[X] Yog
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
All of Holdens criticism is removed if we just don't waive the sphere requirements. He can't make a mistake and then the blame the system for being broken if its limitations are removed.
Also those are not applicable at all, we literally had prodigy items here in the thread that make people exalted tier melee fighters. Thats not a normal item by any stretch.
Also ancient sorcery isn't that strong, like half of its effects summon lava kraken or summin cloud to travel. So it doesn't really make sense to seprate it from that. Hell mortal sorcery is better than its effects as evidenced by how we have chosen them over the sorcery spells, so this is a useless catagory. Things like diaklaives and striders are not useful as well.
also we already are at the magical batman stage, have you seen the prodgies suggested they are like entire super hero packages in and themselves, and we could buy anything we need to make someone into bat man already from our world.
Also i know we shouldn't break the game, i have consistently argued for nerfs
Also it doesn't have to be wondermaking. I am completely fine with making all items into fetishes and fluffing that we figured out how to improver our item of mortal magic with living items into full on spirits that we bind ti items for magical effects.
If the "brokeness" of the wonders is the problem i am perfectly willing to use fetish or trinket rules.
Its not vague bullshit.
Also those are not applicable at all, we literally had prodigy items here in the thread that make people exalted tier melee fighters. Thats not a normal item by any stretch.
Also ancient sorcery isn't that strong, like half of its effects summon lava kraken or summin cloud to travel. So it doesn't really make sense to seprate it from that. Hell mortal sorcery is better than its effects as evidenced by how we have chosen them over the sorcery spells, so this is a useless catagory. Things like diaklaives and striders are not useful as well.
We can already do this, we have been doing this. So it doesn't make sense for us to be more limited after buying the charm and not less.
What do you mean, they are the most stringet limitations. I don't see this thread spending multiple AP to help him become a magical batman.
also we already are at the magical batman stage, have you seen the prodgies suggested they are like entire super hero packages in and themselves, and we could buy anything we need to make someone into bat man already from our world.
Also i know we shouldn't break the game, i have consistently argued for nerfs
Deciding how to spend exp is a major part of this game adding more options is how this is supposed to work and we can already do plenty with our current skills so its hardly useless.
Also it doesn't have to be wondermaking. I am completely fine with making all items into fetishes and fluffing that we figured out how to improver our item of mortal magic with living items into full on spirits that we bind ti items for magical effects.
If the "brokeness" of the wonders is the problem i am perfectly willing to use fetish or trinket rules.
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- Location
- Germany
My favored solution was always to simply not use any crafting at all and rely on loot.
But then I guess I'm a bit of a dungeon-running Goblin in that regards.
But then I guess I'm a bit of a dungeon-running Goblin in that regards.
COMMENTARY
-Interesting dreams. Hope they are just that.
I dont really know if this setting could survive someone like Ligier popping up unrestricted.
-Nice character work on the Molly fumbling around Harry interaction.
No wonder Bob is so amused.
-Freezing <10 cubic meters of volume.
Darkens 20 cubic meters of volume. Strength +2 Agg damage in melee.
Damages both humans and spirits.
A ranged attack thats essentially a scaled down Death of Obsidian Butterflies, only bashing(Agg with Transcendent Anathema) and doesnt cost Essence/Willpower to use.
And its black.
That sword is basically a Bleach zanpakuto in shikai form, isnt it? Thematically appropriate too.
-The gemstone is the equivalent of an Essence Battery/Jade Talisman 2? Great.
That should help mitigate Lydia's Essence endurance issues if we give it to her, raising her Essence pool to 9/9.
And certainly solves the Christmas present question before it was even raised.
-Interesting move on Lash's part. And unusually forward; she's usually played a light hand with Dresden.
I am all for engaging; I have been trying to figure out how Molly would be able to apply her Social dicepools to someone locked away inside Dresden's head without running over Dresden in the process.
Lash just solved that dilemma for us.
View: https://youtu.be/KvMY1uzSC1E?si=u8LO50GOfJxrzrBA
Came to mind.
And I wasnt going to be depressed alone.
Infernals were canonically Creatures of Darkness, and they were vulnerable to shit like Holy effects.
