quite a few questionable decisions made. Soul-Fire Shaper Form (10m, 1wp) is disgusting on Sidereals/Getimians for one reason: it grants Essence 10 for the purposes of charm calculations. If my understanding of the rules is correct, this means all charms that say something like "this adds (higher of Essence or 3)" or "(Essence) dice" or things related to that have become utterly insane the second you pop that form on. For instance, it turns Hostility Acceptance Technique (Brawl charm, 4m to reduce Initiative damage taken by higher of essence or 3, enemy still gains initiative from doing damage, and the charm is Versatile, so any unarmed martial artist can use it) from a strong mitigation trick to something that will utterly end an enemy's ability to crash you (especially since Prismatic Arrangement also has a charm that gives you [Essence + (Lore or Occult)] soak). You figure one's optimal play in all scenarios for all abilities as a Sidereal is to pop Soul-Fire Shaper Form before you start firing off your charms.

Also inexplicably nasty is Astrology Interruption Method; for 1m and 1wp, you end any Fate Shaping effect on someone and give them immunity. No contested roll, just poof, immune to most Sidereal/Getimian tricks. Furthermore, for that same cost, any ability roll you make can be enhanced so that any effects that increase your TN or would decrease an opposing roll's TN (such as the Sidereal Excellency) are negated. This fundamentally means that many Sidereal/Getimian offensive and defensive techniques are completely nullified; I usually don't use "mechanics = lore" on a 1-1 basis, but holy shit, you figure Sidereal-on-Sidereal or Sidereal vs. Getimian fights would be absurdly lethal because of this style's existence. I'm open to hearing counter-arguments for why any of this isn't busted, but from my current perspective, this is all absurd and should never make it to final draft in this state.

EDIT: Note that this all gets more insane if you get the capstone, the style's eponymous Form charm. In addition to having the benefits of Soul-Fire Shaper (10 Essence for calculations, -1wp cost once per round to select charms, can turn Initiative gained from withering attacks into motes, can spend 5m in place of a WP), you gain the other form benefits! Four Magical Materials Form turns your fist statline into that of a light artifact weapon, reduces its prerequisite's (the magical materials charms) costs by 2m, lets you ignore crippling effects, and use Evocations you learned through artifacts if they're one of the Four Magical Materials. Demesne-and-Manse Form lets you manifest a hearthstone that grants (Essence, maximum 5 thank god) post-soak withering damage or raw decisive damage for 4m committed. You're smacking people around with fists that hit as hard as any grand daiklave ever could, and you'll never run out of motes in a fight. You commit 30m and spend 2wp if you go into PAoC Form, but who cares.

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If you think something is broken, I strongly encourage you to put that feedback in the errata form. Whether or not any specific example is (or isn't; I'm not disagreeing with you one way or another), the simple truth is that Sidereal Martial Arts are experimental and hard to balance. We haven't done this before in 3rd edition, so we're still learning how to do them, and the fanbase at large is always going to figure out combinations, problems, or unique interactions that passed by the team. So having lots of eyes on them and feedback during the Kickstarter is really important to make sure that they're in the best shape possible for the final version.

 

[FaeGlade Plural]

The ideas behind all the Sidereal Martial Arts we've read so far are quite solid, but there are a couple of cases where stuff either goes too deep into combinatorial explosion, or does not quite work out.

Just talking Prismatic Arrangement of Creation:

You can look at Ways of Exaltation, and our earlier mistake there WRT Anima Powers, but you fortunately can't nap other Exalt Types (so e.g. Lunars or Solars) anima abilities, and using those of Sidereals doesn't let you double up on anything, so it's fine. This can probably benefit from clarification just to be sure people get it in a release (just a mild wording change), but it is a good example for reigning an ability in.

Four Magical Materials Form is a good example for how things can be really neat without breaking anything. Congrats, your unarmed weapons are now artifacts, and you get to use Evocations you've learned for a weapon with them. Also, some mote savings and not getting crippled, but that doesn't break anything.

We've been going over Soul-Fire Shaper Form too, because some stuff just goes nuts with Essence 10. Especially since you jump from E4 to E10, but even at E5 that'd be really strong. And that isn't even all it does.
IMO, changing the Enlightenment effect to +3 effective Essence would already be plenty strong, but fall short of "(more than) double the effectiveness of a lot of charms and evocations". Alternatively, the effective Essence could get cut down to +1, and then be +2 for the Enlightenment effect - that is still quite strong, often amounting to extra dice, soak, initiative, damage, etc.
Of course, it is also a bit unclear whether "for the purpose of calculations" includes where Essence gets used as part of a dice pool, and really what it even excludes other than "learning Charms".

