General Exalted Thread

[Pale Wolf]

Double-posting because these are pretty much entirely unrelated topics.

Okay, so. I happen to be in a modernesque Ex3 game myself, so I've been homebrewing modern weapons for that. As has been discussed over the past few pages, the flavour is somewhat mutable - you can totally just take a hundred Withering attacks to aim and save the actual shooting for when you're doing a Decisive attack for a more realistic feel, or you can go all John Woo and yeah all those withering attacks have actual bullet being fired.


You're gonna see a lot of new tags here, I used original ones where I could, but modern weapons have a lot of functions that bows don't. They'll be listed first. Design notes in italics.


At present this is only handheld weapons. I'd like to brew up tanks and artillery if only because I want to punch a tank in half, but that's a project for later. This would probably also be applicable to siege weapons as well, since I note War charms specifying the pretraining of people firing siege weapons, but no actual rules for siege weapons for that Charm effect to hook into. @Serafina has a brew of them back on page 450something, I do like some of its ideas at least.


You'll probably notice from the weapons we have in play that this isn't aimed at the 2000s, it's closer to WWII. In particular we're playing in the interwar period (1921), so a lot of these weapons don't actually exist for us, but they were easy enough to balance around the same axis as the preexisting weapon set, and some enterprising Twilight might invent them early. Not in our team though, the universal reaction to Craft was 'man fuck that'.


Without further ado:

Spoiler: New Tags for Modern Weapons

Modern: Modern weapons do not add Strength to the wielders' damage roll. Instead, add +4 to the weapon's damage to calculate the raw damage of Withering attacks with a weapon that has the Modern tag.
This is literally just the Crossbow tag refluffed because it felt weird tagging grenades with 'Crossbow'.

Automatic: This weapon, firing numerous times over the course of seconds, is capable of performing Suppression attacks. A Suppression attack costs 1 initiative and reduces the attacker's Defense by 1 until their next turn, but increases a Withering attack's damage by 3. If used to attack a battle group, it adds the battle group's Size to its raw damage.
In function this is pretty close to Melee's Chopping tag - the big thing automatic fire is useful for is providing suppressive fire and making them keep their heads down, which seems to be initiative damage to me. Could also be onslaught.
The other big thing automatic fire is useful for is doing things to lots of dudes at once. That's what the anti-battle group function is for - I did consider ways to do things to multiple 'heroes' at once, but when my best balance points for that were charms I figured it was best to step back from there and just save the 'room broom' function for large quantities of mooks. Significant opponents need to be focused on directly.
Here's where we get into my thoughts about 'area effect' and anti-battlegroup weapons. Serafina had 'double raw damage' on her siege weapons, Death of Obsidian Butterflies had its own mechanic for increasing damage against a battle group, but on their own I wasn't entirely satisfied with them.
They're basically flat. I wanted to emulate the actual effects of proliferation of artillery by turning Size into a disadvantage, making it so that large blocks of dudes tightly compressed together would be highly vulnerable to artillery fire, while small dispersed groups moving as small packets could achieve some level of safety.
In this case we're basically just neutering some of the advantage that comes from 'lots of them' (ie the Size bonus to soak is being countered by the bonus to raw damage). Having lots of guys spread out is at least not a defence when you use wide-area attacks.
Arguably some of that's already implicit - flat buffs to anti-battlegroup attacks do take somewhat longer to shred battle groups, but with each shot they're wrecking a whole lot more guys in larger groups, where the amount of troops wrecked to make a Size 5 battle group drop to Size 4 are enough to make 3-5 Size 3 battle groups, so one could potentially get more juice out of packet movement already, without needing to hit them harder for having more guys in an area.
Still, worth bringing up for mention.
It creates some interesting pressures, actually - a Solar normally wants a single blob of dudes because he can only command so many effectively (delivering an order to a thousand-man blob takes the same amount of actions as a five-man squad), but if large quantities of artillery force him to split his unit into smaller teams, he starts needing to scramble for good lieutenants who can deliver orders to the various subgroups - Dragonblooded, or the 'train lieutenants' charms that came up a few pages ago.
Or just leaving a horde of Size 2-4 Tiger Warrior groups to their own devices. Exactly how subdivided they should be able to get is more a question of etiquette than anything else (nobody wants to run 200 Size 1 squads), but there is some interesting room to play around with 'not just having all your troops in one gigantic blob' in terms of tactics.
Which seems like the sort of thing people who invest in War are here for.

Blast: This weapon creates an environmental hazard that inflicts 1L damage a single time, with a resistance difficulty of 3, against everything within Close range of the primary target, including the primary target itself. If used to attack a battle group, it adds the battle group's Size to its raw damage, and to the damage the battle group suffers from its environmental hazard.
Okay so honestly most of my thoughts about battlegroup killers went above. Blast is for things genuinely optimized at the job of wrecking lots of guys at once. It's useful but not overwhelming against 'heroes' - people with large dice pools for resistance rolls (usually Dex/Dodge) are probably going to be fine, but it remains a threat that they at least have to pay a little attention to, and is highly destructive against cohesive battle groups and tightly-packed forces.

Brace: This weapon must be braced to fire accurately against some appropriate solid surface, and its wielder cannot attack with it on any turn in which they take a movement action.
Here's where bipod mounts and the like come in.

Handy: A Handy weapon is more easily wielded in close quarters and quicker to bring to bear against an enemy, and at Close range, has the same Accuracy as it does at Short range (+4 for mundane weapons, +5 for artifacts).
This is for those extremely close fights where yeah you're basically in melee range - shorter-barrelled guns like pistols are far easier to bring to bear than most ranged weapons. If you're going room-to-room you'd probably want a Handy weapon because you are going to be spending a lot of your time at Short and Close range.

Heavy Piercing: Heavy Piercing weapons are even more specialized in defeating powerful armour than regular Piercing weapons - while not particularly better against the amounts of armour a human being can wear, these weapons are capable of defeating the thickest plates of armour mounted on vehicles. A Heavy Piercing attack costs 1 Initiative to attempt, and ignores half of the target's armoured soak, rounded down. A Heavy Piercing attack can also be made Decisive, costing 3 Initiative (subtracted before making the attack), and ignores half of the target's Hardness. A Heavy Piercing weapon may also use a Piercing attack, as the tag, costing 1 initiative to attempt and ignoring 4 points of soak from armour, if this is better than ignoring half.
This is for killing tanks. The actual 'Heavy' aspect is a little moot on the personal scale - regular Piercing's -4 soak is more than half of the armour soak of anything on the character scale until artifact heavy armour barely edges it out, and sees most of its utility against non-PC soakbeasts, the broad category I envision tanks falling into.
I'd envision them as having some Hardness too - enough to make it take a good chunk of initiative to actually damage them, so that if you're not using anti-tank weapons, you need to build up a fair amount of initiative to do whatever stunts killing the thing entails (ie targeting viewports, trying to get the hatch open, etc etc - or if you're an Exalt it could be reasonable to just fluff cutting the thing in half).

