Harmonious Presence Meditation (You may commit one mote to add 1 automatic success to all social rolls for the scene, and ignore penalties to social rolls based on your appearance, unfamiliarity with customs, or past actions)
Lessons of Hardship;
Through surpassing inside, cynicism, and at times paranoia the exalt lays the hearts of others bare.
They may now apply may now apply bonus successes from Harmonious Presence Meditation to read intention actions, additionally, if an enemy attempts to ambush the exalt while Harmonious Presence Meditation is active, they may act first. This does not reveal the location or method of attack, it merely alerts the solar that a surge of killing intent has been directed towards her.
Taylors story doesn't have a lot of meat on it's bones just yet. She IS a brand new exalt. But she has years of experience in being a paranoid outcaste who has to look over her shoulder at every opportunity.
This charm is very similar to, but still distinct from the charm "Ambush sensing premonition" One of the major differences being the Ambush sensing premonition negates penalties, while this one does not.
Terrifying Warlord Apparition;
The exalts power and charisma linger in the mind's of those who witness her terrible power and majesty.
Any character in a scene who is able to perceive the exalt using Cat's Puffed Tail automatically gains a minor intimacy of fear or awe towards the exalt. The intimacy cannot be weakened until (essence) weeks have passed. Then it fades as normal. This may be resisted with an integrity roll equal to the Exalts force, or by entering a hard bargain.
I am not sure if "terrifying warlord skitter" is fanon or if in the main story Taylor actually terrified an entire city into submission. Regardless this charms harkens back to that idea.
It is also a true master power, capable of altering peoples mind with the snap of a finger, and keeping them altered in spite of any effort to the contrary.
I don't think it's impossible, but Coil would be a tough nut to crack without knowing his intimacies and even knowing them... He's pretty sociopathic. A lot of the things we'd like him to stop are very important to him.
We can probably get him to change a few things while building up an intimacy like "Zenith is able to give me what I want" that eventually lets us flip him. Whether that is worth the effort I remain unsure.
I'm leaning toward crane style largely due to the relatively small number of milestones it would take, 6 minor milestones to fully learn it, and the fact that it seems to fit in with Taylor's current build. Righteous Devil Style would be nice to pick up too but it is somewhat harder to justify since it needs Ranged Combat and Glorious Exalted Bolts is right there threatening to make that ability redundant for us. White reaper style would be nice for fighting groups, it's just so hard to justify spending all those milestones that could otherwise be building up our abilities giving us acces to the best charms.
For something so focused and narrow I could see a sagacity 1 charm tbh. If "Addiction" counts as a disease or Injury then Master Physician Technique could cover it, otherwise we'd have to call on Amazing Azban to offer something homebrew.
MASTER PHYSICIAN TECHNIQUE
Prerequisite: Sagacity 3
Through efficacious treatments, the Exalt may tend grievous injuries and defeat pestilences. Commit 1 mote for the duration of treatment. Using appropriate tools, the Exalt may spend a scene treating a patient, accomplishing one of the following effects:
• Treat a diagnosed disease. Treat as a venture with three obstacles and a time scale of three sessions or scenes of downtime. Mundane diseases are typically difficulty 3, while particularly deadly, esoteric, or supernatural diseases may be difficulty 5 to achieve the same effect. Some supernatural diseases such as the Great Contagion may not be treated by this Charm.
• Treat injuries. Make a Sagacity roll with double 9s against difficulty equal to the total levels of damage in their patient's Health track. Success allows the patient to treat the scene as if it were a recovery scene and regain all lost Health levels. This may heal aggravated damage.
Body-Sculpting Essence Method (Upgrade, Sagacity 5, Essence 3): The Exalt may restore a patient to health in the time it takes to lace boots. Complete a treatment action which would take a scene in a handful of moments. Once per story, unless reset by treating injuries or disease without using this upgrade.
Body-Purifying Admonitions (Upgrade, Sagacity 4): Using precision strikes to their patient's pressure points, the Exalt may force deadly poison from the body. Spend 1 mote. As a simple action, the Exalt nullifies a mundane poison hazard's damage to immediately cure a patient receiving treatment. Against supernatural and esoteric poisons, she must make a Sagacity roll with a difficulty equal to the hazard's damage rating. Failure refunds the mote.
Plague-Banishing Incitation (Solar): The Exalt demands the malaise leave the patient's body, initiating a miraculous recovery. When treating a diagnosed disease, spend an additional mote. The Exalt immediately cures the disease allowing the patient to recover by the next scene.
Great, just what I need; more incentive to get Sagacity to 3. /fake complaining
This is on my 'to-get' list for sure. Ignoring the very real good it can do for Brockton citizens, it opens a lot of doors for us; there are very few 'healing' capes, and most of them look more like Cask (Tinker that makes a 2 liter potion that gives a minor regeneration effect) or Scapegoat (quantum something something there's an uninjured version of you, give it a few days to let it settle in) than Panacea ("if it isn't the brain and I have enough biomass I can fix it"). Something that looks a lot like 'I really am just that good as a doctor' would likely be a welcome change. In fact, I'd like to suggest spending time at the hospital during some of our down time, at first just to help out (talk to kids in the pediatrics ward, help do inventory, restock patient rooms with blankets and stuff, etc) as an act of Humility but also become known to hospital staff (become "Taylor the Helper" rather than "Zenith the Hero").
We could even work on testing for a medical license so people have to refer to us as "Dr. Hebert", which is fun for a 15 year old to hold over people. Just imagine going to Winslow and not answering the teachers until they address you as 'doctor'. (This is unlikely to happen due to a number of reasons but the thought amuses me all the same).
More seriously, this likely pairs well with something like Know the Soul's Price (not sure if that would fall under Awareness, Embassy or Presence in this system) where someone really wants someone healed (either themselves or someone else) and we can provide that where other avenues have failed. Clockblocker's dad is sick with something chronic and was part of his Trigger event, Uppercrust has a rare disease (unnamed but it's not something Panacea could help with so probably something in the brain) and has very deep pockets from building city-sized forcefields for everyone that could pay, and Cask triggered from...something health related (don't remember what but he had to self-medicate). Healing people gets their gratitude, and that gratitude helps us form a social network to help further our Exalted duties.
