I would be interested, I am always down for some WoD and there are so many people in that world who could do with meeting the Chosen of the Grave
A Desperate Measure (Worm/Exalted Quest)
- Thread starter Amazing Abzan
- Start date
- Crossover Superhero
I would be interested, I am always down for some WoD and there are so many people in that world who could do with meeting the Chosen of the Grave
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Im interested in the New quest idea
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Thank you for the advice! I'll probably put a 12 hour moratorium on the next vote then, but I still want to extend the vote timer a bit. We've had at least one participant barely get a vote in thanks to time zones, so I want to keep that in mind.
Glad there's some interest! I'll get to work on that one soon then
Dont do it, in my experience that kills quest because it means doble the work, yes at the beggining there isnt much work to do but after a while it gets big and in the end one of those two quest gets abandoned, unless you already have planned to have the second quets as low priority for now i highly recomend you dont because it can easily end with causing burnout of quest in general
thewhiteraven22
(Unverified Worm Fanatic)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Overwhelming Presence - Show up at Squealer's workshop alone, relying on your social skills to talk down the Merchants and convince as many as possible to turn themselves in.
-[x] Try to talk to some merchants on the way to get the best possible idea of the cape's personalities before we get there
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
I think we should attach Eurus to Danny since he's unpowered, and leave him there until/unless we can teach him some exalted MA. Is that still a thing in Exalted Essence? I've played a couple quests that use 2e or 3e and that was a thing there.
-[x] Try to talk to some merchants on the way to get the best possible idea of the cape's personalities before we get there
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
I think we should attach Eurus to Danny since he's unpowered, and leave him there until/unless we can teach him some exalted MA. Is that still a thing in Exalted Essence? I've played a couple quests that use 2e or 3e and that was a thing there.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I appreciate the advice in the spirit it was meant. I see plenty of other QMs run multiple quests though, so I'm not sure your advice is as universal as you think it is. Regardless, I'm really glad you're so concerned for the health of this quest. I believe updates for this quest will slow down, but that's mostly a function of me wanting to give the quest more room to breathe and give you guys time to consider and discuss things.
Exalted Martial Arts do exist in Exalted Essence, but they aren't learnable by mortals. Though if you want him to be able to defend himself, there are definitely charms that would allow you to train or empower him. Underling-Promoting Practice is the most accessible one currently: it lets Danny use one of your dice pools for as long as you commit a mote, so he'd get to use your Force + Close Combat to fight.
thewhiteraven22
(Unverified Worm Fanatic)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, I'd like to suggest we move to learn this ASAP so Danny can't be used against us, or at least has a bettere chance to defend himself since our identity is blown.
Sophia is the one I wanted to see punished especially, so I can live with this.
Given the local Nazi population I have to concur.
More to that point, I fully expect we'll have to prepare for combat just given the nature of the work we do. Whether it is training for Endbringer fights, being ready in case Coil wants to abduct and drug us or something, the consequence of fixing something the Nine broke (we can probably do something about Grey Boy loops, that merits some study) or just walking down the street and hearing Lung tell his goons to shoot kids, Taylor's going to learn magical kung-fu. (Sign up with a non-Empire/ABB gym, get instructed by Mr. Laborn and his beefcake of a son? Social magic, ho!)
I don't think we can (or should)
At the same time she is empowered not just by space whales but by law enforcement, and while Scion only cares if you use your powers or not (and that only vaguely, as he is somewhat depressed) the assumption for LEOs is that you have to comport yourself to a certain standard which, though it frequently falls short both in universe and IRL, is connected to Taylor's mission; having a cape and a badge does not actually make you a hero, it makes you a cop with your face on an energy drink. As Taylor asked her when she Exalted; is this something you are proud of? Is this the best you can do? Is this what you aspire to? Because if so, that isn't just disappointing, it's sad. I don't see a way for Sophia to become a better person without getting her hands slapped for the shit she pulled here.
I don't know if martial arts styles are a thing in Exalted Essence, but there are a few styles in 1e/2e/3e that may merit some discussion;
- Crane Style
- Description: basically the Wuxia 'float like a butterfly' style, it was created as a way for sifus to teach martial arts both quickly and without breaking students. Benefits from Compassion channels (not sure that system carries over to Exalted Essence)
- Pros: This is one of the best 'kid gloves on' styles, letting you deliver defeated foes to the PRT with embarrassing bruises instead of having to explain why you need Panacea to make a quick stop. There's a charm in the middle of the style that lets you compress ten days of training into a ten minute spar, it starts with a surprise negator (provided you aren't picking fights with anyone) and it offers mobility improvements along the lines of 'jump like an anime character, stand upon a single leaf on a still pond' variety. Synergizes with the paired escrima sticks some people wanted us to use (although perhaps paired fans would be better) Includes a Perfect Defense.
- Cons: A very easy way to get ourselves compared to Crane the Harmonious, is meant as a training aid and dealing with soft targets instead of clobbering the big threats, is essentially a defense-oriented style. Is also 100% a Finesse style more than a Force style.
- Throne Shadow Style
- Description: Original Hero Style for the Sidereal Exalted (Violet Bier came later), intended to quietly identify and remove problems before they become problems using proxies and surprise.
- Pros: Combines the powers of Celestial Martial Arts and the Power Of Friendship, has a Master/Stranger/Thinker effect. for most of the charms to enable group action (including getting a spider-sense of 'one of my buddies is fighting someone across town!'). Early charms make it easy to hide in a crowd and sniff out anyone as good or better than you at various forms of violence. One of the later charms lets you automatically counterattack someone using Unnatural Mental Influence on you (so if Cherish is trying to make you fly into a murderous rage you can reflexively punch her in the brain). Lets you touch the very beginning of Sidereal Martial Arts bullshit (ie, doesn't let you strangle someone with the breath in their lungs, but comes close)
- Cons: "My preferred fighting style is Master/Thinker/Stranger Danger" does not help Piggot's antacid use, requires a crowd for best effect of the style (useable if we have a team or are okay fighting in a crowded mall, but not so much one on one). Is both dangerous to use because how dangerous surprise attacks are and (potentially) not dangerous enough for the really big threats like Endbringers.
