I don't object to spending XP on merits, I just find the ability to buy arbitrary non-story justified merits jarring and immersion breaking. Like, you don't spontaneously develop perfect recall, you go on a journey to train with gurus, and then pay XP at the end of intensive training.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think we should buy up leadership, politics, or law, and maybe buy an excellency for the latter two. We are pretty likely to be doing more of those soon.
We have needed to roll streetwise enough that it might be wise to grab a few dots.
Same with alertness and awareness.
If we think we need more combat ability there is some charms worth looking at, but I do think we are hitting a point of diminishing returns with that, especially if we want to continue soaking attacks so that our more fragile allies get aimed at less.
I am personally wanting to buy up social attribute dots, but it is admittedly probably not mechanically the most useful thing.
We do have enough experience to buy both Splintered Gale and VEE, but it will take all of the experience.
(Edit: We will have a bit left, if will still take most)
I don't know enough about Demon or Exigents to comment on our companions builds, besides that we should probably avoid buying physical or mental attributes if I understand the mechanics correctly?
We have needed to roll streetwise enough that it might be wise to grab a few dots.
Same with alertness and awareness.
If we think we need more combat ability there is some charms worth looking at, but I do think we are hitting a point of diminishing returns with that, especially if we want to continue soaking attacks so that our more fragile allies get aimed at less.
I am personally wanting to buy up social attribute dots, but it is admittedly probably not mechanically the most useful thing.
We do have enough experience to buy both Splintered Gale and VEE, but it will take all of the experience.
(Edit: We will have a bit left, if will still take most)
I don't know enough about Demon or Exigents to comment on our companions builds, besides that we should probably avoid buying physical or mental attributes if I understand the mechanics correctly?
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You messed up the threadmark name; it's the same as last threadmark's
Fixed, thanks.
Let me repeat this:
Some people do not have any interest in being obligated to an Infernal Exalt more than is necessary.
Lash, for example, will be ardently opposed to anything that resembles the kinds of obligations that her sister-parent used to bind her to obedience.
Its much the same thing as Harry declining physical upgrades unless absolutely necesssary when Lash offered.
Or Molly avoiding recreational drugs even though she cant be addicted to them.
Literally everyone in Molly's warparty, by definition, is exceptional. The Celestial Exalt, the Exigent of Death, the Fallen Shadow.
All of them are explicitly still growing into their power; Molly is the oldest here at 18, Lydia just turned 16, and Lash is literally 3 years old chronologically.
All of them are still growing.
Thats silly.
Someone who needs Alchemy 2 to make healing potions for their patient or to make a living, is not going to wait until they can get Path Natural, even if they could actively make the choice.
NPC XP progression bears no resemblance to PC XP progression.
And Merits do need justification.
The justifications available to an Infernal, or a Demon Adept of Flesh, or an alchemist with Path 6, are not available to a random NPC. Every Merit that has been suggested makes some sort of sense for the recipient.
You wont see anyone buying Huge for Lydia in order to give her extra HLs, when she is like five foot three.
More broadly, the argument that you are making has no respect for context.
Everyone can already buy Attribute 5 by RAW, and yet there are a miniscule fraction of NPCs with it. Every sorcerer can buy Path Sorcery 5/6 by RAW, and yet we've never seen any, even in Sanctuary. Everybody can buy Willpower 10, and yet literally the only person with WP10 on our party right now is Lydia, who got it from a Pact.
Can =/= Will for NPCs.
NPCs do not have PC experience progression.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Might as well get this show on the road.
[X] I Can See You, But You Can't See Me!
-[X] Purchase Black Mirror Incarnation (15 XP)
-[X] Increase Perception to 4 Dots (12 XP)
-[X] Purchase Awareness up to 3 Dots (9 XP)
-[X] Increase Alertness to 3 Dots (6 XP)
-[X] Increase Alchemy to 4 Dots (6 XP)
-[X] Remove Touch of Frost (2 XP)
-[X] Buy down Nightmares (4 XP)
-[X] Total XP Spent: 54
EDIT: W I P
[X] I Can See You, But You Can't See Me!
-[X] Purchase Black Mirror Incarnation (15 XP)
-[X] Increase Perception to 4 Dots (12 XP)
-[X] Purchase Awareness up to 3 Dots (9 XP)
-[X] Increase Alertness to 3 Dots (6 XP)
-[X] Increase Alchemy to 4 Dots (6 XP)
-[X] Remove Touch of Frost (2 XP)
-[X] Buy down Nightmares (4 XP)
-[X] Total XP Spent: 54
EDIT: W I P
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Just to be clear:
Noone has ever suggested this. Nobody wants to give Lydia the benefits of the Huge Merit while she is five foot three.