That the White God chooses not to, doesnt mean he cant smite us for critical damage. And its entirely possible that other, lawful small-g gods and their followers might be able to levy the same sort of penalties if we came into conflict.
Lol.
Hilariously wrong. Still hilarious though
Have a like
There's cursed and there's cursed.
The current Holden system under discussion literally makes perfect immunities available with 1-dot Splendors.
Look at this:
Sacred Protection (3 pt. Root Element)
This Splendor defines that which cannot threaten those within its influence, according to the
Splendor's character as defined by appropriate Form Elements.
It provides immunity to damage from wind, cold, and electricity (air); being crushed, cut, or
pierced by stone or metal (earth); being burned (fire); being drowned (water); being poisoned or
struck by wooden objects (wood); disease (death); possession (spirit); or the twisting of the mind
by supernatural powers (dreams). If its protection is bestowed by a Fascination, it lasts for a
number of hours equal to the Splendor's rating, and may be set to persist indefinitely while
within the Splendor's influence in the case of Forms such as Form of the Hearth.
If more than one characteristic is drawn upon when this Element grants its Protection, then
instead of invincibility, damage is simply downgraded from aggravated to lethal, lethal to
bashing, and bashing damage cut in half after soak (round down), while immunity to possession
and thought alteration become the ability to make a Willpower roll at difficulty (10 – Splendor's
rating) to immediately shake the effect off, and immunity to disease becomes the ability to make
a Stamina roll at difficulty (10 – Splendor's rating) to immediately shake the infection off.
This Splendor defines that which cannot threaten those within its influence, according to the
Splendor's character as defined by appropriate Form Elements.
It provides immunity to damage from wind, cold, and electricity (air); being crushed, cut, or
pierced by stone or metal (earth); being burned (fire); being drowned (water); being poisoned or
struck by wooden objects (wood); disease (death); possession (spirit); or the twisting of the mind
by supernatural powers (dreams). If its protection is bestowed by a Fascination, it lasts for a
number of hours equal to the Splendor's rating, and may be set to persist indefinitely while
within the Splendor's influence in the case of Forms such as Form of the Hearth.
If more than one characteristic is drawn upon when this Element grants its Protection, then
instead of invincibility, damage is simply downgraded from aggravated to lethal, lethal to
bashing, and bashing damage cut in half after soak (round down), while immunity to possession
and thought alteration become the ability to make a Willpower roll at difficulty (10 – Splendor's
rating) to immediately shake the effect off, and immunity to disease becomes the ability to make
a Stamina roll at difficulty (10 – Splendor's rating) to immediately shake the infection off.
5 dot, 15xp Exalted charm, matched by a feature of a 1 dot wonder.
And Im sure if I go on to look, there'll be further weird broken shit to comment on.
EDIT
Yeah, see here as well:
Private Idaho (3 pt. Root Element)
This Element creates a mystical "pocket" realm, accessible only through the Splendor. The
Splendor must possess at least one Form Element with a character, which both defines the style
and possibilities of the private realm, and defines the shape of the object which serves as means
of entry to the realm. The Splendor must also possess a location-type Form element, such as
Form of the Hearth. This dictates the size of the pocket Realm, rather than causing the Splendor
to affect a widespread area as it normally would.
As an Adornment, only the user may enter this pocket realm. They must pay a point of
Willpower while wearing the Splendor to do so. They leave a faint mystical imprint upon the
world while in their pocket realm, and must spend another point of Willpower to return to the
world at the point of that imprint.
As a Fascination, the Splendor itself serves as a doorway into and out of the pocket Realm, at
least for those who know the trick of triggering Private Idaho to admit them. Those already
inside may leave at any time through an obvious doorway, unless other Elements are used to
confound such attempts.
If the Splendor is destroyed or banished (or, in the case of Adornments, removed) while anyone
is inside the pocket realm, they are violently ejected back into the real world at their point of
departure, taking (Splendor's rating) in levels of lethal damage.