- Solar Hero Style/Fist of the Daystar (there was a popular fan revision of the style that probably works better but isn't strictly canonical for 2e)
- Description: "Mama said knock you out". This is the fighting style that Herakles used to beat up the Nemian Lion, that Gilgamesh used to kill Humbaba, that pits a lone hero against a monster and fully expects the golden hero to prevail.
- Pros: This is the intuitive fighting style of the Solar Exalted, and is anime as you could ask. Most charms work by either improving how hard you hit or removing reasons why your hits aren't doing enough damage. You can only hit someone once? Have a flurry to hit them a half dozen times. Your hits are limited by the fleshy nature of your fists? Your fists are now as hard as iron. Still too weak? You strike with the strength of Holy Gold. The enemy's armor is too thick for your blows to do damage? You ignore mundane armor. The enemy thinks they can stop you from hitting them if they grapple you? you have activated my trap card! Includes a Perfect Defense.
- Cons: This is very much a Gloves Off fighting style (unless we pull our punches, but then you're not really going full 'slew 40 men with the jawbone of an ass'). Is not very subtle (but if you're fighting someone like Crawler or Behemoth that bird has likely flown the coop).
- Golden Exhalation Style
- Description: Is a Terrestrial Martial Art built around ranged combat using firearms (in Creation the 'firearms' is more 'flamethrower pistol' than 'slugthrower'). If you're shooting energy (such as, for instance, you have a PRT-approved blaster made by Kid Win) you can do things like add effective range, accuracy and rate of fire bonuses, scoop up someone else's energy attacks in lieu of reloading (such as if Purity was attempting to Doom Laser you, you can soak it up in the gun and fire it back at her) and you soak Fire damage better
- Pros: Is a ranged combat style, which is uncommon, and when paired with mobility improving charms can let Taylor bully capes on the battlefield. Is a Terrestrial Style and thus can be taught to mortals (imagine PRT troopers equipped with plasma guns dropping anyone they don't like below Brute 4)
- Cons: Requires tools that Taylor will struggle to supply for herself, gives the PRT another string to tie her to them if she goes this route (alternately she disassembles the blasters/nonlethal flamethrower/etc and makes her own, but that's a different line of resource investment in time, funds, charms and effort)
- Lightning Hoof Style
- Description: Would you like to Mongol Horse Archer? This is how you Mongol Horse Archer.
- Pros: High mobility, mix of ranged and melee options (bow and lance mostly, but also unarmed). Superb skirmish style, if you had a supply of Shadow Stalker's tranq arrows or similar you can probably do damage to non-Brutes (and with a good lance charge you can at least make low-ranked Brutes sweat a bit). Is a Terrestrial style and thus can be taught.
- Cons: Requires you be mounted, meaning this is less for Taylor (though given Hounds of Five Winds she could make use of it) and more of "Bitch would get a lot of use out of this". Isn't good for indoors or where you can't gallop away. I doubt Armsmaster could use this style unless he installed an AI in his motorcycle or something.
[X] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
"Tonight" is a bit earlier than I was expecting, but I have no qualms with being vigorous in our efforts. I was thinking about going for the medical charms sooner rather than later, but Listener-Swaying Argument is going to be great for a social build.
Also that Integrity check makes me nervous.
A few thoughts on (2e, since that's what I have books for) charms that we may want to consider. I'm trying to keep it limited to only a few suggestions per ability since 'all of them' is a siren call that helps little right now.
- Athletics
- Running improvements, eventually get into highway speeds. I'd recommend at least one purchase of Lightning Speed as that will help us dictate engagements against most non-Movers (unless they have a motorcycle gang or something ready to chase us, but just being able to nope out of an engagement, or chase down fleeing Nazis is a boon)
- Jump improvements; jump higher/farther/more easily. Good for rooftop hopping if we plan on doing that, or platforming while trying to punch Rune in the face.
- Improvements on the above and the ability to use those more easily (ie 'sprint at highway speeds until you get tired, paired with another charm that keeps you from getting tired so long as the sun is up)
- Awareness
- Surprise negators
- Sensory improvements
- Bullet Time (Panoptic Fusion Discipline) letting you do Aim actions more easily and consistently (pairs with other charms that let you get more out of aim actions)
- Close Combat
- See Martial Arts stuff listed above
- Also of note, Swallowing the Lotus Root makes learning Terrestrial Martial Arts charms cheaper/easier to learn (useful if we want to train up a bunch of mortals to know magic kung fu, like if we were going to make our own spin on the Dragon's Teeth)
- Craft
- Determine the flaw in an object (either to destroy, repair or deconstruct)
- Build/repair things faster and without needing tools (still need building supplies)
- Build things that last longer or are otherwise more durable
- Understand how something was made (Holistic Miracle Understanding)
- Automatically do better with a specific craft type
- Build stuff real good
- Embassy (lots of stuff here)
- Make an organization work better (ie 'clear out the corruption in the PRT/police/city hall' etc)
- Make an organization work worse (Empire 88 suddenly has internal strife causing undue friction, slowing operations down and making things worse)
- Work markets without concerning yourself about market volatility (we might get some use out of this 'gambling' on Whitelist/Blacklist jobs betting on ourselves)
- Communicate basic concepts to someone whose language you don't know (and understand them in turn)
- Hide messages in plain sight
- Understand how organizations act internally
- Obscure your motivations from easy discovery (ie 'frustrate Tattletale when she tries to read you'). May fall under Presence
- Integrity
- Successfully not get turned into a newt (anti-shape change ability)
- Get rewarded for sticking to your principles
- Make certain policies unthinkable (ie 'cannot be mind controlled to make the city worse')
- Anima burns with actual sunlight (mystically important)
- Become frustratingly difficult to sway from your chosen path (also doubles as an anti-therapy defense)