What other kinds of medicine charms are out there? I'm thinking of either an expansion charm on the above or some sort of Embassy charm to help organize and direct medical professionals (not just doctors but nurses, paramedics, orderlies, etc) to handle emergency situations better because it's not just Endbringers that do mass casualty events.
Excellency only gives +ability dice. Alchemical, Getimian, Lunar, and Liminal exalts can choose to give either + ability or + attribute but Solars are not among those so we are limited to +ability only. Given the maximum +10 bonus dice to a roll giving +ability&attribute would probably render any charm that gives bonus dice redundant in the face of excellencies.
I am minutely inconvenienced due to preconceived notions and must now throw a temper tantrum. Unfortunately my arm is tired so I'll put a raincheck on that for now.
Speaking of which, when did we want to prioritize Excellencies? I'm thinking a Performance Excellency sooner rather than later (we want to do well with our cape-tube stuff and we'll probably have other chances to use it on the regular), a Sagacity Excellency after that (sorcery, medicine, research etc should be at least somewhat frequent once we hit Sag3) and beyond that I'm on the fence. (That isn't to say we stick with Excellencies in defiance of other charm acquisitions, I'm just thinking in dice pool expansions right now)
Uh, yeah, this. I'd count the physical effects of addiction and withdrawal as a disease, and the psychological effects as an intimacy (which means you can Solar social it away). I want to rely on canon charms when possible rather than making narrow homebrew.
So would dealing with Flashbang's depression be a medical or psychological cure? I'm thinking about how getting him to be a functional member of New Wave would change their team dynamics (hopefully for the better) and earn us some social cachet with the Dallon/Pellam clan.
Should we expect one of the canon charms (All-Seeing Sorcerer's Sight perhaps?) help us understand the Parahuman phenomenon and eventually be able to treat Case 53s? Likewise, Case 53 amnesia cases.
HPM already works over the internet. God-Mind Algorithms is not something I've homebrewed yet, so I won't speak to what a personal mode would look like. If the thread has interest in a computer use/hacking charm, I'd be happy to homebrew an Essence version of God-Mind Algorithms.
I figure a Computer Use charm would be prudent if we're doing the cape-tube thing, if only as a quality of life matter (that may or may not become clutch when we need to electrify an abacus so it counts as enough of a computer for us to use it to hack into Coil's self-destruct sequence or something). A repurchase or personal mode to help us work with Tinker-made computers might be handy as well at some point.
Right, for narrow use cases where there's clearly nothing else that fits (like going without sleep or talking to animals) I'll homebrew. Otherwise, I'll direct you to canon charms. I'd encourage people to think in terms of "what effects do we need?" rather than "what 2e/3e charms do we want?"
I am not sure if "terrifying warlord skitter" is fanon or if in the main story Taylor actually terrified an entire city into submission. Regardless this charms harkens back to that idea.
*hand wiggle* Eh, so-so. Fighting her was sure to trigger your entophobia buttons and she did 'unintentionally creepy' pretty well, but she also stood up against actual monsters when the 'heroes' wouldn't, provided for people when the heroes couldn't, and established the rudiments of law and order when there wasn't any to be found. The parts of the city she protected bounced back among the fastest in spite of being some of the worst hit (in strong part because Coil was using her to funnel reconstruction money in the millions of dollars, but also because she was doing what she could to help people get back on their feet and build up the Boardwalk area) while the PRT was busy fumbling the ball one crisis after the next (again, at least in part due to Coil but not entirely).
When the new Director Tagg ordered Dragon and Defiant to arrest her in her civilian identity in a crowded cafeteria, a third of the students there (the ones that stayed for the disasters, not the ones that moved back in once the coast was clear) supported her in no small part because of a protest against police inaction during the worst of it whereas she was doing what she could to help.
She was charismatic, but in the 'I feel safe because the scary cape is looking out for me' kind of way.
What other kinds of medicine charms are out there? I'm thinking of either an expansion charm on the above or some sort of Embassy charm to help organize and direct medical professionals (not just doctors but nurses, paramedics, orderlies, etc) to handle emergency situations better because it's not just Endbringers that do mass casualty events.
I wonder what the skillset for designing medical prosthesis is (alternately, reinventing the Lizard Tail Regrowth Sphere from basic principles). I'm guessing something like 'Sagacity 3+, Craft 3+' and make it an extended test somehow? Alternately, reverse-engineering Tinker tech.
So would dealing with Flashbang's depression be a medical or psychological cure? I'm thinking about how getting him to be a functional member of New Wave would change their team dynamics (hopefully for the better) and earn us some social cachet with the Dallon/Pellam clan.
Medical. You might be able to talk him out of a single depressive episode with just social skills, but it would return because the man has a legit chemical imbalance in his brain. Same as how you could talk somebody out of their psychological dependence on drugs, but that wouldn't do shit about their withdrawal symptoms.
Should we expect one of the canon charms (All-Seeing Sorcerer's Sight perhaps?) help us understand the Parahuman phenomenon and eventually be able to treat Case 53s? Likewise, Case 53 amnesia cases.
You'd have to investigate Case 53s more before I tell you what it would take to treat them, but All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight is definitely a good first step.
The thing is, there's not much that the 2e/3e charms actually convert over well other than, like, the abstract idea of what they do. The 2e/3e systems are different enough from Essence that I don't really gain much of anything from being given a canon 2e charm as a starting point other than knowing what specific effect you want.
I really, really cannot stress enough that 2e and Essence are different systems, and you would be well-served by not trying to treat them as basically the same thing. They share terminology and lore, but that's about it (and even the lore is different in places).