This Element creates a mystical "pocket" realm, accessible only through the Splendor. The
Splendor must possess at least one Form Element with a character, which both defines the style
and possibilities of the private realm, and defines the shape of the object which serves as means
of entry to the realm. The Splendor must also possess a location-type Form element, such as
Form of the Hearth. This dictates the size of the pocket Realm, rather than causing the Splendor
to affect a widespread area as it normally would.
As an Adornment, only the user may enter this pocket realm. They must pay a point of
Willpower while wearing the Splendor to do so. They leave a faint mystical imprint upon the
world while in their pocket realm, and must spend another point of Willpower to return to the
world at the point of that imprint.
As a Fascination, the Splendor itself serves as a doorway into and out of the pocket Realm, at
least for those who know the trick of triggering Private Idaho to admit them. Those already
inside may leave at any time through an obvious doorway, unless other Elements are used to
confound such attempts.
If the Splendor is destroyed or banished (or, in the case of Adornments, removed) while anyone
is inside the pocket realm, they are violently ejected back into the real world at their point of
departure, taking (Splendor's rating) in levels of lethal damage.
I noped out of examining this at close range before a reason.
Its more thematically and mechanically broken than the system it purports to replace, with none of the virtues of simplicity, and puts me in mind of the dice tricks that were stuffed into Exalted 3E in place of Excellencies.
Let me put this in stark economic terms:
Each use of Devil Tyrant Avatar Shintai costs 2 Essence, 2 Willpower. Molly Carpenter has Willpower 9 at the moment.
We also burn willpower under combat situations for activating charms like All Things Betray, Impervious Primacy Mantle, Ego Infused Pattern Primacy, Tool Transcending Constructs and even automatic successes on things like countermagick.
At the moment, a story arc in which we activate shintai once averages a burn rate of 45% of our maximum temporary Willpower pool when you account for other uses of Willpower points during a crisis point.
And we are only guaranteed 1wp recovery every morning iirc.
This will get better when we get Meng 2: Focus of the Mind to help us increase our ability to recover willpower points on the strategic scale. But I doubt its ever going to be as simple as Molly soaking in bleach and recovering 4m in an hour.
There are real mechanical constraints involved, as well as narrative ones.
I dont see the issue.
Thats less powerful than the spellbane bracelets that Madrigal Raith canonically wore into his duel with Dresden and Ramirez in White Night.
By the M20 rules in play for countermagick, you explicitly cant affect direct damage spellcasting at all, whether its a fireball, bolt of lightning, curse, or plasma beam from a Technocracy-fabricated plasma cannon. Only in non-direct damage scenarios does it come into play: someone is trying to hit you with a status debuff or turn you into a lawn chair or track you with magic does it come into play.
There might be an edge argument with regards to ritual magic and death curses, but thats it.
And for path sorcerers who arent cheating cheaters like an Exalt with Ancient Sorcery, Occult and Craft Excellencies, it takes time and resources to make, even if it doesnt require maintenance. Our Hell has the centralized organization and scale to mass produce that sort of thing. On Earth its artisan work, and every Enchanter has to fund and set up their own facilities.
A full wizard with some experience doesnt appear to need it anyway.
We see Dresden parry a ritual-cast entropy curse into an opponent during Blood Rites, and in Proven Guilty he outright redirects someone else's offensive summoning midcast.
Its probably not a coincidence that Lord Raith wasnt able to kill Maggie LeFay until she was in childbirth and unable to watch out for herself.
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The more I read your arguments, the less I understand, why did you push for CCoP so much for the last two arcs. I remember that the thread had a consensus that investing into the Linear Paths of Alchemy and Enchanting are more efficient than buying CCoP, that higher dots of these paths allow to make some entertaining and epic things, but here we are. What is your master plan for CCoP?
For anything that counts the number of successes it probably would be a good idea to use progressive scale:
Something like 1-3-6-10-15 or even 1-2-5-10-20
Basically you want 5 dot equivalent bonus? Roll 15+ successes. Leaves lower levels perfectly within the ability of mortals and supernatural creatures to achieve but if someone wants the really good bling they'll better pull out all the stops and splurge on resources. Or be an Exalt.