 

[SunnySprings]

If you think something is broken, I strongly encourage you to put that feedback in the errata form. Whether or not any specific example is (or isn't; I'm not disagreeing with you one way or another), the simple truth is that Sidereal Martial Arts are experimental and hard to balance. We haven't done this before in 3rd edition, so we're still learning how to do them, and the fanbase at large is always going to figure out combinations, problems, or unique interactions that passed by the team. So having lots of eyes on them and feedback during the Kickstarter is really important to make sure that they're in the best shape possible for the final version.

Click to shrink...

Is it linked in one of the updates? If not, give me the link; I got banned from the Discord (couldn't get along with some people on there, my fault, sucks). I'm not mad at the devs (this is a draft after all), but Soul-Fire Shaper Method definitely needs tuning because it removes the one weakness this style could have (being absurdly WP and mote hungry) and kicks up its best attributes into the stratosphere. I haven't even considered how crazy the Essence = 10 thing can get if you are to combo it with other martial arts; while native Sid Combat Charms are very careful to make sure +Essence effects cap at 5, you get occasional ones that slip through the cracks like Hostility Acceptance Technique, and the older book's charms were definitely not made with this in mind.

 

[FaeGlade Plural]

I'm not sure I would call Prismatic Arrangement of Creation all that mote-hungry?

Deadly Starmetal Offensive is a full excellency for 5 motes, that's just good right there, even if it is once or twice a scene.

Five Jade Fury gives a bunch of effects for 4m each, which may also be used together:

• impose Onslaught before the attack, and ignore defense bonuses from light/heavy cover and full defense. Bit overpriced compared to other such effects, admittedly, but combine it with other effects...
• add (Lore or Occult) dice to an attack roll, and add +1 Onslaught Penalty. That is more efficient than an Excellency already, and then you get the Onslaught penalty on top
• heal 1 level of damage if you crash someone or do 3+ damage. That's a fair price for 4m
• add (Lore or Occult) to withering raw damage and overwhelm, or (Essence) extra successes as decisive damage dice. That is once again reasonably efficient
• add (Essence, max 5) initiative for crashing someone, or half that to your base initiative.

Orichalcum Sheathing Stance costs 5m, 3i to gain (Essence + (Lore or Occult)) armored soak or the same amount of hardness, after an attack. But you also gain 1 mote for each of the attacks 10s, up to (Essence) if you do not take damage, so it'll likely cost a few motes less. Given that you can use this after an attack, this is pretty reasoably priced

Flickering Moonsilver Approach costs 5m, 1wp to do a rolloff to turn one of your attacks into a surprise attack. Compared to similar Solar charms, this does cost a bunch more, though it is also more flexible and reliable.

And all of the above charms have their cost reduced by 2m by Four Magical Materials Form, at which point they are all efficient, or really efficient.


Astrology-Interruption Method costs 1m, 1wp. Sequential Essence Disruption costs 1m, 1wp. Essence Redirection Technique costs 2m, 1wp. Spell-Shattering Palm does cost 5m and 0-3wp, but also you only use it against fully shaped spells, not all the time.
So generally, those do not cost that much. Their willpower cost goes away, as you said, with Soul-Fire Shaper Form.

Ways of Exaltation costs 5m, 1wp, for an indefinite charm that can add up to 3 dice to a bunch of actions and 2 to static values (e.g. if you emulate a Full Moon Lunar, you'd get 3 dice on all strength, dexterity, stamina actions, and 2 to all relevant static values such as Defense and Soak). That's good value.

Demense Emulation Practice gives you the mote recovery of standing inside an attuned manse, which admittedly does not help during combat, but certainly should between combats.


Maybe I am wrong on what is mote-hungry, but right now I do not see it? Which TBH, I wouldn't want it to be.

 

[Indivisible]

I'm... kinda disappointed actually. The SMA are cool, but they're just for E3 play, and all the spells we got are for E3 play.

If you're E1 or E2, there's just a single sorcererous initiation and two martial arts. They're good martial arts, but still.