Medical. You might be able to talk him out of a single depressive episode with just social skills, but it would return because the man has a legit chemical imbalance in his brain. Same as how you could talk somebody out of their psychological dependence on drugs, but that wouldn't do shit about their withdrawal symptoms.
Well, it should help ease interactions with New Wave at least. I imagine that, with us being a 'white hat' in Carol's estimation and being able to occasionally talk her husband out of a depressive episode, we might be able to make other observations that are important but unwelcome should the occasion call for it.
You'd have to investigate Case 53s more before I tell you what it would take to treat them, but All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight is definitely a good first step.
Is it Sagacity 3 to get that charm or something else? Also, would it help us understand parahuman effects ie Grey Boy loops, Kaiser's manifested metal, the Scrub + Labyrinth power interaction making a portal etc?
Very tangentially, but I wonder if we could make a Celestial circle spell or working to spin off new parahumans from a sufficiently 'fed' shard. That is, "Armsmaster's shard has a lot of data, enough to justify a bud. We take him and a volunteer that passed screening and had an artificial """trigger""" that was short on the requisite trauma and long on light shows, hand waving and mumbling but PFC Ramirez is now effectively a 2nd gen cape with a suitable power". It's not something I expect to do anything about any time soon (not least of which being 'step one, initiate into Sapphire Circle Sorcery') but it's something that has occurred to me all the same.
The thing is, there's not much that the 2e/3e charms actually convert over well other than, like, the abstract idea of what they do. The 2e/3e systems are different enough from Essence that I don't really gain much of anything from being given a canon 2e charm as a starting point other than knowing what specific effect you want.
I really, really cannot stress enough that 2e and Essence are different systems, and you would be well-served by not trying to treat them as basically the same thing. They share terminology and lore, but that's about it (and even the lore is different in places).
Instructions unclear, kept insisting 2e and Essence are basically the same thing /joke
@ thread What kind of assets do we want to build up for Taylor? I don't know what sort of backgrounds/merits Essence supports, but assuming we're mostly going a social primary route with the goal of 'make Bet's heroes Better' I can think of a few:
Resources: always nice to have the ability to throw money at a problem. There are some difficulties applicable as a cape (NEPTA-5, Chief Director Costas-Brown wanting as few rogues as she can get away with despite official declarations to the contrary because Endbringers/Scion) but we can probably eke out a reasonable rating here if we so choose. If we wanted a high rating we'd probably need to either get in touch with the Number Man (thus letting Cauldron in on our assets) or some sort of 'portfolio-obscuring charm'. Resources isn't just 'cash in bank', but also the ability to say something like 'if we take my private jet we can beat the traffic'.
For the time-being I am inclined to go with "set up a donation site for a charity to finance Zenith's efforts to improve Brockton Bay" paired with our stream, that should help us get started on more ambitious projects.
Working the silk production angle we can probably make a reasonable amount off both regular silk sales and setting up a factory that makes PRT trooper equipment made out of the stuff.
Connections: The 'I know a guy' skill, the ability for us to be able to say 'we know someone in X place and they both have some kind of influence and are willing to listen to us should we speak to them'. It could be an independent cape in Chicago, a staffer for someone in the State Legislature, one of the people that manages Haven's affairs or a researcher at an academic institution somewhere. The point isn't that you're friends (that's more 'allies') but rather that you can call them up and say 'we need to talk' and they take you seriously.
We can probably get a few working our cape-tube stuff (never know what fish might end up in your net), but I expect this to start to become relevant when we make bigger waves cleaning up the Bay than taking down a third rate gang. There's little enough good news going around that us helping to make Brockton Bay a success story will garner attention.
Early on, I'm thinking try to cultivate connections with the civil government (our dad has his ferry project, I think we might help change a few minds about that through reasoned discourse) and perhaps academia once we start poking at 'what even is parahumans?'. We can publish an earthshaking, field defining article on one of the most consequential fields of study before we get our GED, it's allowed.
I wonder if any of Lustrum's crowd are still around that would be willing to visit their old friend's daughter after she triggered publicly?
Cult: In 2e this was a mote-and-willpower regeneration boosting background/merit with some social fluff. I don't know if that carries over to Essence, but while I'm sure there are very reasonable concerns about 'this cape is developing a cult', it doesn't have to look like a cult to count for the background; rock stars, dojo founders and youtubers can all have cults. Half of the PRT's public relations department's job is to establish micro-cults for their heroes. With the Cape-tube thing I figure we'd have to expend effort to avoid making a cult eventually.
The other option is to usurp someone else's cult worship but I doubt we're going to appear in a burst of flame in front of a group of Fallen, say "actually I am the Simurgh!" and tell them they're burning the wrong kind of incense. It's something we might be able to do and I doubt Ziz really cares, but it seems contrary to established behavior thus far.
Followers: We have them already (it's the fan club). We can at this point use them to help spread our message ("Re-tube this clip from Zenith's show where she talks about this one thing, she makes a really good point!") and can probably encourage them to do something like show up at a public demonstration or something but I mostly see them as a feeder group towards other backgrounds like...
Command: We have the PRT troopers for now, but they're loaners. If we wanted to have our own paramilitary group of ass-kickers, we can train them up and equip them. Probably get a bit of PRT side-eye for this, as the government prefers to have the monopoly on violence for some reason, but between Tiger Warrior Technique (or an equivalent charm in Essence?) and the ability to make comparable/superior armor they start to look interchangeable.