And noone is buying more than net 13 pts of Merit.
You're tilting at a strawman.
More pertinently:
How important do people consider Lydia's Shaping defense? Because after the second to last fight where Possessed!Vampire!Orpheus almost made a lot of people drown in their own blood, Im drifting towards buying it as a priority.
We arent.
Ivar
Dark Reaper
- Location
- Russia Moscow
I'm still not sure about alchemy and its prices. We never received an answer and I only found one quote about Dot 4. I'm also not sure about buying perception when it can buy three dots of another perception ability like street wise/
Ok, so, very preliminary attempt. This is going to be hard, as there's just too many XP
We have 60 XP, Lydia and Tiffany got 15 XP each to spend.
[] Plan Minions cared for v 0.1
-[] Molly
--[] Splintered Gale Incarnation, 20 XP
--[] Alchemy 4, 6 XP
--[] Maggot Mana Plague, 8 XP
--[] Awareness 2, 5 XP
--[] Alertness 2, 2 XP
-[] Lydia, 15 XP + 12 XP
--[] Warding of Divine Ancestry, 15 XP
--[] Companions of the Hunter, 12 XP
-[] Tiffany, 15 XP + 7 XP
--[] Lore of Awakening 3 dots, 22 XP
Ok, so, why this spread? It's bound to be controversial, but I actually tried to make the expanded abilities interesting and useful for more than combat.
Let's start with Tiffany. Lore of Awakening is apparently in her house. Lore of Awakening is incredibly useful for TIffany, who primarily seems to work with Dresden. These are the first three dot abilities:
This specializes her as a healer, yes, but I don't think that's a negative necessarily. In a functioning circle, specialties are a good thing to have.
Next, Lydia. Lydia lacks shaping defense, which I am rectifying. The shaping defense Lydia gets is not perfect, but it can be boosted via this splendor. Lydia also has fairly limited mote pool, and a familiar which she currently can't really use in combat. This can be rectified by binding a carriage of the ankou armored troop carrier from the Courts to her, and by buying Companions of the Hunter for her, which she can then use to boost her familiar. Or by having her get another animal that can serve as a carriage, and can thus be summoned - a warhorse for example, with further boost via Companions of the Hunter. Lydia is very specked for summons. So, give her summons.
Now, Molly. Splintered Gale Incarnation is a must have. Even if we can't use it outside of the Courts, we could still set our clones there to learn for passive dot gain in politics and economics, i.e. stuff we are unlikely to find XP points to spend on. Hopefully martial arts would be learnable too. And they serve as backups until and unless we can buy perfect defenses.
Next is alchemy. If the point costs are correct, then buying Alchemy 4 is a no brainer. We get 3 recipes per level for free. At 3 dots we get access to magical materials, and at 4 there were homebrew potions to decrease XP costs of obtaining new stats and abilities. This synergies perfectly with Splintered Gale Incarnation. By having Lash buy Lore of Awakening we don't need to spend on healing potions that can heal agg (though we still might), so, again, synergy. Further, at Alchemy 4 we can negate negative effects of Maggot Mana Plague, the second charm I am tentatively putting forward for purchase. With MMP usable we can feed Mutt, and push Isabela forward to full whampirehood (or, actually, to something new), making them more useful as minions. We also get better ability to recruit from among whampire youth, and with Las Vegas now on the table, we can actually start converting local whampire population to our cause. Basically, it's an option for "doing variuos stuff"
Finally, Alertness and Awareness 2 - those have been a long time coming.
Now, what to compromise upon or discard? I think the first thing to go when modifying this would be Lydia's Companion of the Hunter, but this might be a mistake - that charm grants Lydia an incredible boost in versatility and combat ability, I feel, and synergies with what she has. The issue with Lydia is that she's not using most of the charmset she already has. She doesn't raise zombies, or use wood combat automata, because we don't prepare them for her. She doesn't use her raven familiar because it's not combat ready yet. She doesn't use Carriage of the Ankou because we haven't bound one to her yet. If those are rectified, I feel she'd be much more useful and powerful. She benefits from prep, and most of that prep is almost surely a free action.