- Limited respawn mechanic at later levels (probably not something we need to worry about)
- Navigate
- Ride, drive, sail or otherwise navigate well. We probably won't need many of these if we plan to stay at home for 99% of the game and only go somewhere else for Endbringer fights etc, but if we manage to partner with Bitch or something the utility of the 'ride' portion here goes up a fair bit
- Drive cars up a skyscraper like it was an open road
- Sail to a distant port blindfolded (and at twice the speed the wind and waves ought to make feasable)
- Make your piloting reflexes very good
- If the ship is taking damage, no it isn't
- If the car is out of gas, no it isn't
- If the horse needs to jump the Grand Canyon, it absolutely can
- Performance
- Various ways to layer on Unnatural Mental Influence (which is not strictly speaking mind control but convincing the PRT that is going to require UMI)
- Keep from being interrupted while making a speech (anti-heckler defense)
- Sway listeners to join a cause, usually for recruitment purposes (Husband-Seducing Demon Dance, ie 'taking the menfolk off to war')
- Presentations come with useful holograms and background music to help illustrate your point
GaslightRemind someone of the actual facts of an event, regardless of what actually happened (will need to clean up the evidence contradicting your story)- Elicit emotional responses (anger, adoration, awe, horror, etc) in your audience really well
- Instill fads or taboos in a group
- Write (and type) like Clark Kent
- Read encrypted or obscure messages as though they were newspaper headlines
- Write messages hidden behind another message that only a specific demographic can decipher (ie 'billboard advertising a new blockbuster movie' that the left-handed redhead population of the city knows is secretly code for "Fugly Bob's doing a secret raffle on Tuesday")
- Write a book on a topic that raises someone's skill or ability in a topic
- (lots of stuff here)
- Physique
- Improve your natural toughness (and supernatural toughness)
- Improve your ability to wear armor (and generate magical armor)
- Recover essence and willpower when taking damage
- Heal faster (not quite Wolverine regeneration but still in the neighborhood of "what people need a month in a hospital to recover from you need a few hours", alternately you can help someone like Panacea or Scapegoat heal you and let them sample the delightful unfairness that is Exalted dice)
- PERFECT DEFENSE
- Berserker rage/Terminator Killing Mode/"I just want to talk to him" (gain dice to violence someone/something, can tell friend from foe but The Time For Talking Is Done) (might be one of the combat charms in this system)
- Improve physical strength for non-combat purposes (so you can bench a sedan to show off, but not to toss it at Lung)
- Become [Immune] to [Poison] or [Sickness] effects.
- Go without sleep for [Physique + Fortitude] days at a time.
- Engage in hard physical labor all day long without tiring.
- Presence
- Quietly instill a compulsion in a target
- You must be [this] badass to attack me (socially or physically), either a Valor or Willpower check (not sure how it'd be in Essence Exalted, maybe 'they have to roll their Integrity'?)
- You cannot ignore me! (You have to at least listen to the argument the Solar is making and either accept or refute it on its own merits rather than 'la la la I can't hear you')
- I am in charge here (for this scene)
- Double successes if you're trying to sell someone on a course of action (could be 'buy this rug', could be 'vote for X candidate' could be 'join the March Against Supervillains this Saturday (there will be a bbq)')
- Petition the Unconquered Sun that a specific being is a Creature of Darkness and thus should be on his shit list (allowing Holy effects to kick in, usually some variation of 'does more damage' but also occasionally stuff like 'you scare the piss out of them just standing there', 'social attacks are more effective' or 'defensive actions don't take penalties' depending on the charm in question). The person being condemned has a chance to speak in their own defense.
- Glorious Solar Therapy! Remove a Derangement ('crazy effect' basically) from a target as a result of a conversation. You link it to a positive intimacy and they're protected from that crazy so long as the intimacy remains. Examples include protecting Danny from depression so long as he still loves his wife, Burnscar not going pyro-happy when she gets started because she considers Labyrinth her friend (and Ellie not having her space cadet days because Faultline and crew are her nakama). Obviously a high-value charm if we can talk to people.
- You Can Be More: Convince a person to be more than just a face in the crowd, to stand up and do something Important. Promotes someone to Heroic Mortal, also improves efforts to convince someone to share an intimacy with you (ie "I hate bullies" or "Make Brockton Bay a place to be proud of")
- Anyone watching you things you are the Hero-est Hero that ever Hero'd. (Such Hero, Very Wow). Basically Glory Girl's "love/fear me" aura but instead of being always on, it's something you have to consciously activate
- Ranged Combat
- Comes in three basic flavors; 'archery', 'throwing stuff' and 'gun'. Technically 'artillery' as well but I suspect that shelling the Medhall building because Nazis work there is one of those signs that things went wrong.
- Bows get their range, power, rate of speed, trick shots, etc boosted. Works great when combined with Keen [Sight] Technique to let you see miles out (it's like a two charm combo that would let you pin a gnat's wings on the moon, Solar Archery is powerful so long as you keep in ammo)
- Throwing stuff is mostly ninja-style "throw a bunch of stuff to injure, distract, set up a different throwing attack, be silent when I throw stuff" etc. I don't think we're going for a ninja build but there's some interesting things we could do with containment foam grenades
- Guns get their damage increased (like, by a scary amount, and if you're a Creature of Darkness you end up with a red-hot golden bullet in you that is acting like silver to werewolves until you dig it out, and given how painful it is you probably need someone else to dig it out), outdraw another gunslinger, do a Bullet Hell move ("my six gun shot eighteen bullets in a single trigger pull. No, I do not need to check my math"), do the 'shoot in the air to get everyone's attention' thing as a social attack, reload instantly without having a free hand, curve bullets and shoot other bullets out of the air. Think Jon Wu movies, Clint Eastwood movies and for a little variety sniper movies.