"Swat team (anti-Super)" is not the only flavor this comes in, you can probably cover it to include stuff like police officers, a crack group of cyber warfare specialists or a deniable black ops team
This is probably the background I see Taylor using the least, honestly, given that she can probably get away with asking for more PRT troopers if the situation calls for it and she has the pull within the local office (which she doesn't currently, but I expect that to change as she keeps handing over clean wins to Piggot)
Henchmen: Notable persons who are halfway between an Ally and a Follower. They follow you, but they aren't faceless extras. They have agency, but not as much as an Ally. If Command got us a team of PRT troopers, Henchmen might get us a PRT field veteran who has seen the elephant and knows how to handle herself. You might not expect her to fight Hookwolf all by her lonesome and prevail, but you also don't mind putting her in charge of those PRT troopers and leaving them unattended; they'll find ways to make themselves useful
Henchmen don't have to be combat-focused, and on Bet they probably shouldn't be. Better to have them be like Quinn Calle; competent agents in a field you haven't studied or can't involve yourself with right now. Maybe it's a crack lawyer who can help keep your projects on the straight and narrow (or at least look that way), maybe it's another aspiring cape-tuber that wants to ride your coattails to the big time and knows the industry better than you but lacks your pizzazz, maybe it's a grizzled Private Investigator that you can wonder questions out loud and he shows up two days, three packs of cigarettes and 0 showers later and gives you answers.
Retainers: The people kept on staff to attend to basic needs while Taylor works on other things. The cook, the maid, the secretary, the chauffeur etc. Taylor can cook for herself, can drive herself, make her own bed, etc but time doing that is time not spent on other matters; if she gets a driver she can spend her time making phone calls to that city councilman about the upcoming budget. If she gets a secretary that's less time making sure she has the petty paperwork in order and more time doing the stuff only she can do like reattach Armsmaster's leg or teach empathy to the Borg Queen.
This is probably one of the easiest for Taylor to get - 'just hire them' - but given the hierarchy implied by "I have servants" Taylor would probably need to go through some gymnastics to make this work.
Allies: What the term implies. Not constrained to teammates, you could have Narwhal as an Ally willing to stop by between A-class events to help you bully Nazis, you could have Director Armstrong in Boston as an Ally speaking in your favor at the PRT Directors meetings, you could have Uppercrust as an ally willing to lend his considerable resources to projects of mutual interest. However these relationships aren't a one-way street, as it's a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" kind of situation.
I wonder if we can't set up a 'sister city' in Spain or somewhere to help build up their ports alongside our own and ferry goods across the Atlantic to help stabilize the local economy. I doubt Brockton Bay is the only port city in a doom spiral, and if we can find another likeminded soul across the Atlantic we might jump-start maritime trade even with Leviathan lurking around
Spies: The network to know stuff that others would rather prefer you not know. This could be from having every seagull in town whispering in your ear, this could be from having a dozen dematerialized demons prowling the city looking for 'matters of interest', it could be from having a Tinker device that automatically copies all digital and hardcopy data within a 50 mile radius, it could be from hiring an army of detectives to snoop into everyone's business, or it could cozying up to the right old ladies at bake sales because they know all the right gossip.
That last one isn't much of an exaggeration either; there's a nation in Creation in the North that has an official spy agency but the director of the spy agency makes sure to have tea with a group of very crafty old ladies in a knitting circle that give 'friendly advice' on how the agency's resources should be directed. It's considered to be one of the better spy agencies in the region.
I think we can probably set up a pretty good spy network with only moderate investment, actually, especially if we recruit Tattletale to run it. Regular PIs to get publically available information and some Harmonious Academic Methodology-trained hackers to get stuff online, you're just a few well-placed bribes away from raiding the PRT's data vaults yourself. And if you can manipulate Victor into making a crack at it and just liberate whatever he got, well, it's not like you stole the data from the PRT after all....
Reputation: What it sounds like. "Dragon is the greatest Tinker alive", "the Slaughterhouse Nine are an S-class threat", "Lung is unbeatable", etc. Establishing a reputation for yourself puts you in someone's thoughts in a certain way, and can either help or hinder social efforts depending on the reputation; a reputation for fighting with kiddie gloves on might convince a PRT Director in Denver that you're not going to try to cause trouble in her area of responsibility, but convincing that same PRT Director to let you take on Three Knuckles Jerry who just got a Kill Order all on your lonesome is going to be at a disadvantage. (In 2e it mostly worked by adding or subtracting dice from the roll depending on context, but here I have no idea how it'd work). Reputation is one of those things that the PRT's PR team juggles, though more for the organization than for individuals.
Reputation is a big thing in Worm, and I low-key wondered if some version of the Face mechanic would apply here but I'm trying not to clutter up Amazing Abzan's quest more than I already am and Face was an optional thing anyway
Yeah, but part of that goes back to 'unintentionally creepy'; it's not just the "spiders crawling over your face mid-conversation" thing or the way you're not looking at someone during a conversation, your inflection...it's also how she accidentally made her costume look super-edgy for predominantly reasonable, utilitarian considerations ('grey blends in better', 'claws help in melee and if I need to climb anything', etc). When she was fighting she wasn't thinking "make them too scared to fight" but "keep them off guard so they don't shoot me" or "I can disguise ability Y by doing action X" and not really thinking about how she came across to people watching her until Glen pulled back the curtain and explained it to her.
So not disagreeing with you, just pointing out she wasn't trying to be scary until late in the game when it turned out she had a knack for it and wasn't familiar with other social tools (thanks Emma!)
The irony being that in this timeline I can imagine Glenn despairing that he always gets problem children like "Grabthar the Mutilator" trying to rebrand when with a canvas such as Taylor Hebert he could do such great things.
Note to self; poach Glenn Chambers if the opportunity presents itself. May require a burlap sack. (this is about 60% a joke)
Great, just what I need; more incentive to get Sagacity to 3. /fake complaining
...
What other kinds of medicine charms are out there? I'm thinking of either an expansion charm on the above or some sort of Embassy charm to help organize and direct medical professionals (not just doctors but nurses, paramedics, orderlies, etc) to handle emergency situations better because it's not just Endbringers that do mass casualty events.
3 is where a lot of cool sagacity stuff becomes active. There is some good stuff at 2 (Wonder Crafting Initiation, Glorious Exalted Bolts) but there's so many great charms at 3, add to that summoning and 3 is a great target to hit.