Something like 1-3-6-10-15 or even 1-2-5-10-20
Basically you want 5 dot equivalent bonus? Roll 15+ successes. Leaves lower levels perfectly within the ability of mortals and supernatural creatures to achieve but if someone wants the really good bling they'll better pull out all the stops and splurge on resources. Or be an Exalt.
As I said previously, the nerfing is a strong over-correction. The system is very clearly not intended for any sort of long-term game or change. It's very indicative that the only example of a super-science given is a hand grenade.
Holden even spells it out himself - "the Age of Legends is gone, never to come back" was his thesis, and "this is a versus game" was his motivation, where he clearly set out to make it so the players would be killing vampires and not building space habitats or solving world hunger with artificially grown meat. He tried to juggle this together with the setting being modern, with modern industries and economies of scale in the background, but at least in the case of super-science I am fairly sure he failed.
Also, in general, prodigies "consuming the potential of the world" is just thematically bad. We are here to save the world, not to finish breaking it. If absolutely required, I would suggest changing that to XP consumption. XP represents exalt's enlightenment and potential realized. Have prodigies consume that.
Well, because I trust DragonParadox, and the system, while very broken, still allows for a lot of fun. I am specifically interested in Splendors and Arcana - those mostly work fine, as far as I can see. My master plan for CCoP is god forging to secure the homefront, and jumping through several tiers of equipment up.
Alchemy we can outsource to the Courts, mostly, and linear enchanting we would probably want to pick up sooner or later.
- Location
- Germany
TA only turns lethal into aggravated.
Harm us with anti-CoD attacks?
Yes.
Banish us, as mentioned in the specific thing I quoted?
I really kinda doubt that. We have a right to be here.
The way I understand you want them to be basically "super-science"?
The main limitation in this case would be that Molly would need to basically school someone from, more or less, zero on how to maintain such a device properly. As in if it sustains any damage she would be the only one capable of repairing it. And they won't have the magical durability or self repair without additional enchantments. Because materials have physical limits and destroying things is much easier than keeping them intact.
The main problem quest wise would be keeping them within the realm of sci-fi/hard sci-fi to make them practically different from other crafting options.
Something like - pay XP to buy a design/tech and then apply it to different projects?
Prodigies do not so much consume the Essence of the universe as they transform it, there is still a magical thing there, that just happens to be a first age inspired magic item that works off its own Essence rather than a vampire corpse. If you had not turned the vampire corpse into that the magic in it would have flowed into the world in some other way.
Its still thematically a zero sum game.
Well yeah, but in the sense that the laws of thermodynamics are a zero sum game. All human technology has had to deal with that and I think it has done plenty to improve the world.
Molly can always go the wizard route - cheat. Something like using nuclear reactors for powering up enchantments where the actual enchantment is mostly tied in repurposing radiations and heat. Nuclear reactors should also be okay with Infernal theme - the more radiation the better. Also could bath in the cooling chamber.
EDIT: Also theoretically it's not a zero sum as Molly should be able to farm Outsiders for powering up her doodads. Kill the Walker - Beat the Entropy!
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Yes, you can do that, Hell Solars have done that in the First Age on an almost unimaginable level. They and their armies of Dragon Blooded and their first age Reality Engines marched into the Wyld and made more Creation out of it. You are not likely to ever be on that scale in the span of this quest, but you have shaping defense now, Molly can walk beyond the Outer Gates if she really wants to.
I think that Linear Paths are equally fun, there are very impressive things that can be made with them.
If we outsource Alchemy to courts, we will loose the most broken aspects of employing WoD sorcery by Exalted: dice pools and overflow of successes.
That's not the part I am talking about. This is the part I am talking about:
That's per use weakening and/or destruction of world's potential.
I understand perfectly well that this is not a character that does super-science. My objection against gadgets are just that - grumbling about how the system is clearly not built to actually handle them. My argument against (parts of) prodigy mechanics is that low level prodigies are obsoleted by mortal paths, middle level ones are obsoleted by fetishes, and high level ones are obsoleted by splendors (or, rather, splendors are better-defined prodigies at that level).
In general paying XP for some of the design seem possible to me, at least at the higher dot ratings.