- There is also a Celestial Martial Art that is all about being the lone gunslinger
- Sagacity
- Medical: you can flawlessly diagnose people ("Noelle, it seems your issues come from an improperly applied trigger event. I'll need to run some tests but I can start listing procedures that won't work..."), you can supernaturally cure Poison, Sickness and Crippling effects (addiction is both a Sickness and a Poison, as a point of reference), you can cure people without access to proper facilities, people heal faster, you work really fast (in case someone needs a four hour surgery in the next 90 seconds for instance), eventually you can give people wings and gills and stuff. Also something that I think in Exalted Essence would probably translate to something like 'do medical work to gain Willpower'; Miracle Worker's Redemption
- Not listed but in theme for Solars, there should probably be something like 'master triage methods' or something to help reduce casualties in a mass casualty event
- Computers: Code faster (basically the crafting charms ported over to software, also works as medicine charms for "data spirits"/AI in case you needed to do a "medicine" check to stop a virus poisoning an AI or something), a variety of quality of life stuff like your computer never having bad wifi or running low on battery (and letting you do lulzy stuff like using a car's GPS system to hack a crane working at the port) your computers are extra difficult to hack and especially if it's a mortal trying to hack your stuff, another charm to trace someone's connection back to where it came from (not the internet cafe that Saint was talking to you from, but 'somewhere on the north side of Vancouver') and Super Hacker Man Can Get Into Anyone's System 'hacking offense' charm
- Investigation: cram 15 minutes of careful crime scene investigation into a sidelong glance, maintain a dossier on a person to make it easier to plan around them, tell if someone is lying, see what kind of social merits someone has (wealth, connections, command, reputation, etc but not something like Past Lives, Artifact, mystic potency etc), establishing a dossier on a social gathering (neither individuals nor organizations, but something like Somer's Rock; "I know the personalities, resources and agendas of the parties involved" sort of thing)
- Know the Soul's Price is a big one, lets us know what sort of prize or service someone would need to become undyingly loyal. To clarify; this would happen anyway, it isn't magically enforcing servitude on anyone. It is letting us know exactly how grateful Dennis would be for us to cure his father or Alec would be making sure that his family can never threaten him again
- Not listed but there's probably another dossier charm we could make for organizations; "We interact with the PRT ENE branch enough to know how their internal priorities work, so I should ask for X instead of Y support" etc
- Occult: Sorcery stuff I'll discuss later, but in addition to 'Yer A Wizard, Taylor' Occult is the 'how the world works' stuff, and likely where Parahuman investigations would go. Spirit-Detecting Glance lets you see spirits when they're invisible (not sure if that works on Bet but Creation was crawling with minor gods doing things like making individual blades of grass grow properly) and eventually builds into the charm that lets you murder the architects of reality.
- Of note, Magic Shattering Strike would likely let us punch out ongoing parahuman effects, like if Labaryth's pocket reality is deployed...or the Grey Boy loops.
- I don't know if thaumaturgy is on the table, but it has some goodies I think we could have fun playing around with. Warding & Exorcism, Elemental Summoning, Astrology, Alchemy...lots of stuff Taylor could introduce. Just imagine what the tenor of the Brockton economy would be like if 'transmute pure cocaine into key ingredient for Age Staving Cordil' became a thing
- Academics: In addition to helping Taylor excel in her coursework, it lets us teach other people how to be academic powerhouses (and a few other things);
- Harmonious Academic Methodology lets us train people up to genius level intelligence and olympic tier skill in soft sciences, hard sciences, rhetoric, medicine, forensics, languages, craftsmanship, social graces and alertness. If we want to spend a month of two turning burnt-out former addicts into a crack team of software engineers, roboticists, clinical physicians, thespians and theoretical physicists, this is how you start with that
- Various reality-altering charms I don't think will see much play on Bet
- Bestow enlightenment upon a mortal and allow them to manipulate Essence (mostly to either learn Terrestrial Martial Arts, perform maintenance on magitech or learn thaumaturgy)
- Medical: you can flawlessly diagnose people ("Noelle, it seems your issues come from an improperly applied trigger event. I'll need to run some tests but I can start listing procedures that won't work..."), you can supernaturally cure Poison, Sickness and Crippling effects (addiction is both a Sickness and a Poison, as a point of reference), you can cure people without access to proper facilities, people heal faster, you work really fast (in case someone needs a four hour surgery in the next 90 seconds for instance), eventually you can give people wings and gills and stuff. Also something that I think in Exalted Essence would probably translate to something like 'do medical work to gain Willpower'; Miracle Worker's Redemption
- Stealth
- How Not To Be Seen. A small dip here is likely prudent, even if it's just Easily Overlooked Presence. It can let us sneak into places we're not supposed to go, force people to overlook us etc. The real reason to get it is because we can use it to duck out of uncomfortable social situations whenever we want.
- Lets us do shady stuff like know how to pick locks, pick pockets and pick marks (or run a con). This is how you get Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise (three guesses what that charm does), improves our knowledge of criminology and lets us do stuff people don't want us to. If we go to the Birdcage, this will get us out. If we want to slip into the PRT secure data site for a little direct hacking, this gets us in. If we want to reenact episodes of Leverage, this is the skill.
- Not sure if 'Dodge' is in this tree, but if it is PERFECT DEFENSE
- War
- Inspire your own troops and make them temporarily unbreakable
- Scare the hell out of the other guys (this includes striking fear into the hearts of beings incapable of emotions; if you wanted to see a scared robot, you can)
- Command battles like you're running an RTS map
- Tiger Warrior Training Technique: You know all that nerd stuff that Harmonious Academic Methodology does? This is the gym bro version. Physical conditioning, skill at arms, tactics, even turning cowards brave. Basically the 'Let's get down to business!' montage. Can be paired with Crane Style's Humbling Enlightenment Commentary to spend an afternoon turning a neophyte martial artist into someone that'd make Bruce Lee work for a win.