For the medicine canon charms available to us that haven't been mentioned there's Flawless Diagnosis Technique, which doesn't feel very necessary in a modern world with doctors who have already done the diagnosing for us mostly. It could be useful if we ever go up against Bonesaw, in fact just using canon spells and charms we can kinda hard counter Bonesaw's plague threats. Beyond that there's also the Solar charm Healer's Boundless Grace which seems more useful at higher essence when we might have trouble actually refilling our mote pool.
FLAWLESS DIAGNOSIS TECHNIQUE
Prerequisite: Sagacity 3
The Exalt's expertise reveals the truths of bodies living and dead. By examining a subject closely, the Exalt may flawlessly diagnose what ails them, or discern what lead to their death.
Spend 1 mote as a simple action. Within moments, the Exalt may automatically diagnose a mundane illness, allowing her to determine what the illness is, its typical symptoms, and whether it is supernatural or not. For unknown, esoteric, or supernatural illnesses, make a Sagacity roll for the same result. Although they may not always know what disease their patient carries, the Exalt will never misdiagnose it.
Alternatively, the Exalt may use this Charm while examining a corpse, allowing her to automatically determine how recently they died, the cause of death, or other unusual qualities of the corpse. If the corpse is unusual, tampered with, or slain through esoteric means, the Exalt must make a Sagacity roll to determine the same result.
If applicable, the Exalt gains her Essence in bonus dice on the next roll to treat the diagnosed illness, or to further investigate the corpse.
HEALER'S BOUNDLESS GRACE
Prerequisite: Sagacity 1
Tending to the weak is enough to restore the Solar's spirit.
Once a scene, every three successes the Solar earns on a successful roll to treat or heal another restores 1 spent mote. This effect fails if the Solar caused the damage.
Risen Sun Renewal (Repurchase, Sagacity 3): Improves the Solar's Power exchange, allowing him to spend 1 mote to grant 3 additional Power to an incapacitated ally. Gain 2 additional anima.
Also, would it help us understand parahuman effects ie Grey Boy loops, Kaiser's manifested metal, the Scrub + Labyrinth power interaction making a portal etc?
Very tangentially, but I wonder if we could make a Celestial circle spell or working to spin off new parahumans from a sufficiently 'fed' shard. That is, "Armsmaster's shard has a lot of data, enough to justify a bud. We take him and a volunteer that passed screening and had an artificial """trigger""" that was short on the requisite trauma and long on light shows, hand waving and mumbling but PFC Ramirez is now effectively a 2nd gen cape with a suitable power". It's not something I expect to do anything about any time soon (not least of which being 'step one, initiate into Sapphire Circle Sorcery') but it's something that has occurred to me all the same.
-1st circle ambition
"Work minor magical mutations or physiological alterations, such as changing sexual characteristics or growing wings"
-2nd circle ambition
"Imbue a loyal subject with supernatural might or the ability to channel Essence"
Making someone weird and giving them AN ability is first circle it seems, but as the GM said. Making someone "supernaturally mighty" or "giving them the power to channel essence" is second circle for sure.
Interesting that we can do a sex change as a first circle ambition. Also wings are cool! I am genuinely not sure why that counts as a "minor" mutation.
There is a BIG list of workings we can do, blessing Danny's business with prosperity would be a VERY cool thing to do. Its even probably first circle.
Blessing a graveyard to allow the living and dead to commune would also be hella sweet.
Interesting that we can do a sex change as a first circle ambition. Also wings are cool! I am genuinely not sure why that counts as a "minor" mutation.
[X] Plan: I don't need sleep, I need better heroes -[X] Create a personal mode for a charm
--[X] Harmonious Presence Meditation -[X] Charm or spell write in
--[X] Sun never Sets: Taylor no longer needs to sleep, this will give her more time to research, patrol or just relax. (I have no idea how to mechanically put in quest)
[X] Plan: In Denial of Falling Sky -[X] Create a personal mode for a charm --[X] Orichalcum Battle Soul ---[X] Taylor Mode: Anima Strike Exercise, Taylor directs the glowing golden Sparks upon her fist to lash out at her opponent across the room. I don't really know how this would work system wise but something that allows her to strike using close combat at greater than close combat ranges. -[X] Increase an Ability --[X] Close Combat
[X] Plan: Cape-tuber in the making -[X] Buy the first dot in an ability --[X] Craft -[X] Charm or spell write in
--[X] Virtue-Shaping Harmony (TLDR: We get to put minor virtues into people who watch our stuff)
[X] Plan: Sun Goddess Accusations -[X] Buy the first dot in an ability --[X] Ranged Attack -[X] Charm or spell write in --[X] Conjuring The Azure Chariot
"Soon" I can agree with, "as soon as possible" I'm not as sure of. Social and mental enhancements I think we can justify as 'figuring out our Social Thinker power" and we can do a lot of good with those. Likewise the Essence Bolt charm sound like it'd appear to be "I figured out how to throw my glowing stuff". I think there's a lot of noncombat options that we can find uses for that are probably at least as helpful depending how we want to play our powers.
Not saying 'no', but 'maybe we figure out a game plan before we commit to our next purchase'?
For the medicine canon charms available to us that haven't been mentioned there's Flawless Diagnosis Technique, which doesn't feel very necessary in a modern world with doctors who have already done the diagnosing for us mostly. It could be useful if we ever go up against Bonesaw, in fact just using canon spells and charms we can kinda hard counter Bonesaw's plague threats. Beyond that there's also the Solar charm Healer's Boundless Grace which seems more useful at higher essence when we might have trouble actually refilling our mote pool.
Flawless Diagnosis Technique sounds very useful (why is this a Sagacity 3 purchase instead of Sag1?) for both avoiding mistakes in treatment (see; basically every House, MD episode) and figuring out weird effects powers might have on the body ("It turns out Greenflame's green flames are actually toxic to the human body, if you get burns you should also have bloodwork done"). It looks like it also adds dice to treatments, which is probably quite welcome (this isn't fighting with an Excellency for maximum dice pools, is it?)
