This is actually a really good point.
The sword is Usum who is, being a demon spun out of Essence nothwithstanding, literally our Fourth Soul.
We are using one of our souls as a sword.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
The sword is Usum who is, being a demon spun out of Essence nothwithstanding, literally our Fourth Soul.
We are using one of our souls as a sword.
- Location
- washington
It harmed outsiders which are even less real than ghosts so it definitely should be able to hit immaterial things.
Thinking of VEE again, I wonder if minor talents and full wizards could be granted the sorcerer merits expanding what magical energy can be used for. These are;
Force of Spirit (2pt.)
The raw inner force of your soul grants you a certain character that others may ftnd irresistible. Perhaps you glow with an inner light; maybe your beauty seems virtually divine. You may spend Mana points to reduce the difficulty target number of a social roll. No difficulty may be lower than two, and none may be lowered by more than three. Obviously, you must possess Mana points to be able to spend them.
Strength of Psyche (2pt.)
Your character has trained her mind to tap into the deep reserves of mystical energy she possesses. Flooded with increased power of thought or perception, her mental faculties are temporarily increased gready, and she finds whatever task she undertakes much easier to accompUsh. Your sorcerer may channel her mystical energy into mental activities other than magic. You may spend Mana points to reduce the difficulty target number of any die pool for a mental action. The difficulty may not be reduced below 2, nor be reduced by more than three points. Depending upon the use in question, her psyche empowers her perceptive nature, grants her insight into the strange tongue or plunges toward a solution to her puzzle.
The Flow of Ki (3pt.)
Most advanced practitioners of the martial arts spend a lot of time trying to explain that their prowess is not simply a result of skill. Desperately, they seek to explain that their might comes from an understanding of the energy we all possess, the breath of the inner spirit. You understand that lesson in a way that allows you to apply it to physical feats. You may spend Mana (chi, ki, whatever your style calls it) points to reduce the difficulty target number of any die pool for a physical action. The difficulty number may not be reduced lower than two, nor may you reduce it by more than three. Obviously, you must already have the Mana to spend or this Merit is useless.
Useful for both mages and minor talents.
I also wonder if we can strengthen people's talents by granting them more dots in the mana Background:
Mana
Whether they call it chi, essence, ki, pneuma, psychic energy, ionized electrolytes or any number of other traditional names, sorcerers can tap into sources of energy that empower them in their performance of magic. Meditating or resting on ley lines, in holy places or even in supercharged chemical baths grants the magician who understands their nature a source of power. Other sorcerers ingest a diet of rare substances believed to invoke potency or engage themselves in strenuous rituals, exhausting daily regimens of practice or hypnotic empowerment. Whatever the individual's methods, she exhibits an energy that helps her work her Art, a force described by some as being akin to breath or spirit, or, in Latin, "Mana."
When performing Path or ritual magic, a sorcerer may expend Mana to lower the difficulty target number. As usual, her difficulty cannot be lowered by more than three; however, Mana may reduce threshold instead, though never below one. Recovering Mana requires the sorcerer to perform her chosen method of recharging and succeed in a Perception + Meditation roll, difficulty 7, with each success restoring one point.
The more dots in the Background the more mana you can use/store.
Force of Spirit (2pt.)
The raw inner force of your soul grants you a certain character that others may ftnd irresistible. Perhaps you glow with an inner light; maybe your beauty seems virtually divine. You may spend Mana points to reduce the difficulty target number of a social roll. No difficulty may be lower than two, and none may be lowered by more than three. Obviously, you must possess Mana points to be able to spend them.
Strength of Psyche (2pt.)
Your character has trained her mind to tap into the deep reserves of mystical energy she possesses. Flooded with increased power of thought or perception, her mental faculties are temporarily increased gready, and she finds whatever task she undertakes much easier to accompUsh. Your sorcerer may channel her mystical energy into mental activities other than magic. You may spend Mana points to reduce the difficulty target number of any die pool for a mental action. The difficulty may not be reduced below 2, nor be reduced by more than three points. Depending upon the use in question, her psyche empowers her perceptive nature, grants her insight into the strange tongue or plunges toward a solution to her puzzle.