Second thing to go would be MMP, which can probably be switched to Shadow Spite Curse or Seeing is Blindness or something else. Finally, if we are not buying MMP, we could hold off on Alchemy 4, which limits out options in regards to what recipes we get access to, but is probably tolerable. I really want alchemy 3, because that's the rating where we get magical materials, and we would need them for armor and other equipment crafting. And we are likely to craft a lot next turn, as we are in debt to Archive, and it makes sense to craft for Archive and for ourselves in the same action using bonus AP from malcoffee.
So, your opinions?
We have 60 XP, Lydia and Tiffany got 15 XP each to spend.
[] Plan Minions cared for v 0.1
-[] Molly
--[] Splintered Gale Incarnation, 20 XP
--[] Alchemy 4, 6 XP
--[] Maggot Mana Plague, 8 XP
--[] Awareness 2, 5 XP
--[] Alertness 2, 2 XP
-[] Lydia, 15 XP + 12 XP
--[] Warding of Divine Ancestry, 15 XP
--[] Companions of the Hunter, 12 XP
-[] Tiffany, 15 XP + 7 XP
--[] Lore of Awakening 3 dots, 22 XP
Ok, so, why this spread? It's bound to be controversial, but I actually tried to make the expanded abilities interesting and useful for more than combat.
Let's start with Tiffany. Lore of Awakening is apparently in her house. Lore of Awakening is incredibly useful for TIffany, who primarily seems to work with Dresden. These are the first three dot abilities:
She gets ability to track people (useful when working with Dresden as detective), and she gets ability to heal that's better than Flesh lore, and synergetic with it (she uses Flesh lore of herself to grant herself extra stamina dice, then she uses Awakening Lore to heal). Flesh Lore doesn't have ability to heal agg. In fact, very few things can easily heal agg, especially in combat time. And she gets to heal agg in combat time. Equip her with a range extending splendor, and she'll be able to heal agg within line of sight in combat, essentially making our circle near invincible.
This specializes her as a healer, yes, but I don't think that's a negative necessarily. In a functioning circle, specialties are a good thing to have.
Next, Lydia. Lydia lacks shaping defense, which I am rectifying. The shaping defense Lydia gets is not perfect, but it can be boosted via this splendor. Lydia also has fairly limited mote pool, and a familiar which she currently can't really use in combat. This can be rectified by binding a carriage of the ankou armored troop carrier from the Courts to her, and by buying Companions of the Hunter for her, which she can then use to boost her familiar. Or by having her get another animal that can serve as a carriage, and can thus be summoned - a warhorse for example, with further boost via Companions of the Hunter. Lydia is very specked for summons. So, give her summons.
Now, Molly. Splintered Gale Incarnation is a must have. Even if we can't use it outside of the Courts, we could still set our clones there to learn for passive dot gain in politics and economics, i.e. stuff we are unlikely to find XP points to spend on. Hopefully martial arts would be learnable too. And they serve as backups until and unless we can buy perfect defenses.
Next is alchemy. If the point costs are correct, then buying Alchemy 4 is a no brainer. We get 3 recipes per level for free. At 3 dots we get access to magical materials, and at 4 there were homebrew potions to decrease XP costs of obtaining new stats and abilities. This synergies perfectly with Splintered Gale Incarnation. By having Lash buy Lore of Awakening we don't need to spend on healing potions that can heal agg (though we still might), so, again, synergy. Further, at Alchemy 4 we can negate negative effects of Maggot Mana Plague, the second charm I am tentatively putting forward for purchase. With MMP usable we can feed Mutt, and push Isabela forward to full whampirehood (or, actually, to something new), making them more useful as minions. We also get better ability to recruit from among whampire youth, and with Las Vegas now on the table, we can actually start converting local whampire population to our cause. Basically, it's an option for "doing variuos stuff"
Finally, Alertness and Awareness 2 - those have been a long time coming.
Now, what to compromise upon or discard? I think the first thing to go when modifying this would be Lydia's Companion of the Hunter, but this might be a mistake - that charm grants Lydia an incredible boost in versatility and combat ability, I feel, and synergies with what she has. The issue with Lydia is that she's not using most of the charmset she already has. She doesn't raise zombies, or use wood combat automata, because we don't prepare them for her. She doesn't use her raven familiar because it's not combat ready yet. She doesn't use Carriage of the Ankou because we haven't bound one to her yet. If those are rectified, I feel she'd be much more useful and powerful. She benefits from prep, and most of that prep is almost surely a free action.