Oh I see, that one does not fit the themes of this story, it fits the themes of WoD yes, but this is not a fading world. One that is maybe heading towards an apocalypse if you ask the denarians, but the Passing of Magic is not a thing thematically. So we can just ignore that bit.
Thermodynamics are not fun in the real world as well is the issue.
Sure but splendors don't stop being terrible, it just mean we worked around to create more things.
- Location
- Right Where I Am
[X] With wary hope - this is both a danger and an opportunity in equal measures. Perhaps, she can be redeemed. Perhaps, you might get some useful information out of her. And you'll never forget that she's a great danger
-[X] Talk to her
--[X] Empathy and etiquette excellencies, ATB
-[X] After the talk is over, and you are not in her presence, use Clippy's recording of the talk as the crown focus to learn her real motivations.
Getting some direct insight in to her mind and motives is important.
-[X] Talk to her
--[X] Empathy and etiquette excellencies, ATB
-[X] After the talk is over, and you are not in her presence, use Clippy's recording of the talk as the crown focus to learn her real motivations.
Getting some direct insight in to her mind and motives is important.
Actually the more i think about it the more I am intrested in the fetishes as our primary crafting method.
It makes thematic sense as we would be drawing or creating spirits from our world and the temporary items could be the living magic thing we do.
It would make a techincal sense as well as we would be using the expertise of the items devolped in our world.
And fetishes can be fairly powerful if we need them to be and can also do things like god crafring but instead is ascending a spirit to god hood.
It makes thematic sense as we would be drawing or creating spirits from our world and the temporary items could be the living magic thing we do.
It would make a techincal sense as well as we would be using the expertise of the items devolped in our world.
And fetishes can be fairly powerful if we need them to be and can also do things like god crafring but instead is ascending a spirit to god hood.
Indeed. Feitshes have the following advantages:
1) No need to kill anything / consume irreplaceable resources
2) No attunement limit. You still need to attune them, but there's no limit on how many you can make
The downside is the need to spend 16 more XP on fetish-making charm, and the lack of clear examples of fetishes for design purposes.
It is thematic to forge gods and then make items out of them.
I assumed we can refluff thr crafting charm to make fetishes instead, because i am genuinely not interested in holdens system.
I would think werewolf books would have a fair few example of fetishes.
This threads has some examples.
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My apologies this is late. Again.
Action economy is a thing, and Molly can neither be everywhere, nor can she act
And specifically in the Dresden Files, given the threat level of necromancers and necromantic magic given time to build up momentum, a Death-Aspected Exigent can have potentially outsize impact for her power level.
Lydia is one of the few people I can think of with the mythic weight and native charms to stop a Darkhallow dead.
This is not two player characters, this is a Circle.
XP is pooled. Everything that both Exalts(and any other future Circle members, if any) do in the story arc contributes to that pool
We are supposed to build them both up from the pool; ~Lydia just gets a bonus of 25% on top of that because Molly is both a Celestial and has a head start.
Sure we could starve her of XP. But we're just hurting ourself.
And WoD magic doesnt even bother with the pretence.
If the effect demands X, X happens and reality tries to justify it afterwards.
A 30-successes kitchen knife is likely going to have limits about how much better it is than a 20-successes knife.
You can spend 3xp on raising Craft from 3 to 4, marginally improving your ability to craft.
Or you could buy a health charm and increase your base HP by 30%, in addition to adding 4xHLs to your shintai HP.
The marginal utility of extra Craft dots <<< our second Ox-Body.
Demons(think Fallen, think Outsiders) cant even attempt to possess their dying body. And Celestials + Alchemicals are immune to Banes; Dragonbloods, specifically, are not. And I dont think Liminals are either.
But everyone else appears to be fair game, from spirits and ghosts to mages to I think Fae.
The fact that we are here, talking about how a 1 dot splendor is supposed to be better at protecting against possession than a 5 dot Terrestrial-class charm, and matching a 5-dot Celestial charm?
Something wrong with that.
You arent tasked with prosecuting a millenia-long war against Old Ones without being able to prevent said Old Ones literally magicking you out of existence. Especially since time travel is apparently a thing in the Dresden Files.