The Flow of Ki (3pt.)
Most advanced practitioners of the martial arts spend a lot of time trying to explain that their prowess is not simply a result of skill. Desperately, they seek to explain that their might comes from an understanding of the energy we all possess, the breath of the inner spirit. You understand that lesson in a way that allows you to apply it to physical feats. You may spend Mana (chi, ki, whatever your style calls it) points to reduce the difficulty target number of any die pool for a physical action. The difficulty number may not be reduced lower than two, nor may you reduce it by more than three. Obviously, you must already have the Mana to spend or this Merit is useless.
Useful for both mages and minor talents.
I also wonder if we can strengthen people's talents by granting them more dots in the mana Background:
Mana
Whether they call it chi, essence, ki, pneuma, psychic energy, ionized electrolytes or any number of other traditional names, sorcerers can tap into sources of energy that empower them in their performance of magic. Meditating or resting on ley lines, in holy places or even in supercharged chemical baths grants the magician who understands their nature a source of power. Other sorcerers ingest a diet of rare substances believed to invoke potency or engage themselves in strenuous rituals, exhausting daily regimens of practice or hypnotic empowerment. Whatever the individual's methods, she exhibits an energy that helps her work her Art, a force described by some as being akin to breath or spirit, or, in Latin, "Mana."
When performing Path or ritual magic, a sorcerer may expend Mana to lower the difficulty target number. As usual, her difficulty cannot be lowered by more than three; however, Mana may reduce threshold instead, though never below one. Recovering Mana requires the sorcerer to perform her chosen method of recharging and succeed in a Perception + Meditation roll, difficulty 7, with each success restoring one point.
The more dots in the Background the more mana you can use/store.
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While your sword will hurt ghosts fine, the trouble with dematerialized spirits is that they are not on the same plane of reality so if you poke at them with a sword, even one made of 'soul' you are literally trying to span the border between worlds with that sword. Your sword is not large enough to pierce the shroud and hit a ghost on the other side, that is what needs charms.
What of Alchemy? This sounds like it would need 3-4 dot equivalent product according to Sorcerer.
We would still need to find the appropropriate reagents to make it(assuming the blood of an Exalt is not enough), but if we can get Dresden to teach or lend us books for Alchemy 101, we can do the rest.
Wouldnt dematerialized spirits be on our side of the gauntlet/shroud?
Only those that are on the other side of the shroud would be out of shanking range.
At least, thats how it seemed to work in Ghost Story.
Dresden walked around dematerialized all the time, and he was on this side of the shroud.
The one time he materialized was against Corpsetaker, and she took the opportunity to shoot him.
All this is stuff you can do, though keep in mind it's one dot of background at a time so Mana is not going to be that impressive to someone who has none, the ability to use mana in other ways to people who do have it on the other hand could be very impressive.
Spirits needed a specific Charm/whatever spirit thing in oWoD (Arcanoi?) is called to effect things in the world if they are dematerialized. Do all of them just have that naturally here?
It was some reach over the Gauntlet thing
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- Healing her body could be done with mid level alchemy, healing her mind would be out of the scope of all but the most powerful... and consequently insane mortal mind mages
- I think we might be talking about different things, a ghost can still be present and stabable while being invisible to mundane sight, but they can also be on the other side of the Shroud and look at but not meaningfully impact the material world. That you cannot stab even with nuclear fire because they are not on the same plane as you.
No, only those who are powerful or knowledgeable do.
At this point theyre just in the Nevernever in this cosmology, aren't they?
So if we used the gate opening Sorcery, we could go stab them.
Underworld and Spirit World are one here.
Yep, tearing the veil asunder and walking through is a valid tactic.
That's fair, it depends on how much time we have as well given the 1/year limitation. Given how much more readily available mana seems to be than three baseline WoD, giving Wardens the ability to use Ki to level the playing field a bit between them and supernaturally capable people might make a fair size difference.