Melee: This weapon, while primarily ranged, can also be used as an effective melee weapon, of the type designated in parenthesis, such as Melee (Light).
Who here likes pistol-whipping? One advantage guns have over bows is that they tend to be pretty solid hunks of metal, making them perfectly serviceable clubs. And spears, if you like bayonets. This is basically just an inversion of the melee weapon Throwing tag - though significantly more informative because that tag really should tell whether the thrown weapon is light/medium/heavy. Are there even any heavy thrown weapons?

Recoil: This weapon is difficult to handle, and requires prodigious strength to fire with anything approaching control - for every point below 5 its wielder's Strength is, they suffer a -1 penalty to all attacks with it. This penalty may be negated by bracing the weapon against an appropriately solid surface, as with the Brace tag, or by firing it with less than its full capabilities (such as forgoing the use of the Automatic tag, or using a one-handed weapon in two hands).
This tag is actually a bit of a stealth-buff. With modern weapons being mostly strength-independent, ranged-combat characters get little use out of Strength, and will always be spending their xp on other things. I'm fine with that as an option, but I would like Strength to have its uses, both for omnitactical battle hydras who want high strength for their melee stuff, and for people who want to play Heavy Weapons Guy. Without this, while Strength 5 peaks higher than the Modern tag in terms of damage, you have to switch back to bows to do that. And while Jack Churchill is a totally viable high-strength modern character I don't think he should be the only one.
So the Recoil tag is there for those weapons that are unreasonable to use (or use in a particular way) for normal people, but theoretically could be with sufficient strength.

Slow-Decisive: This weapon is highly destructive, and explicitly does not actually fire until it is a Decisive attack - Withering attacks are the act of aiming it and otherwise preparing to fire. When it does fire, however, on a Decisive attack, it takes extra time to reload, requiring an action spent to do so, as detailed under the Slow tag.
John Woo aside, even I thought it would get a tad ridiculous if people started firing rocket launchers a trillion times to rack up the opportunity to actually attack the target. With Slow weapons in particular, though, it gets a tad weird to be spending time reloading a weapon you never actually fired. This is basically a very softened version of Slow - while building up initiative you can 'fire' as frequently as you're able, and then reload after the Decisive attack where you actually fire the weapon. This would also serve pretty well with early firearms.

Handguns

Pistol: Light Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Short); One-Handed; Mounted; Concealable; Modern; Handy; Melee (Light)
This is your standard-issue pistol - revolver, semiautomatic, 9mm, .45, etc etc etc, the differences don't really register at Exalted's level of granularity.

Heavy Pistol: Medium Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Short); One-Handed; Mounted; Concealable; Modern; Recoil; Handy; Melee (Light)
This is for your monstrous hand cannons. The usual Compensator-type guns, Desert Eagle, etc etc etc.

Machine Pistol: Light Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Short); One-Handed; Mounted; Concealable; Modern; Automatic; Recoil; Handy; Melee (Light)
This is for a lot of the smaller SMGs out there, and the various 'actually autofire' pistols (M-93R; C-96 Schnellfeuer, etc). For most people they're probably going to be autofiring these two-handed, but if you crank your strength you can one-hand it. You can, I can't. The earliest of these hasn't been invented yet for our game.



Rifles

Rifle: Medium Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Medium); Modern; Melee (Medium)
Here's where the classic WWI/WWII rifles live, before autofire caught on.

Sniper Rifle: Medium Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Long); Modern
This probably needs no introduction.

Anti-Tank Rifle: Heavy Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Long); Modern; Recoil
PTRD, PTRS, and all the modern-day anti-materiel rifles.

Shotgun: Medium Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Short); Modern; Powerful; Melee (Medium)



Automatic Rifles

Submachine Gun: Light Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Short); Modern; Automatic; Handy; Melee (Light)

Assault Rifle: Light Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Medium); Modern; Automatic; Melee (Medium)
We're still in 1921 so we don't get any of these. Life is torment.

Machine Rifle: Medium Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Medium); Modern; Automatic; Recoil; Melee (Medium)
This is for light machine guns, SAWs, and the like. To be entirely honest the Browning Automatic Rifle and the Bren covered like 3/4 of my mental imagery here.



Heavy Weapons

Heavy Machine Gun: Heavy Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Medium); Modern; Automatic; Brace
This is for the machine guns that absolutely need to be rested on the ground - M2, various stationary machine guns, etc.

Infantry Mortar: Light Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Long); Blast; Modern; Brace; Slow
This is basically a man-portable artillery piece. It also has indirect fire, but tags of 'bypass cover' and the like are a bit too crude to really handle this. Instead I'd advise using the common-sense limitations mentioned in the cover section - recalculate the cover depending on the angle of attack. So a six-foot wall provides total cover against guns but no cover against a mortar or grenade, whereas a roof provides total cover against a mortar and none against guns.

Grenade: Light Thrown Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Thrown (Short); Blast; Modern
Short-range explosive firepower - practically speaking modern ranged-focus characters probably aren't going to have Thrown too since it's split (saving debates on whether or not it should be, for now), so they'll mostly be using it for the blast radius.

Bazooka: Heavy Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Medium); Heavy Piercing; Modern; Slow-Decisive
This would optimally cover most early rocket launchers and the like, from the Panzerschrek to early RPGs. Here's where the anti-modern-tank weapons come in - early tanks would be lightly-equipped enough that the anti-tank rifle can work against them, but as WWII wears on you'd start needing Heavy Piercing weapons. We don't have these, unfortunately.

Panzerfaust: Heavy Archery Weapon. Tags: Lethal; Archery (Short); Heavy Piercing; Modern; One-Handed; Slow-Decisive
It's fairly minor but it was evocative enough to stat it up.

Flamethrower: Firewand stats suffice.
It's not exact, but it's close enough, and I didn't really want to bother reinventing the wheel.

 

[Catty Nebulart]

I thought I would post some of the errata that is working well enough for my game, here is the first charm, a fix to the linguistics tree to trim some superfluous charms out and replace them with a all around better charm.