- There are upgrades that let you specialize training a group to fight giant monsters like Endbringers
I doubt anyone really wants to be in the Merchants. They might not see a better place for them to be (the ABB and Nazis aren't exactly open to any who care to join) and they're likely too addled by the various drugs in their system to do more than be held for a time and then returned to the same pigsty lifestyle they came from. What they need is the kind of hero who helps them Be Better, not the kind that punches them and feels smug about it.
Also, Mush is a Case 53 recruited by Coil (statistically more likely to end up supervillain) sent to spy on the Merchants. This likely isn't the glamorous life he aspires to, but Coil is controlling him through either a carrot or stick (and likely both); figure out what it is, we can steal a cape from Coil.
....I'm not going to go back and cross out all the now unapplicable stuff I wrote, but I can't say I'm not at least a little disappointed. (I'll get over it)
Is thaumaturgy still on the table? I want to have an observatory full of nerds saying stuff like "Mercury is in retrograde, so Crawler will be in Idaho June 12th at six thirty two p.m." and have variously gruntled G-Men take that information and pass it up the pipeline. (Also the other stuff you can do with thaumaturgy)
[x] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
-[x] If Eurus' is having trouble finding a cape try talking to any merchants out and about to point us in the right direction
-[x] Specifically convince them to turn themselves in, and to help us convinces the others to turn themselves in too.
Throne Shadow Style sounds nice.
And Piggot can go get a dildo.
Also...
Thou Shalt Not fight a Tinker in their Workshop.
Not even if it's Squealer.
Not without backup, not without specialized equipment.
-[x] If Eurus' is having trouble finding a cape try talking to any merchants out and about to point us in the right direction
-[x] Specifically convince them to turn themselves in, and to help us convinces the others to turn themselves in too.
Throne Shadow Style sounds nice.
And Piggot can go get a dildo.
Also...
Thou Shalt Not fight a Tinker in their Workshop.
Not even if it's Squealer.
Not without backup, not without specialized equipment.
Last edited:
- Location
- Denial
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm skeptical about how helpful this would be. I honestly don't think it is worth spending a milestone on a charm if this is the only use we have for it. Firstly I think the risk of Danny being attacked is being overblown, secondly I don't think 6 combat dice will be enough to save him if he is. Bear in mind it only gives him the dice, it doesn't give him any combat charms and does nothing about his defense, soak, or health track. So lets consider the gangs who might target him:
The ABB don't really have a reason to go after him as is, we've yet to take action against them and Lung is never shown to forceably recruit anyone who isn't asian. If they did go after him Oni Lee or lung should be able to easily take him even with our dice pool.
The Empire not only has no reason to target Taylor yet but given Taylor's trigger event was public and the involvement of Sophia have good reason to think a soft sell would work better. If that ever changes they have by far the most capes and a team could easily beat Danny even with the charm.
Lastly there's Coil, this is ironically where the charm is both the most and least useful. Whether he would try to kidnap Danny is very down to Azban's interpretation of him, I don't think he would but it's a pretty common interpetation in fan works that his default go to is blackmail and extortion. He also uses regular mercs whom the charm might let Danny fight off. The hitch comes in Coil's power of course, if Danny does win that fight Coil can just make it never have happened and come back later with Parahumans mercs or better support or whatever else he needs.
IMO if we really want to protect Danny against an actual attempt to kidnap or harm him from the gangs we need to beeline Sagacity 3 so we can start summoning up a demon army to do it. Well that or just get a reputation for being strong enough that anyone planning on targetting him realises how stupid and unhelpful that would be.
thewhiteraven22
(Unverified Worm Fanatic)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well that would also do it.
As for Coil, without the defense Danny gets captured. With the defense nothing visibly happens, but that doesn't matter as he'll still be captured without some way to defend himself. Either that or Coil just threatens to blow up the docks where Danny works. He's not afraid of collateral damage IIRC.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Thank you for the big post, @Slamu!
I'm not going to go through this whole list and tell you what works and what doesn't, just keep that in mind when thinking to recommend a charm. In general, broad and abstract needs like "we need a defense against mind control" work better than 2e mechanical needs or charms like "we need Sagacious Reading of Intent" (which is the name of a charm that also exists in Essence, but does not do what you think it does). Alternatively, suggest something in line with the Essence mechanics revealed in the quest, such as "we need to strengthen our Resolve."
Not sure which of those two routes I'm going. Like I said, I'll get back to you.
So of these, the only one that has canon charms is Crane Style. The styles that actually have charms in the Exalted Essence book are Crane Style, Ebon Shadow Style, Mantis Style, Righteous Devil Style, Snake Style, Tiger Style, White Reaper Style, the Five Immaculate Dragon Styles, and Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style. That being said, I'm happy to use homebrew for a martial art if you decide you want to learn it.
I appreciate the thought you put into this list! However, I'd encourage you not to use 2e charms as closely as you did here, as many things don't translate perfectly to Exalted Essence. Like, under your awareness charms, "sensory improvements" is a perfectly valid suggestion. "Panoptic Fusion Discipline" however, is not, as that charm doesn't exist in Exalted Essence. Now, I can homebrew something to work for Panoptic Fusion Discipline, but your suggestion is relying on 2e mechanics here that don't necessarily translate well to Essence. There's no such thing as an Aim action, though there are Awareness Build Power actions.
I'm not going to go through this whole list and tell you what works and what doesn't, just keep that in mind when thinking to recommend a charm. In general, broad and abstract needs like "we need a defense against mind control" work better than 2e mechanical needs or charms like "we need Sagacious Reading of Intent" (which is the name of a charm that also exists in Essence, but does not do what you think it does). Alternatively, suggest something in line with the Essence mechanics revealed in the quest, such as "we need to strengthen our Resolve."
You're thinking of Trainwreck here, who is not currently a member of the Merchants. Coil only sent Trainwreck to be a spy when they got big post-Leviathan. Right now, the Merchants are sort of beneath everyone's notice. They're not actually as big a gang as fanon makes them out to be.