The other notable thing is that at least one of the merits is something you explicitly learn how to do. That suggests that once we've granted the merit to one person, they may be able to teach others to do the same, just like those sorcerers that use a martial arts practice presumable do in the WoD.
As a digression, the difference between the Shih supernatural martial arts and this kind of a a sorcrerer's supernatural martial arts is that the shih uses their life force as fuel while the sorcerer gathers and uses external emergy. You could presumably have a sorcerer-shih that learned how to do both.
It's unlikely that you could manage to make a sorcerous practice that used a martial ability for alchemy or conjuring, but you could easily see one that used melee for the Path of Conveyance (first riding flying swords then cutting through space at higher levels) or for Hellfire to create things like make a supernaturally powerful sword blow or xianxia style sword beams at higher levels to have a sorcerer themed as a 'sword cultivator'/follower of the Dao of the Sword.
There are relatively few spirits capable of making a physical manifestation at all however, and if they're physical you can, as you said, just shoot them.
The ghosts hanging around in the near-Nevernever only got a few powers that actually work on physical things, and most of those are kinda minor barring Right Place Right Time Right Target.
- Location
- Earth
[X] Yes, you're feeling generous
-[X] Start talking about how you want to meet the ghost whisperer, that should make her only mildly annoyed
A combined front against Charity is useful.
And if she complains about it, saying it's unnatural again we can counter by him being recommended by a priest. Literally.
-[X] Start talking about how you want to meet the ghost whisperer, that should make her only mildly annoyed
A combined front against Charity is useful.
And if she complains about it, saying it's unnatural again we can counter by him being recommended by a priest. Literally.
VOTE
[X] Yes, you're feeling generous
-[X] Start talking about how you want to meet the ghost whisperer, that should make her only mildly annoyed
Molly is boss kid; protecting her siblings is her job. And gives her license to tease Daniel later.
Charity should not make any more than a pro forma fuss.
She acutely remembers being the victim of a malevolent ghost in Grave Peril when pregnant with Harry Junior.
Being told you need to talk to someone else about protective countermeasures for a pregnant woman should hit ALL her buttons.
[X] Yes, you're feeling generous
-[X] Start talking about how you want to meet the ghost whisperer, that should make her only mildly annoyed
Molly is boss kid; protecting her siblings is her job. And gives her license to tease Daniel later.
Charity should not make any more than a pro forma fuss.
She acutely remembers being the victim of a malevolent ghost in Grave Peril when pregnant with Harry Junior.
Being told you need to talk to someone else about protective countermeasures for a pregnant woman should hit ALL her buttons.
That is indeed doable though it would take a lifetime's dedication to combine two paradigms like that or a truly legendary magician.One of the exalted to whom lesser magic comes so easily might be just the right fit.
- Location
- washington
Getting through a single year in quest could legitimately take as long a real year.
- Location
- Georgia
gotta use timeskips
- Location
- washington
Ultimately that's the qms decision.
- Location
- Georgia
to be fair, according to RPG wardens can use physical boosts just fine. it's just not as efficient or effective as blasting people with fire. Basically, it's better to burn a vampire on range then to first buff and then go melee.
No to mention, theirs is just a different tradition. DF wizards are some sort of psychic-hermetics. If they were more interested in developing alchemy and enchantment, building society, a lot of their problems could be solved with their own means.
For an example, did you know that Red vampire venom cures black magic addiction? and that there is at least 1 Alchemist that can brew a memory of vampire bite into potions?
Similarly, DF wizards don't really have joint arsenal, no dedicated healers, no good support/ally structure. Their power hangs on the individual might of the Senior Council. Merely giving them safe low-power physical boosts isn't going to do much.
- Location
- washington
In fairness magic is very very personalized in dresden files mass teaching of anything is basically impossible and talents vary randomly fairly often.
- Location
- Georgia
it is obviously not random enough to preclude writing books about it that manage to convey the subject just fine.