Poetic Expression Style and Excellent Emissaries tongue replaced with the following charm;

Intent as Expression Prana
Cost: 8m; Mins: Linguistics 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Ok, Social, War
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Sagacious Reading of Intent, and (Letter-Within-a-Letter Technique or Discerning Savants Eye)

By seizing the very essence of communication the intent to communicate speaks as clear as day, this charm lets the Solar speak clearly through petty barriers like lacking a common language. This charm allows the Solar to communicate with anyone, a mere twitch of the brow communicating meaning far more effectively that words would. The Solar can communicate clearly to those she intends to speak, a crowd or a single person inside the crowd, they will understand what the solar means, and the Solar similarly can read the subtle cues of those messages meant for her. This charm tends to be obvious to the intended targets but it does not have to be if the solar just wants to be sure she is not misunderstood, or just wants to understand others. Those who the message is not intended for get no hint of this charm, though someone sent reeling by the revelation that it is raining would arouse some suspicion.

This charm does not aid in deciphering encrypted communications, instead it bridges the need for language, but as it focuses on the essence of communication it does allow for coded exchanges by limiting the intended communication to just a few, much like Letter-within-a-letter Technique. Such as say having a superficial conversation about the weather hiding within it tactical plans about how to take out the guards, with little worry that it will be intercepted without magic, but by the same token this charm does not help the Solar decipher messages not meant for her. This charm is not perfect at disguising communication and charms such as Discerning Savant's Eye will read the intended communication without trouble, however this charm is perfect in making the solar understood and in helping the solar understand others.

Perfect communications does mean that the solar can lead one unit without the need for relays, though doing so does introduce a penalty of -1 Drill, alternatively the solar can stand in for the relay himself instead of as the unit commander and suffer no penalties.

 

[BossFight]

Attempt at a custom Malfeas Charm. Use's @Revlid 's mutation rules.

Adaptive Radiation Bombardment

Cost 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essense 3; Type: Dramatic

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious

Duration: Instant

Prerequisite Charms: Cold Fire Desolation Brand

The Fire of Malfeas burns, but his light changes. Those who bath in his light take on some of his fell essence, and with sufficient saturation begin to take on new forms. The Infernal spends at least 5 hrs during a week savagely assaulting a group who's magnitude is equal to or less than his Essence rating. During these 5 hrs, the Infernal bathe's his targets in Malfean light, causing their wounds to heal with preternatural speed, though at the cost of developing a series of random mutations. By carefully shaping how he wounds his target, as well as more then a little trial and error, the Infernal is able to endow the target with mutations who's total point count does not exceed +8 points as a training effect. Time spent using this Charm always counts as time spent towards building an Intimacy of Terror towards the Infernal, as well as one other as determined by the Story Teller. Suggested second intimacies include hatred if forced upon the target or gratitude if the target asked for this Charm to be used.

Fatalistic Minion Fanatics
Cost: 5-20m, 0-1 wp; Type: Dramatic Action
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Obvious, Shaping
Requirements: Essence 3
Prerequisites: Magnanimous Warning Glyph

The minions of Malfeas work through the pain, because they know it pales in comparison to what their king will do should they fail.

By spending an additional 5 motes when marking someone with Magnanimous Warning Glyph, the infernal may grant them access to By Pain Reforged and Scar Writ Saga Shield. At the end of a scene where the target uses these charms, all damage taken is upgraded by one level, bashing to lethal, lethal to aggravated, the unholy fires of Malfeas poisoning their body from within as it races along their chakras.

If the Infernal knows Fealty-Acknowledging Audience they may choose to spend an additional 1 WP and 20 motes when using that charm to apply the effects of this charm to all who he marks.

 

[BossFight]

Reposting these in their final form! With one additional charm. Please Evaluate and Critique Honestly.

Serf Sacrificing Salvo

Cost 3m; Mins: Essense 3; Type: Instant

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious

Duration: Instant

Prerequisite Charms: Fealty Acknowledging Audience

Malfeas' subjects have no purpose save furthering his goals. If they must die to do this then so be it. This charm allows the Infernal to cause one person marked with Fealty Acknowledging Audience to explode with green fire, acting in all ways as a grenade (Scroll of Kings page 134). The target deals 9L in damage to all targets within 1 yard, including the target, and 3L to all within 2 yards. The target has an accuracy of + 0. Upon using this charm, the brand placed by Fealty Acknowledging Audience is removed, and must be replaced on the target before this charm may be used on them again. Any charms which effect Green Sun Nimbus Flare treat Serf Sacrificing Salvo as Green Sun Nimbus Flare for the purpose of those effects.


Assuming Direct Control

Cost 10m 1wp; Mins: Essense 3; Type: Instant

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Sorcerous

Duration: Indefinite

Prerequisite Charms: Fealty Acknowledging Audience

Malfeas is surrounded on all sides by idiots , and cannot always risk leaving tasks in their incapable hands. Sometimes a more personal touch is required. This charm allows the Infernal to take control of a person branded by Fealty Acknowledging Audience, controlling its actions as he does his own body. During this time, the Infernal becomes paralyzed, aware of his surroundings but unable to move. While under the Infernal's control, the target performs all actions using his own attribute score but the Infernal's ability scores. While under the control of the Infernal, the target must manifest a suite of +3 obvious mutations. In all other ways the target acts as it normally does, though it is under the direct control of the player.

King as Kingdom

Cost 5m 1wp; Mins: Essense 3; Type: Instant

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Sorcerous

Duration: Instant

Prerequisite Charms: Assuming Direct Control

A kingdom is not land, it is its people; anywhere they go, so may their king. This charm may be used on any character currently branded by Fealty Acknowledged Audience. When activated, the target of this charm is consumed by radioactive fire, killing them instantly. The Infernal Exalt emerges from this sacrificial pyre instantaneously, allowing them to travel to any location in which they have minions.


Really tired right now, so will work on the fluff of King as Kingdom later, its not flowing the way I want it to. If anyone has any advice on how to word/change it I would appreciate it.

On an unrelated note, has anyone done Malfean travel charms? I feel like he should have some charms based on roads and such since he is the demon city. He seems to have a dearth of city based charms in general now that I think of it.
@ManusDomine Please Threadmark this.

 

[BossFight]

Alright, so Devil Tigers.

By this point, we're all well aware of their flaws and what's wrong with them,

A while back on SB, @Ryuugi started a discussion on Devil Tigers that spiral out into ways to improve them. There were two real ideas that came out of it, one relating to the souls of the Infernal and one relating to Heretical Charms.

In regards to Infernal Souls, there's always been some interest. Initially, it was hampered by the fact that to get there, you had to be Essence 8. Not that that'll stop dedicated players and/or homebrewers as @Aleph has demonstrated. Also as demonstrated, they can be a really cool way to demonstrate various things about your character, what they care about, etc. The idea that was talked about wasn't quite as good for that as the Kerisgame version, as instead of an Infernal's Souls being solely of them, they instead be external beings that were made into a part of them.