Healer's Boundless Grace seems useful for giving us stamina at the hospital, letting us do longer periods of healing (or being freer with certain charms while healing, be it an Excellency or social charms or some Sagacity 5, Essence 3 charm to enchant someone's bones with the power of Pasiap or something). The repurchase to give Power to someone in a fight I'm unsure of the merits of as that requires greater familiarity with the combat system but as it's a charm I'm at least tentitively for it (possibly useful getting other capes to contribute during the big cape battles?)
And between Shadow Stalker and Crusader I think we can reasonably expect to fight immaterial beings at some point. Plus if it doesn't let us manipulate immaterial beings (Shard connections, say) it probably acts as the basis for something that could, yeah.
Not sure how it works in Essence, but from what I've picked up from 3e....
Ambition 2 (bestow supernatural power on a mortal)
Finesse 1/3/5 (no control over final result/some control/full control) I presume 'avoid becoming a Monstrous Cape' would be Finesse 2
Means (additional rolls to achieve the final product)
If we have a skillset suitable for the task at hand (ie if we are trying to make another super-healer we'd need Medicine/Sagacity) at 5+. At Amazing Abzan's discretion having a bunch of applicable charms might also work.
If we have a relevant spell (ie if we're trying to make someone like Weld or Ben Grimm, knowing spells like Invulnerable Skin of Bronze or Unbreakable Bones of Stone makes sense)
Spending extra time to get the process right (depending on the scale, 'weeks to seasons')
Having another sorcerer of the same circle willing to pitch in (probably not applicable for Sapphire workings but potentially workable with Emerald)
Having a supernatural being with relevant abilities willing to help (ie a Fire Elemental when we're trying to make Johnny Storm, the Human Torch). I'm hopeful that if we're picky we might have some parahumans able to assist in this fashion
Having exotic ingredients (Cauldron vial would be the ideal ingredient, obviously, but ichor from Behemoth for the Human Torch example also applies probably)
Having a properly-stocked ritual space (which here probably means 'building-sized Tinker lab' or something similar)
So, a few possible examples of what we might be able to do (this is conjecture, obviously)
Super-doctor. Take someone who already has medical certifications and enchant them to Medicine Good.
Sagacity 5, probably a bunch of medical charms like Flawless Diagnostic Technique, Master Physician Technique and Healer's Boundless Grace
Panacea's cooperation
Hopefully "spend a week to do it right" counts but I'm not sure what the right interval here would be
Johnny Storm 2.0
Flight of the Brilliant Raptor spell
Assistance from pyrokinetic cape (I'm sure there are some natural triggers inclined to side with the white hats here but I can't think of a specific example off the top of my head)
Behemoth Ichor
Fire Elemental (not sure if this stacks with pyrokinetic cape assistance or not)
Thinker
Fugue of Truth
Sagacity 5+, maybe some investigative charms?
Assistance from natural Thinkers (Tattletale, Dinah, Accord, etc)
Simurgh ichor
Hydrokinetic
Leviathan ichor
I'm sure there are hydrokinetic capes out there (Fathom, from India?)
Water Elemental (nymphs?)
Water From Stone/Unstoppable Fountain of the Depths/Parting of the Waves/Impervious Sphere of Water etc
Shadowmancer
Stealth 5+
Grue's cooperation
one of the various Shadow spells (Shadow Summons for example)
Brute
Physique 5+, durability-enchancing charms (Iron Kettle Body etc)
Unbreakable Bones of Stone
Invulnerable Skin of Bronze
Brute assistance (Browbeat? Maybe Assault?)
Behemoth ichor?
Also:
Cabinet of Incantation of Effective Restoration: leave an item in the cabinet overnight and at sunrise/sunset it is restored. Intended to be a maintenance and repair asset for Brockton Bay Tinkers (saving them time, effort and budget doing maintenance and restoration of their tools).
Craft 5+, probably some repair-focused charms as well (Crack-Mending Technique etc)
Sagacity 5+
Incantation of Effective Restoration spell
Assistance from other sorcerer (I'm reasonably confident we can find someone willing/able to initiate)
possibly some assistance from a cape, be it from one of the Tinkers (not sure how that'd work) or hiring Faultline to...I dunno, study the faults in items as a key step to repairing them? Honestly not sure how this'd work
Restoration of the Living Ships
Incantation of the Living Ship
Craft 5+ (with assorted repair charms such as Crack Mending Technique)
Navigate 5+ (with some nautical charms) (not sure if this is an either/or thing)
Assistance from other sorcerer
Physical mundane restoration (not an added Means, just clarifying that it's meant as a project to restore the ships to functionality before this project begins)
Enchanted fields (bumper crops every year) (probably a mite lower priority than other stuff unless we are trying to accomplish a specific goal like 'non-addictive cocaine plantation')
Navigate 5+, agricultural charms (if applicable, though doubtful we'd go out of our way to get them as it's not that kind of game)
Wood Elemental
Summoning the Harvest
Blasto's assistance(?)
...I may have a few thoughts on sorcerous workings.It's subtle, but if you pay attention you may pick up hints here and there.
Making someone weird and giving them AN ability is first circle it seems, but as the GM said. Making someone "supernaturally mighty" or "giving them the power to channel essence" is second circle for sure.
Would Science of Mutation (or a similar charm) dealing with giving/changing/removing mutations (wings, gills, faster healing, longer lifespans, the ability to sweat granite etc) be a viable charm?
Also, surely sorcery is neither the only nor best way of getting someone to channel Essence?
Would Science of Mutation (or a similar charm) dealing with giving/changing/removing mutations (wings, gills, faster healing, longer lifespans, the ability to sweat granite etc) be a viable charm?
I mean, it's a thing in 2e (and I think in 3e?) phrased as 'let me do science to graft on X/remove that Wyld tumor making you vomit slugs on the night of the full moon' etc.