Hmm, thaumaturgy is mentioned in Essence, but there are no rules for it. I'll get back to you on this one, but my initial thought is that we can go two routes. One, it'd just be a sagacity roll for you, and you'd need Harmonious Academic Methodology (which lets you teach people very fast) in order to add thaumaturgy to someone's dice pool. Two, thaumaturgy is now just science; there's no special little magics you can learn or teach people, as Creation follows different rules now than it once did.
Not sure which of those two routes I'm going. Like I said, I'll get back to you.
New Quest
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I said I was going to do an Exalted/World of Darkness quest, and here it is!
For those of you who haven't seen all the conversation in this thread, the premise is that it's an Exalted/World of Darkness crossover wherein you're an Abyssal who thinks she's a vampire. I hope to see many of you in that thread!
In terms of how that will affect this quest, the idea is that I'll be writing the second quest while this one is stuck voting and vice versa. So in theory update speed should only slow down for the new, extended vote timers.
For those of you who haven't seen all the conversation in this thread, the premise is that it's an Exalted/World of Darkness crossover wherein you're an Abyssal who thinks she's a vampire. I hope to see many of you in that thread!
In terms of how that will affect this quest, the idea is that I'll be writing the second quest while this one is stuck voting and vice versa. So in theory update speed should only slow down for the new, extended vote timers.
[X] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
So a question: Can we get a charm to negate sleeping
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Solars don't have access to such a charm canonically in Exalted Essence (although Infernals do), but that feels like the sort of thing that should be in the Solar wheelhouse and it's easy enough to homebrew. Any particular reason you want such a charm?
It would make cape patrols and research a lot easier given that Taylor could easily patrol/hunt crime throughout the night only to go to school with no issues.
Also if we go streamer/podcast/internet money source route having a extra time will help with editing and also research for the cape stuff and fixing the city stuff.
Generally a 50% increase in avaiable time would be good
It's lots of fun, especially if you're playing a Sidereal (or Sidereal half-caste). However it's a bit rough to try to adapt it wholesale to the cape game on Bet, so if we got it I'd expect we just dip our toes in (get up to the Form charm for the ability to work well with friends, but unless we need to harness some of the more esoteric bits of the style or want to start assassinating people maybe hold off on the rest of it?)
My rough plan for learning combat charms looks something like
- begin with getting Crane Style charms (gloves on, very PR friendly and has access to contains both a surprise negator and perfect defense, can help train people in martial arts)
- As our combat game against 70% of enemy types gets locked in, start getting Solar Hero Style/Solar Brawl/Fist of the Daystar (useful for when the gloves come off, fighting monsters and the sort of tough opponents that simple fisticuffs can't handle. Probably invest in some of the 'berserker' charms around this time as well like Battle Fury Focus if the situation calls for it)
- See what our needs are from there (Eye of Heaven Style to destroy equipment and get that lovely automatic prayer finishing move? Righteous Devil Style to get Ranged combat boosts? Crystal Chameleon for Disco Ninja combat?)
(all this is subject to what things look like under the Exalted Essence system, of course)
I think we will need to protect Danny, but this charm isn't the way to do it. (It has other uses, like being able to donate our combat prowess to someone when we're not going to be using it like if we're doing a fundraiser and we let Miss Militia get a larger dice pool for a patrol or something)
If we were going to protect Danny, here's what we can reasonably do;
- get him low profile body armor (not sure what the system says but something like a spider silk vest he can wear under his shirt would protect his vitals)
- get him come communications equipment (cell phone, chips, geolocator anklet etc) to help keep tabs on him
- hire regular bodyguards to stop casual abductions and make enough noise for more professional abductions to give law enforcement a chance to intervene (this won't work against Coil but time he spends trying to pull off the perfect abduction is time he's not spent doing something else)
- Tiger Warrior Training Technique to teach him to be a blackbelt badass on his own (not an immediate priority charm but probably something we can get in a bit)
In the short term, the bodyguards are probably the easiest; talk to his friends at the DWU and ask them to make sure there are a few stout lads looking out for him whenever possible. He's well-enough liked and if we can throw in some pay for the guards so much the better. That's not the same as having a dedicated Secret Service detail or anything, but it's low profile and easily done.
Assuming we wanted to do something with spider silk production, I think it'd go something like this:
1) get Friendship With Animals Approach (or equivalent charm) to be able to converse with animals (also helps in other ways, like smoothing interactions with Bitch's dogs and letting us form a seagull-based spy network)
2) use Performance skill to address a large-ish group of spiders (Orb-Weavers are social enough to work together without jumping to cannibalism and there are some species native to New England) and convince them of the benefits of trading silk for security and meals (I figure dicing up mice and feeding them counters the loss in protein and is easy enough to sell them on, but if necessary we can also use Irresistible Salesman Spirit)
3) Set them up in a warehouse and keep buying up feeder mice from pet stores. Hire a few people who are minimally creeped out by spiders to run the day-to-day side of things and reinvest the money into other projects
4) once the setup is proven, talk to the PRT about how interested they would be in getting Darwin Bark Spider Silk for cape costumes and trooper uniforms. (In canon the answer was 'very' but they had Weaver as an in-house asset).
5) realize with dawning horror that this made you part of the military-industrial complex (optional) /joke
The trouble is I don't know what Ability Survival charms would fall under in Exalted Essence. I'm guessing they're split unevenly between Navigation (moving people through the wilderness), Performance (communicating with animals) and Physique (enduring hardship/surviving off the fat of the land) but that's...eh, maybe?
This has the advantage of 1) providing jobs for Brocktonites, 2) only minimally involving active parahuman involvement (maybe ~monthly meetings with the spiders to make sure everything is working out/get new generations of spiderlings up to speed on how things work?) and 3) not being Weird Shit that is likely to trigger Piggot the way showing up with biological monstrosities on a leash and claiming we can solve everyone's problems would. (Demons are useful, but they're also alien). If they feel like they need to shut down this entire operation it can be done with a single man with a flamethrower if necessary.