You'd take a mortal, or a demon, or god, or whatever and draw them into you. You'd take one of your Intimacies and mingle it with their Motivation and elevate them to the level of a Third Circle. Ryuugi in particular proposed using the idea as a way for Infernals to interact with and want to get involved with the setting, especially Yu-Shan. The place is a viper pit of powerful gods who all want something. Something you can offer them. And they can offer you quite a bit.

The god is not the river, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have influence over the river. Whether in terms of supernatural influence or mundane(ish) information. Not to mention contacts. Think of what you could do with someone like Nara-O in your back pocket. Or Scarazan, God of Divine Reallocation. Or Lytek. Or Ryzala. What could you offer them to make them into one of your Souls? How would you even get to them to make the offer?

I mean, hell. It's not like the baseline offer isn't amazing. Becoming a Third Circle Demon with all the attendant power(if not necessarily the resources) that it implies, plus a powerful Exalted ally who now has a vested interest in your continued well being. But even with that offer, you'd probably need something to sweeten the pot for gods of that standing.

It's much more of an outwards focus rather than the inwards focus of Kerisgame.


Now, in terms of Heretical Charms and Devil Tiger Charms, we're all aware of their flaws. The former had all of three canonical charms, one of which was worthless, another which was effectively worthless, and the last was merely subpar. The latter required spending close to a hundred xp for the privilege of homebrewing a charmset with equivalent power to the charms you've already got access to, that you have to start learning from step 1. Meanwhile, your buddy is spending the same xp on high Essence Yozi Charms and has come out pretty far ahead in terms of effectiveness.

The problems of Devil Tiger Charmsets are compounded by the fact that you've gotta homebrew them(not easy), they've gotta be balanced(also not easy), and they're pretty much only good for one game.

So I proposed that Heretical Charms instead invoke syncretised Titans. The Emerald Angel, for example, was an idea that was played with back in the day and could be an example of such a syncretised Titan. Others could be created from mixes of different Yozi and could form one(ish) set that could be easily transferred between games since instead of relying on one particular character, they rely instead on mixes and interactions of the Yozi, who are relatively consistent between games.

As for the Titans and what they are, that could also change depending on the needs of your game. They could be a metaphysical curiosity. Something weird Infernals do to get new powers. They might be nascent Primordials, being gradually created as an unintentional consequence of the actions of Yozi and Exalt alike. Or whatever else you could come up with.

As an added advantage, since these Charms would be rooted in pre-existing Yozi Charms, you can buy them at higher Essence levels than personalized Devil Tiger Charms.


Thoughts? Opinions?

Click to shrink...

This started out as a small bit on how your ideas mirrored some of my own and has since transformed into "How Rogthnor Devil Tigers."

So first off, I'd like to say that my favorite part about playing an Indernal is the "Baby Primordial" thing they've got going on. I love the idea of the Devil Tiger charm but it does way too much, and it tries to do it all at once.

The biggest problem with Devil Tiger is that it tells players to scrap all the charms they have and to start making new ones. But that completely misses the point of the Yozi charms. Which ones the Infernal uses and how she uses them are key parts of her character. They aren't just what she does but in a very real sense who she is. So if I were to make an Internal into a Yozi I would do this.

Step 1:
Look at the charms your Infernal tends to use and how they work together. Which ones synergize well, what combinations does she keep going back to, how does she use them, etc. Then organjze them into their own charm tree with a root charm.

Look at the tree and ask yourself what that says about the character.

A Yozi's charm trees are a coherent statement of how they interact with the world. By looking at its charms we can work backwards and find out who they are and how they act. Cecelyne for instance has a charm tree based around giving gifts which make people dependent on her. This tells you a lot about her character.

You should do the same thing with your own character. What modus operandi arise from her charms and what does that say about her. I tend to try to boil it down to a statement. Cecelyne might be "I control those who need me". Then mark these down as a charm tree.

For Example, The Heretic Sky, an Infernal I am making ended up with this as a charm tree.

Spoiler

Crowned with Fury - what I like to call Kilgrave lite. Gives him an aura of supernatural command. Can also be used to make someone temporarily mad under Oramus definition, through UMI emotions.

Fealty Acknowledging Audience - Makes people who serve him feel terrified awe so that they will do what I say. Also, if I'm reading it right, makes people Mad under Oramus definition. This will be important for some later charms and his themes.

Ancient and Firstborn - Declare something to be true and always act as if it is. Never break an oath. The root charm of his Truth/The State defines the Truth themes. Combos really well with the next charm on this list.

That Horrific Wisdom- Success doubled for social attacks which attempt to "instruct, educate or reveal truths to a character." So as long as the Infernal believes his reasoning he gets a success doubler. Good thing Ancient and Firstborn lets him decide what he believes to be true.

Action Beyond Thought - Hidden mental commands which activate based on conditions he sets. Works better on mad people i.e people he has branded with Fealty Acknowledging Audience.

Preacherborn Delusions - Rewrites the memories of people. Works better on the mad i.e. people branded with Fealty Acknowledging Audience.

Society-breaking Truths - changes the way whole societies act by revealing a truth.

So from this we get a Infernal with a magical authority aura who uses it and what he defines as the Truth (I am the greatest king, you should obey me) to get them to swear fealty to him. Once he does he then becomes even more effective at controlling them, able to rewrite their memories, being even more convincing and planting hidden mental triggers in their minds.

So we end up with the theme of "Truth is Defined by Authority" as one of his major themes.

"Truth is defined by Authority"
As long as he believes something is true he is supernaturally good at convincing you of it, and he can define truths at a whim. (Ancient and Furestborn: We were never at war with Eurasia. He now doubles successes to convince you of this) He is then able to rewrite the memories of his citizens to match this new truth (Preacherborn delusions + Fealty Acknowleding Audience) and make society act as is it's true (Society-breaking Truths so that saying we were at war with Eurasia last week is taboo).

Once you do this with all your charms you can move onto the next step

Step 2: Purchase "Rogthnor's Discount Devil Tiger Charms

This charm would do a couple of things. First it would allow the Infernal to take Pantheon Anchored charms ala @EarthScorpion 's great homebrew, only anchored in her new charm trees instead of a third circle demon.

Second it would replace your Excellency's with a new one specific to your character. This would refund you the cost of any lost Excellency's but you would never be able to learn new ones.