 

[mothematics]

The Dragon-Blooded book is nothing but Terrestrial spells, and Lunars and the core both have some, so I don't think the line is really lacking for them atm?

 

[SunnySprings]

I feel like we've gotten enough universal E1-E2 content from the prior books, honestly. Dragon-blooded added ten Terrestrial spells, the Immaculate Dragon Styles, and three martial arts separate from those. Lunars added four martial arts and five Terrestrial spells. I feel like it's fine for a book to indulge in adding options for those who have run long-running campaigns. The next big splat book, Abyssals, will have to include necromancy from the ground-up and a few non-SMAs (and maaaaaybe that one SMA the Bishop invented), so there's more low Essence content coming up.

 

[Blaque]

Note that Soulfire Shaper Form is not as crazy for Sidereals as it seems as their dice and bonus cap are both 5. So it doens't like, make their Excellency suddenly go to 10 dice and things that add dice or successes are still capped as per usual. So while it looks super-turbo-impressive, it's more for things that key on Essence like AOEs and such.

 

[SunnySprings]

Note that Soulfire Shaper Form is not as crazy for Sidereals as it seems as their dice and bonus cap are both 5. So it doens't like, make their Excellency suddenly go to 10 dice and things that add dice or successes are still capped as per usual. So while it looks super-turbo-impressive, it's more for things that key on Essence like AOEs and such.

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Ah, that makes it better, although I'm still a little iffy on mote regen (which does hit a brick wall against soak monsters) and that one charm that can completely ruin a Sidereal's day for 1m/1wp. Still, it does enable that very nasty combo with Hostility Acceptance Technique, as it doesn't add dice or bonuses; that should probably get a maximum 5 cap.

 

[Sucal]

I mentioned it last night, but thrones shadow and black claw compound really really well. Everything about Throne Shadow form is great stunt fodder for a black claw stylist. Plus the two different intimacies they can instill make for great social Fu.

'''I cower behind the brave hero who will protect me"

 

[HalfTangible]

>Introduce a child as the main enemy
>Don't quite realize what I'm doing until one of the other players says he draws the line at killing children


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKjxqsYhQAQ

Also Echo beaned the child in the hand with a perfume bottle before said child could blow them up.

This is the same character who defeated an Abyssal by summoning a piano to drop on her head.

 

[samdamandias]

Well, it allows Sidereals to do that, since you need the Enlightenment keyword.

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It does point out that Getimians do get access to Enlightenment, but the SMAs are also keyworded as Flowing or Still.

Given what we have seen of Getimians from XS, this means that Getimians must be in Flowing mode to access Enlightenment for Flowing styles, and must be in the Still mode to access it for Still styles.

This is still more access than anyone else gets.

 

[Gamerex27]

In the beating heart of the Dreaming Sea, the high-stakes fight club tournament has finally begun! With a potent manse key on the line, and more than a dozen Chosen under the same roof, no one expected a smooth event, and naturally, it isn't!

Atom faces off against special guest star Metty from DipShips as a mysterious Alchemical urban planner and brawler! Lythander tries to avoid getting his face melted by an angry fiery jellyfish man! Gavel isn't participating, but she still has time for intrigue, and uncovers a vital clue about Sozen!
Also, featuring special guest star Strawmaiden Janest! And another Alchemical! And more Dragonblooded than you can shake a daiklaive at! And an Exigent or two! And...Strawmaiden Janest. Again!

Watch it here on Podbean and here on Youtube!

 

[FaeGlade Plural]

<Fina>

Spoiler: Ingore this for now I derped a lot

I wonder if it is intentional that Maiden-and-Shadown Enlightenment, and Clay Maiden Enlightenment, allow any Sidereal Martial Arts to be used at range?
Because as it is right now, they just say "she can use (the chosen Sidereal Martial Arts) with all Thrown/Archery weapons, though that doesn't make it compatible with other styles that use them. All her Thrown/Archery Charms count as Versatile for any of it's Charms that interact with other styles, like Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form."

There are only two martial arts currently which are compatible with thrown or archery weapons, Righteous Devil Style and Air Dragon Style (the latter explicitly says "(the chakram) can either be thrown, or wielded at close range as a light weapon", but that reads more as calling it out that you can wield it as a light weapon, because otherwise it is just a thrown weapon).
Though of course any martial arts that uses Clubs, Knives, Axes, or Spears can also get the Thrown tag. So currently that'd be Golden Janissary (Spear), Mantis (Batons, Swaying Grass (Batons and Knives), White Reaper (Spears), Ebon Shadow (Knives), Thrown Shadow (Rope Dart) and Violet Bier of Sorrows (Knives).