Its much the same thing with Demonreach.
Supernatural Supermax's detention facilities have to be able to defend against everything that its incarcerated inmates and their allies outside can throw at it. We've seen it stand off two Fae Ladies and an Outsider invasion force simultaneously.
If it cant reliably defend against shaping, it wouldnt exist.
2) Accepting a Coin and the offers of its Fallen is a free will choice.
Getting the Shadow of a Fallen in your head, however, is as simple as making skin contact with a Coin. The Fallen are specifically allowed to tempt you; its in the rules. Thats why Dresden went to such pains to avoid his brother even touching one by accident.
Ivy spent one to three days in the custody of the Denarians, and instead of simply dropping a Coin on her, they stuck her in a Circle and tortured her to try and make her pick a Coin of her own will.
That points at protection. Heavy duty shaping protection.
Do recall that Lydia was possessed for an indeterminate amount of time by Corpsetaker, who had the run of the place for an indeterminate amount of time before we caught them in Undertown. The wards had to be repaired afterwards.
If you look at Lydia's stat sheet, her Soak is 2, same as her Stamina. No armor besides the jacket re-rolls.
I've been operating on the assumption that sometime between her possession and her making it back home after the fight, whatever Arawn stashed for her either got heisted or destroyed.
Maybe he commissioned some magic armor for her and it got destroyed by her Essence.
Or maybe he got scammed by his supplier, and the armor wasnt up to snuff, or had a tracker.
Who knows. He certainly didnt test it on her.
=We pick Charms for the characters OOC.
IC, none of them have any idea about what they can do beforehand; Usum has some occasional suggestions about possibilities
for Molly, but Lydia is an Exigent. There's no Terrestrial-tier Exigent of Death beforehand to tell her what might or might not be.
They arent marching to Edinburgh, because if they were going to do so they would have done it last year.
And they were mauled on the battlefield six months ago.
But you dont need an army to act against Molly, especially since we are being careful to keep our world's resources low profile.
The plot to bring the White Court into the festivities had to have been running for a while
And I will point out that Dresden and some of the Wardens barely stopped the Red Court from getting their hands on a shoggoth in February 2006(War Cry comics), four months after Dead Beat.
There's little surprises and stashes like that in this setting.
2) Note that Mab is a millenia old. And Mab's reputation is infamous for her ability to keep and repay a grudge.
Their calculus had to keep in mind that there would be a reckoning.
And yet they went for it anyway. There's factors we arent seeing.
3)They aggro'd Summer the minute they started bringing Outsiders through the NeverNever.
They knew this was going to happen and did it anyway. This was at the same time as the chemical weapon WMD, and barely a couple months later they try to get their hands on an occult WMD(the shoggoth in War Cry).
They have kept escalating at every opportunity.
Our ability to lolnope that sort of thing isnt common. In my opinion.
Keep in mind that being able to perceive a Fallen is allegedly terrifying if you believe Dresden.
Note that even the efficiency argument is flawed.
Action economy is a thing, and Molly can neither be everywhere, nor can she act
And specifically in the Dresden Files, given the threat level of necromancers and necromantic magic given time to build up momentum, a Death-Aspected Exigent can have potentially outsize impact for her power level.
Lydia is one of the few people I can think of with the mythic weight and native charms to stop a Darkhallow dead.
Not how it works here.
This is not two player characters, this is a Circle.
XP is pooled. Everything that both Exalts(and any other future Circle members, if any) do in the story arc contributes to that pool
We are supposed to build them both up from the pool; ~Lydia just gets a bonus of 25% on top of that because Molly is both a Celestial and has a head start.
Sure we could starve her of XP. But we're just hurting ourself.
Dresdenverse magic only appears to engage with physics when it suits it.
And WoD magic doesnt even bother with the pretence.
If the effect demands X, X happens and reality tries to justify it afterwards.
Of course, agreed. But even mundane Crafting will run up against limits eventually.
A 30-successes kitchen knife is likely going to have limits about how much better it is than a 20-successes knife.
You can spend 3xp on raising Craft from 3 to 4, marginally improving your ability to craft.