Third it would allow you to prune the excess charms from your character and get refunded XP for them. If there are charms that you only got because they are prerequisites for other charms and you never use them then you can trade them in for bonus XP and not lose access to ones which you already have. This is a one time offer. If you get rid of Insignificant Embers Intuition and keep Skyfire Seizing Repast you can. But if you want to get Sun Heart Furnace Soul you'll need to buy IEI again.

Three you can make minor changes to existing charms to make it match theme better. You can change Green Sun Nimbus Flare from radioactive fire to a crushing darkness for instance, but it would change all charms that use Green Fire as well.



I'll probably write up a full example devil tiger charms list, before and after devil tiger, for The Heretic Sky this weekend if someone reminds me.

 

[BossFight]

How Rogthnor Devil Tigers

Click to shrink...

A continuation of the above post, I will be using the earlier "Truth is Defined by Authority" charm tree to demonstrate how I would use "Rogthnor's Devil Tiger Charm" to create unique charm trees for an Exalt.

So step 1 is to look at my charms and arrange them into charm trees based on how I use them. In this post I will only be doing the "Truth is Defined by Authority" tree so charms not needed to make it will be omited. So here are my charms prior to going Devil Tiger.

Spoiler

By Pain Reforged
Nightmare Fugue Vigilance
Insignificant Embers Intuition
Crowned with fury
Green Sun Nimbus Flare
Magnanimous Warning Glyph
Fealty Acknowledging Audience
Maddening Astral Piping
Madman's Insight.
That Horrific Wisdom
Action Beyond Thought
Preacherborn Delusions
Society Breaking Truths

Fron this I make the "Truth is Defined as by Authority" tree detailed last post and reposted here.

Spoiler

Nightmare Fugue Vigilance - stop sleeping.

Crowned with Fury - what I like to call Kilgrave lite. Gives him an aura of supernatural command. Can also be used to make someone temporarily mad under Oramus definition, through UMI emotions.

Fealty Acknowledging Audience - Makes people who serve him feel terrified awe so that they will do what I say. Also, if I'm reading it right, makes people Mad under Oramus definition. This will be important for some later charms and his themes.

Ancient and Firstborn - Declare something to be true and always act as if it is. Never break an oath. The root charm of his Truth/The State defines the Truth themes. Combos really well with the next charm on this list.

That Horrific Wisdom- Success doubled for social attacks which attempt to "instruct, educate or reveal truths to a character." So as long as the Infernal believes his reasoning he gets a success doubler. Good thing Ancient and Firstborn lets him decide what he believes to be true.

Action Beyond Thought - Hidden mental commands which activate based on conditions he sets. Works better on mad people i.e people he has branded with Fealty Acknowledging Audience.

Preacherborn Delusions - Rewrites the memories of people. Works better on the mad i.e. people branded with Fealty Acknowledging Audience.

Society-breaking Truths - changes the way whole societies act by revealing a truth.

This leaves the following charms as remainders.

Spoiler

By Pain Reforged
Insignificant Embers Intuition
Green Sun Nimbus Flare
Magnanimous Warning Glyph
Maddening Astral Piping
Madman's Insight.

Of these, the only ones The Heretic Sky never really used was Maddening Astral piping, so it is refunded for XP. The others have been used often enough to be considered part of his repertoire and thus cannot be refunded. Instead they, along with other charms he has purchased will be used to form new charm trees in the same manner as "Truth is Defined by Authority." So these charms can all be set aside for later.

Now it is time to begin modifying the "Truth is Defined by Authority" charms to better represent the mythos of the Infernal. We want these changes to be both simple and comprehensive so that th new charms are easy to make while still feeling distinct. Devil Tigers can no longer buy Yozi charms so we want the player to be able to easily reskin existing ones rather than have to create an entirely new charm every time. Luckily the new charm tree is made up of existing Yozi charms in the first place, so charms from its "parent" Yozi should be easily modified for this purpose. For "Truth is Defined by Authority" I want to be able to buy Oramus' and Malfeas' Mad Preacher charms and Fealty Acknowledging Audience charms with minimal changes to make them Heretic Sky charms.
We also want the change to make the charms better represent how the Infernal used is charm tree, removing the options he avoided and adding new options in line with the his modus operandi. Take care here not to simply make all your charms better. We don't want to play Oramus but all the bad parts of his charms are removed.

As promised here is an example.
The "Truth is Defined by Authority" charm tree is descended from Oramus and Malfean charms.
It was used to get people become the subjects of the Infernal, once they became his subjects his ability to control them was greatly increased. The further down this charm tree you go, the better your Infernal is at controlling those already controlled by him.
Heretic Sky avoided using the "maddness" part of the tree. He didn't infect people with Nognosia to better control them, didn't go go out of his way to recruit those with mental illness, didn't command hordes of Raksha or Lunar Exalted etc. So we want to remove his ability to call on the madness themes of Oramus
He did use Malfeans terror stuff a lot though so we dont want to get rid of that. Terror is still very much a part of how he controls people. (I am actually cnsidering adding in many of the Malfeas' charms that were prerequisites to Fealty Acknowledging Audience. If Malfeas is a City ruled by a Tyrant that controls how y ou act, then Heretic Sky is a police state that controls how you think. Force and fear are very much part of that.)

So the following change is made.

Spoiler

All References to "The Mad" in any Oramus Charms are instead replaced with "The Infernal's Subjects." Subjects include:
Anyone currently under the employ of the Inferal
Anyone currently performing a task at the Infernal's request
Anyone below the Infernal in a formal social hierarchy
Anyone who has sworn to serve the Infernal.

In addition the following charms receive the following changes.



This change stops him from using Oramus' madness themes yet at the same time opens up new options based around Heretic Sky's themes. For example hiring someone for a quick task so that your charms work better, buying an enemies company so that you can rewrite their memories before the quite, or rewarding powerful allies "honorary" positions in your company/kingdom/military so that you can more easily control them.

The following charms receive the following changes.


CROWNED WITH FURY

Spoiler

Cost: —
Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Obvious, Social
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Nightmare Fugue Vigilance

Malfeas is not a patient Yozi. He can certainly wait when he must, as his surrender and imprisonment attest. However, the nature of the Demon City abhors the restraint implicit to inaction in any form. Whenever an Infernal who knows this Charm makes a social attack that would be considered an unacceptable order if defended against with Impervious Primacy Mantle, the attack becomes an unnatural mental influence costing one Willpower to resist. Flickers of hateful green fires emanate from the Infernal's eyes and mouth while using this Charm, curling up to hint at the outlines of a burning crown upon his brow ornamented with the central jewel of his caste mark. This display fades as soon as the Infernal finishes speaking his attack. This enhancement is not optional.