Okay, just like Essence isn't 2e, it's also not 3e. Please stop trying to use the mechanics of other systems. Like, you're just listing out the 3e definition and possibilities for Means here when Essence has its own, different set of things that qualify for Means (which in turn has its own definition and uses in the Essence system). I feel like that's confusing for people, and I really wish you wouldn't do things like that.
Again, I welcome general ideas for effects, such as "manufacturing parahumans." But when you make detailed posts about how things should/could work using an entirely different system, I feel like it muddies the waters tremendously. So please, if you're determined not to acquire the Essence ruleset (which I completely understand), keep your ideas vague and focused on the flavor rather than the mechanics. Alternatively, ask questions about "can we do X?" or "what do we need to do Y?" rather than simply stating "we can do Z and here's how." I'm sure people with access to the rules would be happy to answer your questions, myself definitely included.
Would Science of Mutation (or a similar charm) dealing with giving/changing/removing mutations (wings, gills, faster healing, longer lifespans, the ability to sweat granite etc) be a viable charm?
I'd say what you could do is using sorcerous workings for your mutation granting/removing needs, then get a charm that made you better at sorcerous workings: I think a charm that reduces the timescale of the sorcerous working venture would make perfect sense.
I mean, it's a thing in 2e (and I think in 3e?) phrased as 'let me do science to graft on X/remove that Wyld tumor making you vomit slugs on the night of the full moon' etc.
Yeah, for fucks sake just say what you want and our amazing QM will choose/homebrew a charm that works like that. Stop trying to use the equivalent of D&D 4e classes in a Pathfinder game. Just either use Essence rules, or say that you want a charm that does X.
You stir from your well-deserved slumber just enough to resummon Eurus and send her off with your dad for the day, then you collapse back into bed for a few hours. By the time you truly get up, it's close to 11 o'clock. You suppose this is the price you pay for decapitating a gang in the span of one night.
After getting up and going through your morning routine, you check your hero phone to see if the Protectorate has anything to say about your hero work yesterday. It turns out you do have a message, only it's nothing quite so official as you were expecting. Just a simple congratulations from Kid Win followed by asking if you'd be free to patrol with him tomorrow afternoon. You've got nothing on your schedule and you have been meaning to patrol with him, so you shoot him a quick message letting him know you're free and willing.
With your recent exploits on your brain, you opt to check the internet via your new phone to see what the news is saying. Turns out it's not much: the Protectorate has made a statement thanking the independent cape Zenith for the captures of Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush. No mention is made of the latter two's plans to reform, to your mild annoyance, though you suppose it does make the rebranding easier if Squealer and Mush just quietly disappear.
Amusingly, there's a great deal of speculation about who 'Zenith' is. There's nothing in the PRT's statement linking your activities last night to the girl who glowed at Winslow, and the only people who know about your cape persona besides your dad are Protectorate heroes and PRT employees. Since the PRT is still trying not to spread your 'secret' identity, this means that there's no information out there for the public to connect the dots.
You'll probably have to correct that in the future. Maybe make an official PHO account or something. In fact, an online presence might be a good idea in general; using your social Thinker powers over the internet would be a good way to solicit aid for the charity you intend to start, though you wonder how the PRT would take it.
Shrugging, you put that thought out of mind and begin to research how you'll start your charity. There's so much you don't know, and you need answers if you're going to help people. How do you organize something on that scale, navigate the legal complexities, acquire that manpower and funding? You'd talked to your dad about it last night, and while he'd assured you that plenty of his fellow dockworkers would be happy to help out, it was clear the two of you were a bit out of your depth.
So research would be the order of the day, starting with cape laws and how much you're allowed to use your powers in support of something like this.
As it turns out, the rules are fairly permissive as long as you're not using your powers for profit: most of the legislation around superpowers is either to protect people or protect corporate bottom lines.
You grit your teeth. That last part rubs you the wrong way. Corporate power and the wealth it maintains, those are yet more ways for one person to wield power over another. Surely you aren't alone in seeing the wrong in that? Surely there's other people who feel as you do about the unjust nature of these hierarchies?
A quick, if vague, internet search reveals to you that no, you are far from alone. There's whole schools of thought stretching back more than a hundred years advocating for the abolishment of all coercive hierarchies: the state, capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy, you name it. You breathe a sigh of relief. There are people out there who share your feelings, and they've even given those feelings a name: anarchism.
You'd always thought anarchism was just throwing bombs and smashing things, but you see now that it's a complex philosophy with many schools of thought, a philosophy you find yourself agreeing with.
Your intimacy of "Hierarchies are meant to be abolished" changes to "Budding anarchist"
Some of these ideas will actually be helpful in setting up your charity as well. The emphasis on free association and mutual aid networks is something that-
There's a knock at the door.
You frown. You weren't expecting any visitors. Maybe it's just a salesperson?
You pocket your phone and peek out the window to see a black man in well-tailored suit. He notices you looking and gives you a friendly wave.
Well, can't pretend no one's home now. You open the door a bit and poke your head out.
"Zenith?" he asks upon seeing you.
You freeze. You'd known being an open cape might get you attention, but you're still more than a bit shocked to find someone approaching you in your own home. And that that someone would know to call you Zenith, well, that implies things.
"Are you with the PRT?" you ask. Nobody else should know to call you Zenith yet.
He shakes his head. "Afraid not, though I can see how you might come to that conclusion. My employer is particularly well informed."
You carefully pull your phone out of your pocket, prepared to dial the PRT if this should turn south. In a fit of paranoia, you cast your senses over to Eurus to check on your dad. Thankfully, he seems to be alone, just filling out paperwork.
"And who exactly is your employer?" you ask.
"A man who's very impressed by what you accomplished last night," he replies. "You should know you're not the only one with ambitions to clean up the city. My employer is just a little more indirect in his methods than you are."
"And yet you won't tell me who he is," you point out.
The man shrugs. "Orders are orders, you know how it is. What I can do is give you this," he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a thumb drive. He hands it to you, and you gingerly take it from him.