Are my comments about it being a 'gloves on' sort of combat style relevant then? I don't want to make grandiose promises about what it does if it doesn't, y'know, do that.
I'm making my assumptions on Fist of the Daystar off of this homebrew rewrite (from another Worm/Exalted quest, actually). However, if there are already Solar charms for close combat I'm okay with working with those.
I understand, and don't want to give the impression that I'm trying to dictate anything to you. The intent was to go through other (somewhat out of date/out of focus) stuff that was considered appropriate and try sticking to the effects of the charms, not the mechanics. If I come across as overbearing that is not my intent. When I'm listing charms it is meant more in a 'something like this' or 'this inspired the thought' rather than 'make this work'.
...I am thinking of Trainwreck, thank you (though I thought it was Whirlygig that joined after Leviathan?). As to the Archer's Bridge Merchants not being a big deal, does that mean dismantling them does not count for a Major Milestone?
Also, if the stuff on milestones could be found on the front page that would keep me from paging back to 1.2 every time I wanted to double check what personal versus minor milestones could be spent on.
I'm obviously biased, but I can see arguments either way.
Tireless Sentinel Technique lets you go without sleep for [Stamina + Resistance] days before you suffer consequences for a neglegable cost in motes. Given my puddle-deep understanding of Exalted Essence mechanics, that can I presume be ported over to [Physique + Fortitude] without great difficulty.
As for why someone would want the charm, in addition to being able to be on call for those hours you have another ~8 hours of your day to just do...whatever. If it effects nothing else in the story just being able to say 'and Taylor is studying languages overnight' to let her stunt being able to talk Thai to someone during an Endbringer fight later down the line, or have her do research on whatever is going on her podcast next, or just working on a backlog of homework from the year plus of academic hell she went through to correct her grades, it's extra time to be productive. Given the compressed timeline Worm works on that can be helpful (it's not like we're going to spend a decade building a series of manses to power the Scion-Slaying Daiklave or something).
...geomancy is just one of many thaumaturgical arts I want to spread. "Why is she buying up this useless land?" *two weeks of intensive bulldozing, feng shui and using supernaturally motivated work crews to erect a gleaming magical ziggurat later* "Oh, that's why she was buying up all that useless land."
Also, since this is likely to be a vote sometime in the next few updates, did we want to stick around at Winslow, drop out and do homeschooling or go onto Arcadia? I'm inclined to say at Winslow, as it is undisputedly the cesspit of Brockton Bay's educational system which means it's probably the place Taylor needs to go to make people better. It means dealing with all that tedious bullshit that high school is known for, but it also is a place where she can have social interaction with the fringes of various gangs (assuming organization-impeding charms like Indolent Official/Foul Air of Argument Technique are an option), use policy-shaping charms (like Taboo-Inflicting Diatribe) or just overhear gossip about what is going on in the various gangs (I don't expect this to be actionable intelligence, but it may help us keep a finger on the pulse as it were). It also seems a good place to grow our fandom for the purposes of spinning up the podcast idea.
Unrelated to the above, I was thinking about a few charm ideas:
- Flawless Diagnostic Technique (basically the Flawless Diagnosis Technique from Medicine, but for Craft). Let you get an idea of what's wrong with an object or structure (subject to your understanding of how it's made/how physics work etc); example, discerning that a house has faulty wiring can be done with an idle tour of the house and even without formal electrician training you can tell that it's something wrong with the wiring in the light in the bathroom, while diagnosing Armsmaster's Halberd might tell you that some of the mechanisms in the haft are getting brittle (for lack of a better term) but not that it needs to be remagnetized using a specialized non-newtonian fluid to prevent crystal buildup (or whatever). Eventually want to use this and a few other charms to restore boats in the Boat Graveyard
- I know that clearing out the boat graveyard won't fix all of Brockton Bay's problems as the reason that ports became less busy was because global economic disruption from Leviathan, but it is a monument to the city's despair and by not just removing it but revitalizing the ships for future use sends a message of hope that should help reinvigorate the city. Also by building up several unique industries in Brockton Bay (spider silk is a start but probably not the end) that gives material incentive to ship things out as well as receive them. If we're sending out PRT-quality trooper silk to organizations in Europe, it makes sense for them to go out of Brockton's port rather than send them to Boston or New York and use their ports, you know?
- Also I kinda want to do Sorcerous Workings to imbue Invocation of the Living Ship on each of them and make them magical ships to do stuff but that's putting the cart before the horse.
- I know that clearing out the boat graveyard won't fix all of Brockton Bay's problems as the reason that ports became less busy was because global economic disruption from Leviathan, but it is a monument to the city's despair and by not just removing it but revitalizing the ships for future use sends a message of hope that should help reinvigorate the city. Also by building up several unique industries in Brockton Bay (spider silk is a start but probably not the end) that gives material incentive to ship things out as well as receive them. If we're sending out PRT-quality trooper silk to organizations in Europe, it makes sense for them to go out of Brockton's port rather than send them to Boston or New York and use their ports, you know?
- A charm tree to let us see/decypher/manipulate shards connecting to humans (roughly analagous to the Spirit Detecting Glance/Spirit Cutting Attack/Ghost Eating Technique from 2e, not sure about Ex.Ess) with one eye on letting us spot parahumans whether they're in costume or not (Chevalier can do this, but they keep that quiet) and get at least an idea of what they can do before they demonstrate it, and eventually be able to Murder Entities. Possibly let us humanely trigger Second Triggers with a successful difficult project?
- A charm to know relevant laws, regulations or policies for a situation (basically a combination of "know what laws are being broken" and "know what to cite to avoid accidentally breaking the rules". The equivilent of hiring a lawyer in a relevant field to go over the situation and brief you on what you need to know, but all at once and without needing to do that. Does not protect against judicial interpretation
- Originally inspired by the Sidereal Google Spider charm!