Becomes
Obedience to the state

Spoiler

Cost: 1 mote
Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Obvious, Social
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Nightmare Fugue Vigilance

The Heretic Sky's word is law. Whenever an Infernal who knows this Charm makes a social attack that would be considered an unacceptable order if defended against with Impervious Primacy Mantle, the attack becomes an unnatural mental influence costing one Willpower to resist. Flickers of hateful green fires emanate from the Infernal's eyes and mouth while using this Charm, curling up to hint at the outlines of a burning crown upon his brow ornamented with the central jewel of his caste mark. This display fades as soon as the Infernal finishes speaking his attack. Using this charm against the Infernal's Subjects costs 0m and they do not realize it is UMI.

It's also relatively easy to modify existing charms to fit this theme.

For example:


Wild Revelry Approach

Spoiler

Cost: 5m, 1wp
Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple (6 long ticks)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Solar encourages a society to release its tensions in a mad torrent of emotion. This Charm is a Socialize-based social attack to make a group feel a strong emotion—to lose itself in hatred, grief, lust or the joy of festival. It functions exactly as Wise-Eyed Courtier Method, save that its unnatural mental influence imposes an Emotion effect rather than a belief.

Becomes
Bread and Circuses

Spoiler

Cost: 3m
Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple (6 long ticks)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Infernal encourages a society to release its tensions in a mad torrent of emotion. This Charm is a Socialize-based social attack to make a group feel a strong emotion—to lose itself in hatred, grief, lust or the joy of festival. It functions exactly as Wise-Eyed Courtier Method, save that its unnatural mental influence imposes an Emotion effect rather than a belief. This more costs 3m 0 wp if used against a group that consists of the Infernal's Subjects.

MAJESTIC RADIANT PRESENCE

Spoiler

Cost: 7m
Mins: Presence 4, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Obvious, Social
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any Presence Excellency

The Solar burns with the incandescent radiance of the Unconquered Sun. This Charm intimidates others, negating any physical or social attack made against the Solar unless the attacker's player succeeds on a reflexive resistance roll. The Solar's player chooses when purchasing this Charm whether a difficulty 1 Valor roll or a difficulty 2 Willpower roll is the appropriate form of resistance. The attacker need succeed only once per action, no matter how many attacks she makes during a flurry. This Charm's effects are a form of unnatural mental influence, and characters can spend three Willpower to resist the effects of Majestic Radiant Presence for a scene.

Becomes

Terrifying Tyrant Aegis

Spoiler

Cost: 7m
Mins: Presence 4, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Obvious, Social
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any Presence Excellency

The Solar burns with the incandescent radiance of the a nuclear bomb. This Charm intimidates others, negating any physical or social attack made against the Solar unless the attacker's player succeeds on a reflexive resistance roll. The Infernal's player chooses when purchasing this Charm whether a difficulty 1 Valor roll or a difficulty 2 Willpower roll is the appropriate form of resistance. The attacker need succeed only once per action, no matter how many attacks she makes during a flurry. This Charm's effects are a form of unnatural mental influence, and characters can spend three Willpower to resist the effects of Terrifying Tyrant Aegis for a scene. Characters who are the Infernal's subject double the cost of resistance.

TERRIFYING APPARITION OF GLORY

Spoiler

Cost: 3m
Mins: Presence 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Social
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Majestic Radiant Presence

The Solar burns with impossible glory. This Charm can supplement any attempt at natural mental influence. It renders the target's Dodge MDV inapplicable. This Charm is specifically permitted to supplement rolls for other Abilities. Reduce this Charm's cost to 2 motes if Majestic Radiant Presence is already active.

Becomes
State Sanctioned News

Spoiler

Cost: 5m
Mins: Presence 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Social
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Majestic Radiant Presence

The Infernal's Subjects trust him implicitly and so they are less critical of what he says. This Charm can supplement any attempt at natural mental influence. It renders the target's Dodge MDV inapplicable. This Charm is specifically permitted to supplement rolls for other Abilities. Reduce this Charm's cost to 2 motes if Majestic Radiant Presence is already active. Reduce the cost if this charm by an additional 2 notes if targeting a character who is the Infernal's subject.

Etc.

 

[BossFight]

Rogthnor's Devil Tiger Pt III

For the third installment I will be showing the before and after for the second of the three(?) charm trees I am making for The Heretic Sky.

Original Charms

Spoiler

Tool Trancesnding Labor
Compartmentalized Labor Extension
Destruction Begets Creation
Forged in Fury
Inescapable Visions
Dreamlands Heath Exhalation
Adaptive Radiation Bombardment
Echoes of Enlightenment
Sanity Shattering Instruction
Ascensions Lullaby

Originally this was going to be the craft tree, as craft is a big part of the character. But when deciding how to craft I looked at my themes and some of the charms I wanted my character to have and decided to go with the theme of "strange alien sky mutating everything underneath it." This was something I had actually partially decided before making the character as the final primordial form I had originally come up with was a wandering alien sky which causes everything underneath it to change. People mutating into monsters, metals transmuting into strange materials, and objects taking on alien shapes. I also tied it into the worship charms that I picked up for the character, as I felt that worked well thematically and they were a big part of my mutating people charms.

I also feel this works better as a Yozi charm tree as they are rarely so focused as to have "social" or "fight" trees. Instead they have "nuclear fire trees and the like.

Here is his "Alien Sky" charms, each one modified from one of the above charms.

Spoiler

Tool Transcending Labor -> Esoteric Tool Substitution

Spoiler

Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mind-Hand Manipulation

The Heretic Sky needs no tools or workshops. Why use a heat and hammer to forge a sword when he can soften and harden the metal at will.
Whenever an Infernal has this Charm active, he removes the need for tools or workshops, and all penalties for crafting without tools. If the warlock crafts a structure in his way, he may also ignore the need for assistants, provided the structure in question is smaller than him.

Destruction Begets Creation ->DESTRUCTION BEGETS CREATION

Spoiler

Cost: — ; Mins: The Heretic Sky 0, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None

Wood must be burned to stoke a forge; marble must be chipped to form a statue.

When making a Craft roll, the Infernal may acquire additional free successes, provided the raw materials and/or exotic ingredients for the project he is working on could be considered complete, usable items in their own right, rather than simply base materials, unusable except as components. The Infernal gains one free success at each interval for each Resources dot of raw materials acquired in this way, and three successes for each exotic ingredient. These successes are added to each and every interval of the project. Craft rolls enhanced in this manner always qualify to be enhanced by The Heretic Sky's Excellency.

Valid examples might include smashing apart a wooden house to build a boat, rather than using raw wooden planks, or melting down a pair of orichalcum hearthstone bracers to make a switchklave, rather than simply procuring unforged orichalcum. Note that actual living creatures are always considered to be complete items in their own right for the purposes of this Charm.