Or you could buy a health charm and increase your base HP by 30%, in addition to adding 4xHLs to your shintai HP.
The marginal utility of extra Craft dots <<< our second Ox-Body.
Note that by ExWoD rules, all Exalts have immunity to specific types of possession.
Demons(think Fallen, think Outsiders) cant even attempt to possess their dying body. And Celestials + Alchemicals are immune to Banes; Dragonbloods, specifically, are not. And I dont think Liminals are either.
But everyone else appears to be fair game, from spirits and ghosts to mages to I think Fae.
The fact that we are here, talking about how a 1 dot splendor is supposed to be better at protecting against possession than a 5 dot Terrestrial-class charm, and matching a 5-dot Celestial charm?
Something wrong with that.
Agree to disagree.
1)Given her (real) job, she kinda has to have it.
You arent tasked with prosecuting a millenia-long war against Old Ones without being able to prevent said Old Ones literally magicking you out of existence. Especially since time travel is apparently a thing in the Dresden Files.
Its much the same thing with Demonreach.
Supernatural Supermax's detention facilities have to be able to defend against everything that its incarcerated inmates and their allies outside can throw at it. We've seen it stand off two Fae Ladies and an Outsider invasion force simultaneously.
If it cant reliably defend against shaping, it wouldnt exist.
2) Accepting a Coin and the offers of its Fallen is a free will choice.
Getting the Shadow of a Fallen in your head, however, is as simple as making skin contact with a Coin. The Fallen are specifically allowed to tempt you; its in the rules. Thats why Dresden went to such pains to avoid his brother even touching one by accident.
Ivy spent one to three days in the custody of the Denarians, and instead of simply dropping a Coin on her, they stuck her in a Circle and tortured her to try and make her pick a Coin of her own will.
That points at protection. Heavy duty shaping protection.
=And was it there when she made it back home?
Do recall that Lydia was possessed for an indeterminate amount of time by Corpsetaker, who had the run of the place for an indeterminate amount of time before we caught them in Undertown. The wards had to be repaired afterwards.
If you look at Lydia's stat sheet, her Soak is 2, same as her Stamina. No armor besides the jacket re-rolls.
I've been operating on the assumption that sometime between her possession and her making it back home after the fight, whatever Arawn stashed for her either got heisted or destroyed.
Maybe he commissioned some magic armor for her and it got destroyed by her Essence.
Or maybe he got scammed by his supplier, and the armor wasnt up to snuff, or had a tracker.
Who knows. He certainly didnt test it on her.
=We pick Charms for the characters OOC.
IC, none of them have any idea about what they can do beforehand; Usum has some occasional suggestions about possibilities
for Molly, but Lydia is an Exigent. There's no Terrestrial-tier Exigent of Death beforehand to tell her what might or might not be.
1)Like I've said previously, we dont know what parameters they are working under.
They arent marching to Edinburgh, because if they were going to do so they would have done it last year.
And they were mauled on the battlefield six months ago.
But you dont need an army to act against Molly, especially since we are being careful to keep our world's resources low profile.
The plot to bring the White Court into the festivities had to have been running for a while
And I will point out that Dresden and some of the Wardens barely stopped the Red Court from getting their hands on a shoggoth in February 2006(War Cry comics), four months after Dead Beat.
There's little surprises and stashes like that in this setting.
2) Note that Mab is a millenia old. And Mab's reputation is infamous for her ability to keep and repay a grudge.
Their calculus had to keep in mind that there would be a reckoning.
And yet they went for it anyway. There's factors we arent seeing.
3)They aggro'd Summer the minute they started bringing Outsiders through the NeverNever.
They knew this was going to happen and did it anyway. This was at the same time as the chemical weapon WMD, and barely a couple months later they try to get their hands on an occult WMD(the shoggoth in War Cry).
They have kept escalating at every opportunity.
Opening them up to DPoE-equivalents in a world with Fallen and Walkers is in and of itself a signficant downside.
Our ability to lolnope that sort of thing isnt common. In my opinion.
Keep in mind that being able to perceive a Fallen is allegedly terrifying if you believe Dresden.