I'm not arguing is not that it is weird or bad to have ranged martial arts, far from it, it is neat.

But I am wondering, because it seems like a pretty big difference.
Someone who enters Sidereal Martial Arts through either normal Martial Arts, or the Brawl or Melee equivalent of the above, will only be able to use the SMAs at their prescribed ranges. Even if they entered through a ranged martial arts. Charcoal March and Obsidian Shards are compatible with knives for short thrown range, Citrine Poxes with Darts/Needles for medium range. Emeral Gyre and Prismatic Arrangement have no weapons that go beyond close range.
But if you enter through the Thrown or Archery Enlightenment, you get long range with all of those (if you use a thrown artifact weapon).
Which is really good compared to the other two Enlightenment charms.

In addition to that, the phrasing "though that doesn't make it compatible with other styles that use them" is also weird?
Suppose I get the Thrown Enlightenment Charm, and go into Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style with it. It is now compatible with Thrown Weapons, and all my Sidereal Thrown Charms are Versatile with it, so I can use them together with Prismatic Arrangement as long as I use a Thrown weapon.
For example, I could use Insatiable Weapon Wanderlust (increases range band) and Flickering Moonsilver Approach (simple uniform attack, medium range which should get increased, rolloff or turns into a surprise attack) together for a really nifty effect.
So far, so good.
But suppose I also learn Air Dragon Style, which is compatible with the Chakram, a thrown weapon. Normally, I could combine it with Thrown Charms which are already Versatile, and Prismatic Arrangement since that is a martial arts.
For example, the above combo could use Avenging Wind Strike to hurl the enemy some range bands away, beneficial since it teleports me into close range.
But the Thrown Enlightenment Charm says that Prismatic Arrangement is not compatible with "other styles that (use thrown weapons)". So this would not work. Why?

Seriously, I do not get it?
It may be there so that the omni-versatility does not apply to those other styles. If so, that is poor wording?
For example, above I was careful to only choose charms that were already Versatile. In the pure Thrown/Prismatic combo, I'd probably use Pain Amplification Stratagem, which lowers damage target numbers, which makes the other charm increase range further. But it is not Versatile, so it would not work with Air Dragon Style. That is fine, it is an interesting limitation and prevens combinatorial explosion.

But such combinatorial explosion is not further limited by that phrasing which makes Prismatic Arrangement and Air Dragon incompatible in this instance?
After all, someone who had learned Air Dragon first, to then learn Prismatic Arrangement the normal way, and had also learned a couple already-Versatile Thrown charms, could pull off this combo. It just gets stopped by the Enlightenment charm because...?

If it is as a drawback because you entered Sidereal Martial Arts more quickly than you would have by fully purchasing a Martial Arts, which typically does take more Charms - okay, I'd rather solve that adjusting the prerequisites of those Charms? And then you still have the issue that there is no way to undo the Enlightenment Charms - you are forever stuck with them.

I may genuinely be overlooking something here, this is genuinely a question.

But unless I am, I would rather phrase the Enlightenment charms like this:

Upon choosing this Charm, the Sidereal chooses a Sidereal Martial Art. She counts (the number of (Thrown/Archery/Brawl/Melee) Charms + 2) towards the total of ten Martial Arts Charms she needs to learn Sidereal Martial Arts, but only for that style. Her chosen style is compatible with all (Thrown/Archery/Brawl/Melee) weapons, as long as she attacks at close or short range. All her (Thrown/Archery/Brawl/Melee) count as Versatile for that Style and as Martial Arts for any of it's Charms, like Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form. This charm can be purchased multiple times.

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I do not see any issues arising from this?
It does what the charm is supposed to do - it allows entry into Sidereal Martial Arts through native Sidereal Charms. I altered it so that you follow the normal learning mechanic (completed martial arts or 10 martial arts charms in total), but just count (your Thrown etc. + 2) which at the point where you can purchase this comes out to nine. That means you either need one more (Thrown etc.) Charm, or a single other Martial Arts Charm. This could be adjusted to just be +3 to function like before, or be reduced to +1 or +0 so as to require more (Thrown etc.) Charms or more Martial Arts Charms.
I also put in a stop to the increased range, while still making it logically work. If desired, this could be increased to medium for Archery? I made it a hard limit so that it is not too easy to bypass via range extenders.
It still only extends the increased Versatility to that one Style, and as elaborated enough I do not see why Enlightenment Charms should make SMAs and MAs incompatible all of the sudden?