This Charm may be purchased a second time at Essence 4+, allowing the Infernal to use his Strength in place of the usual (lower of Dexterity, Perception or Intelligence) on a Craft roll that would gain even one additional success in this fashion, or that would otherwise qualify to be enhanced by The Heretic Sky's Excellency. In addition, the manner in which functional artifacts can be used as exotic ingredients is altered. Working artifacts can normally only be used as an exotic ingredient if they would be an appropriate component of the artifact being crafted. At this level, however, the Infernal may treat any functional artifact as an appropriate component in any kind of helltech artifact he creates.

FORGED IN FURY -> Tool Transmutation Effect

Spoiler

Cost: 5m; Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One interval
Prerequisite Charms: Destruction Begets Creation

The Heretic Sky changes the world by his very presence, passively altering it to suit his designs. The Infernal may use this Charm to enhance any Craft action he makes, reducing the length of its interval by two degree of time if the project in question is a direct replacement for one of the items destroyed in its making. Further, if the Craft action would gain even one additional success from Destruction Begets Creation, the item's effective Resources or Artifact rating is halved (rounded up) for the purposes of determining the length of its intervals.

Compartmentalized Labor Extension -> Passive Transmuation Effect

Spoiler

Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Esoteric Tool Substitution
The Infernal's mere presence warps the world around her to better fit her designs. She can use her mutating light to work on a project aided or enhanced by Tool Transmutation Effect without totally occupying herself with it. The project must remain in the warlock's general vicinity (within [Willpower+Essence] yards, in fact), but she is free to train, work on another project, or even travel with it following her. She can only have one such separate project running at once.

Music of the Spheres

Spoiler

Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: None
This Charm allows the Exalt to hear individual prayers directed at them by Servile Characters as if they were a spirit. Actually listening to all prayers imposes a -3 internal penalty to all non reflexive actions; if the Infernal does not care to pay attention, the Storyteller only relays the most widely repeated or urgently spoken prayers.

Characters with an Intimacy of Fearful Fascination or Terrified Awe towards the Infernal reduce the difficulty of prayer rolls to the Infernal by (Occult), to a minimum of 1.

Supplicants in the same realm of existence who pray while the Infernal is currently making music hears his melodies, which reverberate down the strings of prayer which connect them. Any social attacks made via the medium of music therefore affect such devotees as if they were there in person

Inescapable Visions -> Looming Sky Visions

Spoiler

Cost: --; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Compulsion
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Music of the Spheres

Those who serve the Infernal take pains not to sleep during their service, lest they find themselves unwilling leave it. This Charm permanently modifies the Infernal. The Infernal is a lucid dreamer who can influence the contents of her Beyond-given dreams. Whenever she sleeps, her dreams seep out of her head and into the minds of others. Once per day the Infernal may make a Performance-based social attack against all character considered servile for the purposes of her charms. This attack may be enhanced by applicable Charms as usual. The next time a servile character rolls to regain willpower from sleep they are hit by this social attack. Characters may forgo the roll to avoid the social attack, experiencing instead shallow, nightmare-haunted rest.

DREAMLANDS HEATH EXHALATION->Incursion of the Nomad Sky

Spoiler

Cost: 14m, 2wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Looming Sky Visions

The Infernal spends 7 hours meditating at the end of which she makes a Performance-based social attack, which may be enhanced by applicable Charms as usual. At the end of this attack the sky is replaced by a strange alien vista of blackened space and twisted stars.

By the end of the day, this sky has spread to a radius of (Integrity x 100 yards) and other worlds intrude on the space.Soil blows away in a harsh, otherworldly wind, while metal and rock transmutes into new and unheard of materials. Plants and animals die off only to be replaced by stranger, more esoteric things. Omen weather and auroras frequently fill the skies overhead. Any Wyld-tainted land within the area immediately becomes part of Creation. The entire area is Outside of Fate.

Any character who sleeps underneath this sky is affected by the same Performance-based attack the Infernal made when she activated this Charm; visions of the strange alien sky filling their dreams and contorting their thoughts.

Any character inside the area of effect of this charm is considered servile for the purpose of the Infernal's charms with the exception of this one.

The Incursion of the Nomad Sky expands by ten yards per day per dot of Magnitude of servile characters that spend at least five hours a day in it. Each Servile character counts for two if they spend the majority of the time crafting objects or studying blasphemous lore, or praying to The Heretic Skyor the Infernal or their demons. The heath becomes a persistent Blasphemy upon exceeding five miles in radius.

Countermagic fortifies the structure of reality and banishes the altered rules by which the world works, although the land will still be a blasted barren heath. Emerald countermagic cleanses an area with a radius of up to 250 yards, while Sapphire and Adamant cleanse a radius of up to 500 and 1000 yards, respectively.

Adaptive Radiation Bombardment -> Adaptive Radiation Bombardment

Spoiler

Cost 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essense 3; Type: Dramatic
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Esoteric Tool Substitution

The Nomad Sky brings one thing before all else, change. Those who bath in his light take on some of his fell essence, and with sufficient saturation begin to take on new forms. The Infernal spends at least 5 hrs during a week savagely assaulting a group who's magnitude is equal to or less than his Essence rating. During these 5 hrs, the Infernal bathe's his targets in terrible light, causing their wounds to heal with preternatural speed, though at the cost of developing a series of random mutations. By carefully shaping how he wounds his target, as well as more then a little trial and error, the Infernal is able to endow the target with mutations who's total point count does not exceed +8 points as a training effect. Time spent using this Charm always counts as time spent towards building an Intimacy of Terror towards the Infernal, as well as one other as determined by the Story Teller. Suggested second intimacies include hatred if forced upon the target or gratitude if the target asked for this Charm to be used.

Sanity Shattering Instruction->Company Training Program

Spoiler

Cost: 21m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Desecration, Sorcerous, Servitude, Training, Revelation
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: That Horrific Wisdom

The character may activate this charm after spending seven hours total instructing a group with magnitude up to (Essence) over the course of a lunar month. Upon activation, this Charm blasts their minds with sudden acceptance of all the Infernal has spoke of. Characters who are not Servile must spend one willpower to accept this tuition. Servile characters, however, must spend one willpower to reject it.

If the character accepts it, the Charm grants Sorcerous mouths to their brain so that it may sing sweet wisdom to them. As a Desecration, they gain the Creature of Darkness mutation and Madman's Insight as as an Abomination, which functions as the Charm of the same name. The student gains an Intimacy of "Fearful Fascination" towards the warlock as a Servitude effect.

