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Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)

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fitzgerald said:
Question on wild stormdyrads: What can they do against / to the Wyld and Rakasha?

Are they more "kuduzu devour and replace" or "and then they became disney Treants including the weakness against Princesses signing songs"
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Pretty normal for an enlightened Primordial Race against the Wyld. Which is to say, they can fight off or resist small-scale incursions (especially since their themes support them having mental defences and ways of escaping conceptual "chains"), but they're boned against a major attack, a high Enlightenment Raksha, or a wyldstorm and will get mutated by it.
 
Nice! Do the stormdyrads have the typically mortal mote pool of Enlightenment * 10 or do they have a more interesting formula for their mote pool?
 
ManusDomine said:
No, the real difference would come from various levels of Enlightenment - thus meaning that an elder Dragon-Blooded will be starting at 60+ motes minimum, which is equal to the starting amount for a chargen, effectively Essence 1 Solar.
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This is 2e. Exalts start at E2 equivalent, unless they changed that too. So 70+ for Solars.
 
Solaroids start at Enlightenment 6, which is the equivalent of Essence 1 for them, but a chargen Solaroid is Essence 2, which is Enlightenment 7 in this system. They max out at En 10.

Celestials start at En 5 and chargen Celestials are at En 6. They max out at En 9.

Terrestrials start at En 2 and chargen Terrestrials are at En 3. They max out at En 6.
 
So... I had an idea for Keris's eventual Excellency, and several Charms she could create for herself.


First Keris Excellency (hypothetical)

The Eternal Odyssey is the journey and the experiences so gained. She is whimsical and empathetic, quick to form bonds and slow to break them, and frequently accumulates responsibilities to those she meets in passing. She is a thief and a murderer, but seldom acts with malice.

This Charm may enhance any action the Infernal takes when acting without proper forethought. It may also enhance any action taken to evade the legal authorities, or to escape the scene of a crime. Finally, this Charm may enhance any roll the Infernal makes to flagrantly commit a non-violent crime in public, as long as she fully intends to escape the consequences.

However, this Charm may not be used to enhance any action that contravenes her Motivation, as the Eternal Odyssey is her own being first, and none may lay a claim upon her unless she allows it. This Charm may also not be used to enhance any action if the Infernal has channeled or successfully rolled Temperance earlier in the Scene.


Sojourner's Wisdom
Essence 1
Pre: First Keris Excellency
Permanent

Inconvenient failures and unexpected happenings are part and parcel of all creatures' journeys; hence, the Eternal Odyssey offers no guarantee of success. In place of a Second Excellency, Keris grants this useful Charm.

This Charm permanently augments its prerequisite, removing a restriction from it. The Infernal may now enhance her rolls as described in Keris's First Excellency, even during a scene in which she has channeled or successfully rolled Temperance. Additionally, the maximum number of dice the Infernal may add using Excellencies increases by 1.

The Infernal still may not contravene her Motivation using First Keris Excellency, as normal.


Narratively Convenient Amnesia
Essence 2
4m-22m (commit)

The Joyful Wind is


... and this is as far as I got before I lost motivation.

NCA would indefinitely suppress Principles by investing motes according to the rating, with a hard cap of (Enlightenment) dots.
 
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Exhaustion rules
  • Informational
    • Hey look! New mechanics!

    Which weren't written up before now because Keris only ever flares when she has no other choice, so these don't come up much.