"What is this?" you ask.
"Intelligence on the Empire and the ABB: detailed dossiers on their capes, as well as locations of some stash houses and such. My employer is sick of seeing these gangsters and Nazis, these overgrown bullies, preying on the weak and dragging this fair city down with them. He has a plan to curtail the criminal element of the city without triggering a repeat of the Boston Games, and he'd like to enlist your aid to implement that plan."
"The Boston Games?" you ask.
"Ah, see a few years back, Boston managed to get rid of all their supervillains practically overnight. Problem is, nature abhors a vacuum, so it was the most natural thing in the world for other villains to move in and try and carve up the city for themselves. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of collateral damage, and at the end of it Boston was left with even more supervillains than it had had before."
That… makes sense, you're forced to admit, even if it does mean your job of cleaning up the city is going to be even harder than you thought.
"So how are we supposed to get rid of the gangs without something like that happening?" you ask.
The man smiles. "Trust my boss. He's got it all worked out. He's a powerful Thinker, which means schemes like this are his forte."
"And what does he want from me?" you ask.
"Simple, really," he says. "Just do what you were going to do anyway, but with the targets he points you at. Might get a little dangerous from time to time, but what kind of cape are you if you can't handle a little danger?"
Rolling Integrity + Force + 2 stunt dice = 10 dice against difficulty 4 to spot the lies and half-truths in what the man is saying.
Rolled 3 successes, failing the roll. You're buying what he's selling.
That doesn't seem like too much to ask. In fact, if anything, it seems like this mysterious figure is doing you a favor: you lack intelligence on the gangs, you don't know of any targets to strike at, any way to do lasting damage to your enemy. Now it's being handed to you on a silver platter. How could you say no to that?
This nameless merc is attempting to persuade you to coordinate your heroics with his boss. This is a basic persuade, as it largely consists of doing things you were going to do anyway, just on someone else's timetable.
Your resolve is 4 - 3 from your major virtue being exploited, - 3 from your major intimacy of "I hate bullies" being exploited, bringing you down to the minimum of 1 Resolve.
The merc rolls 4 successes on 6 dice, beating your resolve with 3 extra successes. He will use 1 to instill a minor intimacy of Mysterious Benefactor (Trust). He will use his 2 remaining successes to purchase level 2 of persuade, meaning you're willing to work with his employer in ways that may be personally inconvenient or even dangerous.
When an influence attempt against you succeeds, as this one did, you have a few choices: you can let the attempt go through, gaining that intimacy or agreeing to that persuade attempt or whatever, you can refuse it and take a hard bargain instead, or you can refuse it and give the influencer bonus dice on another action in the scene. A hard bargain is basically just something generally bad happening: in this case, Coil will drop the timeline.
Note that attempts to make you abandon your major virtue automatically fail, as do attempts to make you do something suicidal. You need not accept a hard bargain against such an influence.
Lastly, note that these rules apply to your enemies as well as yourself: if you try and talk someone into doing something too out of character, they might accept a hard bargain or give you bonus dice to refuse the influence.
"So what do you say?" he asks. "Willing to work together for the greater good?"
[ ] Accept (You will accept the influence, gaining a minor intimacy of Mysterious Benefactor (Trust) and agreeing to work with the man's employer even when it would be dangerous or inconvenient for you).
[ ] Refuse...
-[] ...via hard bargain (You will take a hard bargain, which will result in Coil choosing a different timeline. This conversation will have retroactively never occurred, and you will lose the intelligence Coil's just gifted to you.)
-[ ] ...via granting bonus dice (You will grant Coil's mercs 3 extra dice on a roll of their choice in the scene)
I am so disappointed in dice. I would understand if it was telltale but just a merc
[X] Refuse...
-[X] ...via hard bargain (You will take a hard bargain, which will result in Coil choosing a different timeline. This conversation will have retroactively never occurred, and you will lose the intelligence Coil's just gifted to you.)
[X] Refuse...
-[X] ...via hard bargain (You will take a hard bargain, which will result in Coil choosing a different timeline. This conversation will have retroactively never occurred, and you will lose the intelligence Coil's just gifted to you.)
Better to lose the intel then get caught up in Coil's schemes because wow did the dice fuck us over here.
That doesn't seem like too much to ask. In fact, if anything, it seems like this mysterious figure is doing you a favor: you lack intelligence on the gangs, you don't know of any targets to strike at, any way to do lasting damage to your enemy. Now it's being handed to you on a silver platter. How could you say no to that?
Seriously Taylor? How do you go from researching and agreeing with Anarchism to this.
Now I really want to pick up that Integrity Excellency ASAP I thought Taylor could handle herself without it but clearly the dice disagree. Alternatively Spirit-Maintaining Maneuver lets you no sell one social action per session.
[X] Refuse...
-[X] ...via hard bargain (You will take a hard bargain, which will result in Coil choosing a different timeline. This conversation will have retroactively never occurred, and you will lose the intelligence Coil's just gifted to you.)
Edit: Actually if we want to really screw over Coil's attempts to play with proxies Motive Discerning Technique gives you access a number of questions you can ask the storyteller for 1 mote each, at 4 integrity (which we have) you get access to extra questions including "Who's really in charge here?"
[X] Accept (You will accept the influence, gaining a minor intimacy of Mysterious Benefactor (Trust) and agreeing to work with the man's employer even when it would be dangerous or inconvenient for you).
So here's the thing, Coil isn't very good at seeming trustworthy long term because you know... he's a snake, made it his suit and everything. If we can see him we we can judge his operations, but if we do not know it's there he can hit us when we are not looking. While it is inconvenient to start off trusting him it isn't the end of the world.
[X] Accept (You will accept the influence, gaining a minor intimacy of Mysterious Benefactor (Trust) and agreeing to work with the man's employer even when it would be dangerous or inconvenient for you).
Seriously Taylor? How do you go from researching and agreeing with Anarchism to this.