While they possess this mutation, the melodies of unseen things fill their days and the twisted vistas of the Beyond fill their nights. If they have spent at least seven hours in the previous month considering the things the Infernal taught them, studying forbidden lore, or obeying his will, on the night of the new moon the character may choose whether to ascend their flesh or their brains.

• If they choose their brains, as a Training effect they gain one of the following: a dot in Lore, Occult, Performance, or Resistance, a dot in Intelligence or Perception, or a Speciality in line with the themes of Oramus. Abilities and Attributes may not be raised above four dots. This option may not be taken by characters who are currently in XP debt.

• If they choose their flesh, as a Desecration they suffer a mutation with a Heretic Sky theme (which always includes Enlightened Essence as a valid option) or a derangement. If the character chooses a negative mutation, they are refunded the XP cost of the negative mutation.

Should the character lose the Intimacy of "Fearful Fascination" or "Terrified Awe", the Madman's Insight Abomination goes into remission. The mouths on their grey matter close their pallid lips, remaining silent until they regain the Intimacy.

Ascensions Lullaby -> Climbing the Corporate Ladder

Spoiler

Cost: - (1 wp); Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Desecration, Sorcerous
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Corporate Training Program, Echoes Of Enlightenment

This charm upgrades Music of the Spheres. Should a character pray to the Infernal for immortality, transformation or other things of a similar nature, the Infernal may choose to grant such a request by spending one willpower, unless the character has already been marked by Sanity-Shattering Instruction in which case the willpower is waived.

The supplicant hears music swell from between their ears, instructing them on the path to transcendence. They must pay one willpower to set their feet on this road and accept a Sorcerous mouth on their brain similar to that produced by Corporate Training Program. The mouth sings them of the beautiful butterfly they will become when they shed their chrysalis. It is Obvious to the character that this transformation is a fundamental change equivalent to death that will transform them into a new order of being.

The supplicant must offer cumulative sacrifices consisting of a total of seven Resources dots and/or health levels to the Infernal as part of successful prayer rolls before their transformation can begin. One they have done that, on the night of the next new moon, the character is twisted into becoming a first circle demon as a Desecration effect. This is equivalent to character death and may not be undone. Their species is one of the Infernal's choice that descends from them, or which they can create. The character gains the Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Appearance and Charms of their demonic breed, but retains all their other Attributes and Abilities, their Virtues and their Willpower. Their Essence is raised to meet the default Essence of their breed if it was not already higher.


By learning this Charm the warlock gains a demon species, and may purchase additional ones for 1xp each.

One thing I'm uncertain on is how I want to handle the various dream charms. In the one hand they are integral parts of the character and ones he would use often. On the other hand they are very much Oramu' charm tech and I don't want to step on his themes. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[BossFight]

Almost done with The Heretic Sky Devil Tiger Yozi writeup. Was wondering if anyone would mind giving it a look through and giving some constructive criticism, particularly on the names of some of this stuff.

The Heretic Sky

Also @ManusDomine could you threadmark this under the title Yozi Writeup: The Heretic Sky

 

[Kuciwalker]

Snoreboar
Spawned by Tectonic Stress
Earth Elemental

Snoreboars are massive, furry suids that appear in herds along dragon lines - especially mountain ranges - in northern climates. During the seasons of Wood and Fire they mostly graze on shrubs and dig for roots and worms, but they occasionally eat larger creatures like mice and hares. In times of serious deprivation they can eat stone although it's very unpleasant for them to digest.

Snoreboar herds help dissipate stress in the dragon lines through the deep, rumbling noises they make while they hibernate during the seasons of Earth, Air, and Water. These vibrations reach deep into the earth and trigger earthquakes, releasing accumulated energy.

Humans generally find snoreboars somewhere between annoying and ruinous. Cities make driving them away an extremely high priority, and even rural populations try to harass them until they go away. Snoreboars are naturally skittish and will generally flee when attacked, unless they are enraged - such as if one of the youth of their herd is injured - in which case they will go berserk, seeking and and deliberately destroying nearby human settlements. They are extremely difficult to kill due to their massive bulk and moderate intelligence, but a team of human hunters that takes one down will have food for a winter.

Capabilities: Snoreboars are most straightforwardly useful as war-mounts and siege weapons. Sorcerers who can summon and bind large numbers of them can threaten to demolish entire cities. Elder snoreboars often develop a keen sense of geomancy, and manse architects sometimes seek out their advice before breaking ground. Without a sorcerous binding, they are not keen to leave their herd, however, and must usually be bribed with some kind of service done to protect it.

3e quick character statblock

 

[Kuciwalker]

Sondell, the Clockwork Manse
Greater Sidereal Manse

In a great mountain range of the East, far above the forests, is a barren valley cut by the bed of a long-dead river. Astride this are the concentric walls of a fortress-complex, guarding the approach to one of the great orreries and observatories of the Sidereal Exalted. The gates to the outer three walls lay buried under inches of dust and dirt, but the inner sanctum still stands.

Once, no sound other than the roar of the falls at the valley's end would have been audible, but now, if you press your ear up against the cool steel, you may hear the tick - tick - tick of clockwork. Inside, you would find the gleaming starmetal mechanisms of one of the strangest devices in Creation, and the five score men and women who have spent the greater part of a thousand years maintaining it.

Built during the early years of the Shogunate, the manse is more than a simple stargazing aid. It houses a great assemblage of gears so complex that it might be attributed an intelligence of its own. One of its secondary functions is to forecast the motion of the stars: it is so adept at this that comparison of its predictions with reality can be used to spot subtle errors in Fate. Its primary function is to perform a calculation. What calculation few know - surely one or more of the Viziers know, but if its devout monk-technicians do, they aren't telling.

When constructed, the manse was populated by an entire community devoted to its maintenance, surrounded by a larger settlement just outside the walls. But after the Contagion and Crusade the climate shifted, the mountains received far less snow in winter, and the river dried. The settlement and neighbors blamed the manse, for it had closed its gates during the Contagion, and besieged and sacked it.

Now, the manse is crippled, its power source run dry. For the past seven centuries it has been powered by its backup - a metal sphere slowly riding a screw. While on backup most of the functions of the manse have been disabled to conserve power, but even so the sphere is nearly four-fifths of the way to the floor. The monks suspect that, should it reach the bottom, their unnaturally extended lives will end.

Years of being cloistered in the inner sanctum changed the monks in strange ways. So long as they do not venture outside they avoid the ravages of time. Deep meditation on the nature of their task has led them to develop a martial arts style for its defense should it ever be attacked again: the Certain Gears of Heaven. Probably most disturbing to any ordinary visitor, though, is the uniform emerald green of their eyes.