Second thing to go would be MMP, which can probably be switched to Shadow Spite Curse or Seeing is Blindness or something else. Finally, if we are not buying MMP, we could hold off on Alchemy 4, which limits out options in regards to what recipes we get access to, but is probably tolerable. I really want alchemy 3, because that's the rating where we get magical materials, and we would need them for armor and other equipment crafting. And we are likely to craft a lot next turn, as we are in debt to Archive, and it makes sense to craft for Archive and for ourselves in the same action using bonus AP from malcoffee.
So, your opinions?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
The XP cost listed in the latest chapter was 3 XP per dot of Alchemy.
I'm open to spending the Perception XP elsewhere, but this is the best chance we've had yet, and will probably ever have, to increase it due to the glut of XP we have available. If we don't get it now, there will always be other priorities that take precedent.
See my proposal for a plan above. I consider it fairly important, especially since I got an ok for a splendor that boosts it. So, buy the charm, and craft the splendor that boosts it next turn. In my plan Lydia gets a big boost in general.
Ivar
Dark Reaper
- Location
- Russia Moscow
I understand, hmm, if you look at it from this point of view, then yes. But on the other hand, 12 ХР is quite a lot. I'm not sure about this. However, if alchemy is really 6 for two dots, this should definitely be taken because it will increase our capabilities in a fairly frequently used skill.
Black Mirror Incarnation is a Kakuri charm, and thus Favored.
15xp, IIRC.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
We also have to spend Lash and Lydia's XP they both get 15 personal XP each.
She doesnt have a House.
Confirm with the QM that she is allowed to take Lore of Awakening; I think its allowed, but Im not sure.
Some Lores are definitely disallowed, like Lore of the Forge.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I don't have any preferences for them yet. I'm waiting to see what other people propose so I can steal their ideas.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
He didn't even say it 5 pages ago.
Here:
The lores of Fundament, Humanity, Transfiguration and Awakening are considered to be in Lash's House. Which is why I am proposing buying Awakening, it synergies greatly with Lore of Flesh and makes Lash a super healer.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
[X]Plan Minion care
-[X]Molly 60 xp
–[X]False Springs Beckon (•••) 9XP
–[X]Inner Devils Unchained (••••) 12Xp
–[X]Endless Torment Emanation (•••) 12 XP
–[X]Shadow Spite Curse (••) 6XP
–[X]Golden Years Tarnished Black (••) 6 XP
--[X]Prayer eating first dot 2 XP
--[X]1 XP left over
-[X]Lydia
–[X]Companions of the Hunter (••••) 12 XP
--[X]Leadership (•) 2 Xp
--[X]1 XP saved
-[X]Tiffany
--[X]Buy first dot of lore of awakening 7 xp
–[X]Brawl 1 2xp
–[X]Animal ken 1 2xp
–[X] Second dot of lore of awakening 5 XP.
Allows Molly to deal with Harry's wound and other minion problems like Thomas being weak to true love well in love. Also allows us to empower minions and make dogs into super dogs that Lydia can further empower.
Also a bunch of social charms which would have made this Las Vegas trip something we could have handled over the phone.
[X] Plan Feeding and Healing
-[X]Molly 60 xp
–[X]False Springs Beckon (•••) 9XP
–[X]Inner Devils Unchained (••••) 12Xp
–[X]Endless Torment Emanation (•••) 12 XP
–[X]Shadow Spite Curse (••) 6XP
–[X]Golden Years Tarnished Black (••) 6 XP
--[X]Prayer eating first dot 2 XP
--[X]1 XP left over
-[X]Lydia
–[X]Companions of the Hunter (••••) 12 XP
--[X]Leadership (•) 2 Xp
--[X]1 XP saved
-[X]Tiffany
--[X]Buy first dot of lore of awakening 7 xp
–[X]Brawl 1 2xp
–[X]Animal ken 1 2xp
–[X] Second dot of lore of awakening 5 XP.
Allows Molly to deal with Harry's wound and other minion problems like Thomas being weak to true love well in love. Also allows us to empower minions and make dogs into super dogs that Lydia can further empower.
Also a bunch of social charms which would have made this Las Vegas trip something we could have handled over the phone.
[X] Plan Feeding and Healing
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Missed that.
I want it, but I dont think we can afford all 3 dots yet.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
All 3 dots is 22 XP. So we would need to give her an extra 7 XP from Molly's pool.
First dot 7 XP
Second dot 5 XP
Third dot 10 xp
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