TL;DR:
Enlightenment Charms are weird?
Some grant a ton of range, not sure about that?
Also there's an issue where using an Enlightenment Charm can make Sidereal Martial Arts and normal Martial Arts incomptible with each other? Weird AF.
Rewrite of Enlightenment Charms that changes that.
Not 100% sure if I overlooked something that may necessitate how they were written?

 

[JoergenJetsam]

It does point out that Getimians do get access to Enlightenment, but the SMAs are also keyworded as Flowing or Still.

Given what we have seen of Getimians from XS, this means that Getimians must be in Flowing mode to access Enlightenment for Flowing styles, and must be in the Still mode to access it for Still styles.

This is still more access than anyone else gets.

Click to shrink...

Indeed, Prismatic Arrangement specifically has the Nature descriptor "Both Flowing and Still", so Getimians presumably have access to the benefits of Enlightenment for that particular style under most-to-all circumstances, as I understand it. It's the only SMA with both, actually. Obsidian Shards has Nature: Still listed and the other three Sidereal styles are all Flowing.

 

[HioH]

So have they given up on Many-Faced Strangers entirely? Don't think I've seen any news on it for a long long time.

 

[mantovani]

Many Faced Strangers is in "Post-Editing Development", I think it will move to layout once Essence is done.

 

[Blaque]

Where's what for the interested:
CURRENTLY CROWDFUNDING
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course

WRITING AND DEVELOPMENT
Outline
Miracles of Divine Flame (Exigents Companion)

First Draft
Abyssals
Essence Adventure Trilogy
Exalted Essay Collection
Damned Lies (Exalted Essence Novella #2)
Exalted Essence Novella #3: TBA
Essence Jumpstart & RMCs (Merged)

Redlines
What Lies Forgotten (Exalted Essence Novella #1)

Manuscript Approval
Surface Truths (Dragon-Blooded Novella #2)

Editing
Pillars of Creation (Essence Companion)
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course

Post-Editting Development
Exalted Essence Edition
Exigents: Out of the Ashes
Facets of Truth (Lunar Novella #1)
Many-Faced Strangers (Lunars Companion)

ART AND PRODUCTION
Art Direction
Across the 8 Directions
Crucible of Legends (In sketches)
Exigents: Out of the Ashes
Many-Faced Strangers
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course

In Layout
Exalted Essence Edition (Next after Adventure!)

Paradox Approval
Facets of Truth (Lunar Novella #1)

At Press
Adversaries of the Righteous (Collecting errata)

 

[Amidatelion]

So a different question... how does everyone prefer to use the concept of Past Lives and associated trappings?

Ex3 has heavily de-emphasized any mechanical effects of past lives in favor of a more "vague deja vu and flashes of insight" approach but also presents lots of hooks and NPCs that rely on past life memories and identity.

I can see the benefits of multiple approaches and think that any level of "past life memories" should be settled between the player and storyteller throughout the game. Still, I'd like to know what other people make of it and how that's played out in games.

 

[Blaque]

So a different question... how does everyone prefer to use the concept of Past Lives and associated trappings?

Ex3 has heavily de-emphasized any mechanical effects of past lives in favor of a more "vague deja vu and flashes of insight" approach but also presents lots of hooks and NPCs that rely on past life memories and identity.

I can see the benefits of multiple approaches and think that any level of "past life memories" should be settled between the player and storyteller throughout the game. Still, I'd like to know what other people make of it and how that's played out in games.

Click to shrink...

I never emphasized it much since to me it was something that was always a bit weird I guess. My preferred take I have described to people before is a given Celestial Exaltation is kind of like a tilte that you inherit. It's just it gives yous uper powers. Kind of like some mantles in comics I guess od it? I dunno, don't read those really.

So in that context you aren't your past life per se, but due to its nature some obligations come with it. Possessions like artifacts and obligations to some beings also kind of come with it. And how much that transfers over to you from your predecessor is kind of vague, and up to plot, obviously. And your past lives or not having memories is kind of akin to how sometimes Senators put letters in their desks for their successors or something.