- Dossier charms
- For an individual (Evidence Discerning Method) ("I understand how Hookwolf thinks and so can guess how he will react to an attack on his dogfighting hustle and the sort of things he is looking for to reestablish it")
- For an organization (no canonical charm I know of) ("I understand how the Empire 88 works well enough to make a good guess about how much the dogfighting rings mean to them and what they're willing and able to contribute to reestablishing them")
- For a gathering of different interests (Understanding the Court) ("I understand the personalities and priorities of the gang bosses meeting at Somer's Rock and how they're likely to interact with one another")
- Speed reading charm (lets us catch up on the news cycle faster, scan contracts at a glance and make it look like we're not reading from a teleprompter)
- Something to map the intimacies a target has even if they don't appear in the scene ("while Purity was shooting at us I discovered that she loves her child, doesn't like her ex husband, has mixed feelings about her stepson and is still a racist but is trying to be better
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Thank you for the big post again Slamu!
Like, it's worth remembering that at the canon Somer's Rock meeting, the Merchants were the only group that didn't get a seat at the table. Even the Undersiders and Travelers got seats at the table despite not owning territory and the latter being brand new in town. Nobody respects them at this point in time, nobody bothers with them despite everyone knowing where they're based. They only get big and dangerous after Leviathan. I know this is a little against fanon, but I did lump the Merchants in with the other small time groups when Taylor was researching the Bay's criminals.
I will say that taking out the Empire 88, ABB, or Coil will always count as major milestones.
Survival charms are largely Navigate. There is no Friendship With Animals Technique in Exalted Essence, but I'm happy to homebrew that if the thread votes for it.
Most of your comments on the actual mechanics of the style are inaccurate because again, you are using 2e mechanics when this quest does not run on 2e, and 2e charms when those don't exist for the purposes of this quest. It lacks a surprise negator, a perfect defense, etc. It is a more defensive style, and its capstone charm is an attack that is never lethal (and gets bonuses so long as you're trying to educate your opponent, which is super fun).
It's not that I think you're dictating things to me, it's that your information is just inaccurate. Like, say this was a D&D quest running on 5e. Can you see how it would be confusing if you started listing out Pathfinder feats the quest should grab? We're just talking about different systems, even if the setting is the same.
I believe Whirlygig joined after Leviathan as well. The gang expanded massively after Leviathan, that's why Coil sent trainwreck to keep an eye on them. As for getting a major milestone, it depends on how much time and effort it takes you. If taking out the merchants takes you a single night/fight, then probably not. If you go on an extended campaign slowly dismantling their infrastructure and inspiring their people to reform, then probably.
Like, it's worth remembering that at the canon Somer's Rock meeting, the Merchants were the only group that didn't get a seat at the table. Even the Undersiders and Travelers got seats at the table despite not owning territory and the latter being brand new in town. Nobody respects them at this point in time, nobody bothers with them despite everyone knowing where they're based. They only get big and dangerous after Leviathan. I know this is a little against fanon, but I did lump the Merchants in with the other small time groups when Taylor was researching the Bay's criminals.
I will say that taking out the Empire 88, ABB, or Coil will always count as major milestones.
I'll see about either adding it to the character sheet or making a separate info post on milestones, because that is important information.
Wait a fucking minute. Is that Battery or Miss Milittia
This make sense and is one of the reasons why I want to focus on the gang minions first, they actually run the drug trade and can very easily blend into background after we deal with the capes, until one of them triggers and we have to deal with merchants again.
Vote closed
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Milestones and you
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Progression in Exalted Essence works on a milestone system: you earn milestones at the end of each arc (each session, in the tabletop) depending on what you did and how the plot developed. These milestones are then spent to purchase upgrades to your character. The milestones are as follows:
Note as well that it's possible to borrow a future milestone to learn a charm instantly should you need it. This uses up your NEXT applicable milestone and a set of stunt dice in order to learn a charm instantly. As a minor house rule, it will not always be a minor milestone that gets used up: if you can borrow an Exalt milestone instead, you will do so.
- Personal Milestones - these are earned for achieving personal goals. Generally, you should expect to earn a personal milestone every arc. Personal milestones can be spent to learn the first point of an ability, to repurchase a charm you already know if that charm allows repurchases (such as Ox Body Technique), to unlock new modes for charms you know, or to buy a new, personal mode for a charm you know, making it more powerful or versatile.
- Exalt Milestones - these are earned by fulfilling the requirements of your caste. As a Zenith, you earn an Exalt milestone at the end of every arc wherein you inspired a significant character with your words. As such, you can earn an Exalt milestone every arc if you play your cards right. Exalt milestones can be used to buy any charm you qualify for EXCEPT for martial arts charms and evocations. They can also be used to buy spells, to repurchase charms, or to unlock new charm modes.
- Minor Milestones - these are earned for minor but significant plot events: making your cape debut, for example. You should expect a minor milestone every 2-3 arcs. Minor Milestones can be used to increase an ability by 1, or to buy a new charm of any variety, or a spell.
- Major Milestones - these are earned for major plot events: defeating a major gang, for example. You should expect a major milestone after 2-3 minor milestones. Major Milestones can be used to increase an attribute by 1.
- Essence - this is increased from climactic events, major achievements, and significant character growth. Clearing Brockton Bay of gangs, for example, would qualify you for an Essence increase. You should expect an Essence increase roughly every 2 major milestones. Increasing your essence also earns you a free Excellency or Ox Body Technique purchase.
Note as well that it's possible to borrow a future milestone to learn a charm instantly should you need it. This uses up your NEXT applicable milestone and a set of stunt dice in order to learn a charm instantly. As a minor house rule, it will not always be a minor milestone that gets used up: if you can borrow an Exalt milestone instead, you will do so.
- Location
- Denial
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Is this a house rule? The rules I have only let you buy spells with minor milestones.