    Anima flare and Exhaustion
    This mechanic alters the mote reactor rules in the following way:
    • 1-dot flare: regen 2m/action, caste mark shows. Each scene counts as an scene of strenuous activity.
    • 2-dot flare: regen 4m or 1wp/action, bonfire aura level. Each scene counts as five hours of strenuous activity.
    • 3-dot flare: regen 6m or 1wp/action, totemic banner. Each scene counts as ten hours of strenuous activity.
    Strenuous activity rules are on 2e core pg 130, but are summarised here:
    • Characters can perform continuous heavy exertion for a number of hours equal to their (Endurance + Athletics + relevant Style). Such exertion includes running, swimming, sex or any other athletic activity.
    • For each subsequent hour of activity after that, characters suffer a cumulative one-die internal penalty to all actions from fatigue. Spending a Willpower point negates all fatigue for one action. Channelling a point of Conviction negates fatigue for the next minute.
    • When the fatigue penalty exceeds a character's (Endurance + Athletics), the character passes out and remains unconscious until she has slept for at least one hour (which removes one die of penalty).
      • Every additional hour of sleep or three hours of rest removes another one die until the penalty is removed.
    • Until the penalty is completely gone, the character automatically begins accruing more penalty dice for doing anything strenuous. Characters who are treading water will drown unless they have a buoyant object to keep them afloat while they rest.
    • Particularly extreme conditions of temperature (in either direction) can penalize a character's effective (Endurance + Athletics) total for the purposes of determining resistance to fatigue. Generally, such conditions do not impose a penalty greater than -3.
    Since an anima banner is a character's super-saiyan mode, it should be tiring to maintain. While it renders their metaphysical stamina infinite, their physical stamina is not so unlimited - thus, someone whose body isn't up to the strain can push themselves to level 2 or 3 only if they're willing to immediately faint at the end of the scene. Flaring against a Wyld Hunt is still therefore dangerous - but it's dangerous because of the longer-term exhaustion it brings, and the risks of a dual-Brotherhood Dragonblooded wolfpack. Non-Exalts, naturally, find that their level 1 animas tire them as level 2 are described above.

    For the sake of reference, without Charms such as Nightmare Fugue Vigilance or Running to Forever taken into account:
    • Naan is complete bullshit, with an (Endurance + Athletics) pool of 13. He can keep his bonfire anima flared for a ridiculous five solid scenes in a row, and even sustain two full scenes of totemic mayhem and another of bonfire-level carnage before finally passing out and starting to snore at the end of a fourth scene spent flaring his caste mark. He is of the opinion that Keris lacks stamina. Keris is of the opinion that he should shut his mouth before she shuts it for him.
    • Testolagh has an (Endurance + Athletics) pool of 10. He can keep up a bonfire flare for four scenes or go totemic for two if he's willing to drop at the end of the last one, but he'll have to spend time recovering, since he'll still be flaring - and thus exhausting himself - while unconscious. Which means that he won't even start to recover until he's burned down all the way to nothing, by which point he'll have racked more sleep-debt. Naan, by contrast, basically hits the point of unconsciousness just as he finishes stepping down his anima after two totemic scenes, and will thus be up and limping in an hour.
    • Keris has an (Endurance + Athletics) pool of 8. She can flare at the bonfire level for three scenes, stay upright for another scene after that as it dies down to her caste mark, and will then fall over. Alternatively, she can flare at the totemic level for one scene, let it fade to bonfire level for another, and last out a third at the caste mark level, before collapsing. Should she attempt to flare totemic for two scenes, she will end the second one and then immediately faceplant, still burning, into whatever is directly under her. And stay out for even longer than Testolagh will, and be very hungry upon waking.
    • Sasi has an (Endurance + Athletics) pool of 5. She's actually in better shape than she was before Keris gave her that training in return for sorcery, and the fear of what happened with the Dead means she does keep it up (she can run away faster than many expect for a woman with her build). She could sustain one scene of totemic flare or two of bonfire before fainting if she tried, but in practice she tries to limit herself to one scene of bonfire level flaring and then has a lie down for a couple of hours once her caste mark has faded.
    • A complete wimp who had an (Endurance + Athletics) pool of 2 would be soundly mocked by all the other Exalts. Mostly because he would only be able to sustain four scenes of his caste mark alone, and if he ever went to bonfire or totemic flare at all, he would swoon like a wilting flower as soon as the scene ended. We will refrain from commenting on how soft and fat the Solars of the High First Age had become by the time of the Usurpation - many of them neglecting the hard hours every day that Primordial War veterans spent training in favour of more pleasurable or intellectual pursuits - and how this might have affected them in the sustained high-intensity combat required to escape the trap laid at the Calibration feast.
     
  • Informational
    • So, um, how DOES Running to Forever w/ high-Enlightenment upgrades interact with those rules? Because w/ Running to Forever and Enlightment 8+ Adorjan-style combat (never not dashing) counts as rest. It's clear that they can keep a totemic anima up forever as long as they keep dashing because fatigue penalties are being suppressed, but are they stacking up more suspended penalties from the flare?
     
    This is really good, and definitely addresses an issue I had with the mote reactor hack.

    Also how do various primordial charms which replace/remove sleep interact with this? I know Malfeas has one which straight up removes the need to sleep.
     