 

[Kymme]

So a different question... how does everyone prefer to use the concept of Past Lives and associated trappings?

Ex3 has heavily de-emphasized any mechanical effects of past lives in favor of a more "vague deja vu and flashes of insight" approach but also presents lots of hooks and NPCs that rely on past life memories and identity.

I can see the benefits of multiple approaches and think that any level of "past life memories" should be settled between the player and storyteller throughout the game. Still, I'd like to know what other people make of it and how that's played out in games.

Click to shrink...

If Past Life memories come up in my games it's pretty much always at the behest of my players involving them. In my very first Exalted game I made the mistake of going a little too overboard, giving everybody First Age flashbacks, deciding important details about their prior incarnations without the consent of the players, etc, and I regret doing that. Nowadays I try to give my players sole authority over those kinds of character details, which tends to help them feel more involved and invested.

As a sort of inverse to Blaque's take, for one of my games we explicitly rejected the notion that exaltations move from soul to soul - it's been the same reincarnating doods from the getgo! We made this decision because the main characters in the game are people who are best friends, and we thought it would be neat if they'd always been best friends, rather than them being two people with no particularly special bond wearing hats, and the hats have been best friends stretching back to the dawn of time.

 

[TenfoldShields]

So a different question... how does everyone prefer to use the concept of Past Lives and associated trappings?

Ex3 has heavily de-emphasized any mechanical effects of past lives in favor of a more "vague deja vu and flashes of insight" approach but also presents lots of hooks and NPCs that rely on past life memories and identity.

I can see the benefits of multiple approaches and think that any level of "past life memories" should be settled between the player and storyteller throughout the game. Still, I'd like to know what other people make of it and how that's played out in games.

Click to shrink...

I'm not 100% certain it's applicable or necessarily what you're looking for, since it was in a narrative thing I was writing rather than a game, but I represented the main character's Past Life as like- a series of dreams, sometimes streams of intrusive thoughts and emotions disconnected from obvious stimuli. The sorta jarring missing-a-step-on-the-staircase disconnect when he saw things that were Almost familiar but then didn't see the next expected piece. Worn grooves of patterns that abruptly diverged in disconcerting ways. With the intention of developing it into more of an untrustworthy wellspring of ideas and plans, an almost devil-on-the-shoulder in the sense that this thing, this dreamlike not-not-a-person in your head is giving you potentially very good direction and useful insights but you know this is not someone, something, this character should be heeding. A poisonous whisper that would eventually have to be confronted more directly.

In my mind the main benefit of Past Life is that it lets you directly engage with the often otherwise inaccessible deep history of the setting in a way that doesn't cheapen it or necessarily make the distances less great, less vast. Squaring a circle that's otherwise difficult to really reckon with. Memories of being a Sidereal agent desperately trying to maintain containment and quarantine, then triage and cauterization as the Contagion rolls over Creation. An Abyssal getting flashes of exactly what kind of person their First Age self was, the things that were done and built in that sun-drenched Solar paradise. And then being able to draw on that and recontextualize for the character's modern life, how it influences them to be haunted by a past that is and isn't theirs. To get a good look at the larger stakes of this back and forth across history.

Which isn't always relevant for all characters and all games or all writing! But I do think that it can sometimes make a character really shine, especially if you keep it relatively out of focus and sorta off-center.

 

[Gazetteer]

So a different question... how does everyone prefer to use the concept of Past Lives and associated trappings?

Ex3 has heavily de-emphasized any mechanical effects of past lives in favor of a more "vague deja vu and flashes of insight" approach but also presents lots of hooks and NPCs that rely on past life memories and identity.

I can see the benefits of multiple approaches and think that any level of "past life memories" should be settled between the player and storyteller throughout the game. Still, I'd like to know what other people make of it and how that's played out in games.

Click to shrink...

I've been involved with one game where they feature pretty heavily, with the player in question really buying into the idea that their PC and at least one of her past lives have enough in common that the memories feel meaningfully like hers. An original deathlord who ended up as a major antagonist is the ghost of that prior incarnation, so we had a lot of fun with it.

It's a fun element a player can dip into as much or as little as they like, and you can tie it into a lot of story hooks or not, as suits your needs. I've not felt a need to mechanise it or houserule in new lore to make it work differently, so far.