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    pheonix89 said:
    So, um, how DOES Running to Forever w/ high-Enlightenment upgrades interact with those rules? Because w/ Running to Forever and Enlightment 8+ Adorjan-style combat (never not dashing) counts as rest. It's clear that they can keep a totemic anima up forever as long as they keep dashing because fatigue penalties are being suppressed, but are they stacking up more suspended penalties from the flare?
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    rogthnor said:
    This is really good, and definitely addresses an issue I had with the mote reactor hack.

    Also how do various primordial charms which replace/remove sleep interact with this? I know Malfeas has one which straight up removes the need to sleep.
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    This is not sleep. This is exhaustion from fatigue. The character does not "fall asleep" - they "pass out".

    Hence, anything which removes the need for sleep will not, by RAW, prevent unconsciousness from this. I would probably be generous and say that a high Essence Infernal with Running to Forever with this Charm sleep-runs, because otherwise they never wake up again as they can't reduce fatigue by resting normally.

    (Also, remember, once you're at the "passing out" stage you're already basically crippled with penalties. At the point when Naan is passing out from exhaustion, he's got a -13 internal penalty to everything. He is literally having to use excellencies and penalty-ignores to do anything at all)
     
    Would having to just completely rest but still be awake be a possible alternative for characters who don't have to/can't sleep at all? I'm reminded of... argh, that scene in Naruto where Kakashi's still awake, but he needs a piggyback ride back to the village because he's completely exhausted his chakra.
     
    EarthScorpion said:
    This is not sleep. This is exhaustion from fatigue. The character does not "fall asleep" - they "pass out".

    Hence, anything which removes the need for sleep will not, by RAW, prevent unconsciousness from this. I would probably be generous and say that a high Essence Infernal with Running to Forever with this Charm sleep-runs, because otherwise they never wake up again as they can't reduce fatigue by resting normally.

    (Also, remember, once you're at the "passing out" stage you're already basically crippled with penalties. At the point when Naan is passing out from exhaustion, he's got a -13 internal penalty to everything. He is literally having to use excellencies and penalty-ignores to do anything at all)
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    I was more wondering about Running To Forever enabling fatigue loss as if from rest/sleep while active. No real interest in Nightmare Fugue Vigilance's interaction.

    And Running to Forever cancels the effect of Fatigue penalties when it's in effect, then upgrades to also making dashing count as rest, then upgrades to Dashing counting as meditation, then as sleep.
     
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    horngeek said:
    Would having to just completely rest but still be awake be a possible alternative for characters who don't have to/can't sleep at all? I'm reminded of... argh, that scene in Naruto where Kakashi's still awake, but he needs a piggyback ride back to the village because he's completely exhausted his chakra.
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    Oh, true, it does go down at a slower rate just by resting by RAW. So, yeah, you're losing one point of fatigue per three hours if you can't sleep.

    pheonix89 said:
    I was more wondering about Running To Forever enabling fatigue loss as if from rest/sleep while active. No real interest in Nightmare Fugue Vigilance's interaction.

    And Running to Forever cancels the effect of Fatigue penalties when it's in effect, then upgrades to also making dashing count as rest, then upgrades to Dashing counting as meditation, then as sleep.
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    I don't care. There is the clear and present intent here that no, setting your soul on fire to respire motes like this is metaphysically exhausting in every way possible, which is why sitting down and meditating while Level 1 flaring is as exhausting as doing a full workout.

    Any effect which would let people flare indefinitely or postpone the penalties of this for more than a scene or so is invalidated by this change. No, Running to Forever cannot be allowed to stop you from suffering massive exhaustion from doing this - or else it becomes a must-buy and imbalances everything in favour of Infernals. Therefore it does not do that.
     
    EarthScorpion said:
    I don't care. There is the clear and present intent here that no, setting your soul on fire to respire motes like this is metaphysically exhausting in every way possible, which is why sitting down and meditating while Level 1 flaring is as exhausting as doing a full workout.

    Any effect which would let people flare indefinitely or postpone the penalties of this for more than a scene or so is invalidated by this change. No, Running to Forever cannot be allowed to stop you from suffering massive exhaustion from doing this - or else it becomes a must-buy and imbalances everything in favour of Infernals. Therefore it does not do that.
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    Ok. Wasn't sure. I had taken "without Charms such as Nightmare Fugue Vigilance or Running to Forever taken into account" to mean that there were quirky interactions where charms like RtF and NFV could increase effective flare time.
     
    pheonix89 said:
    It's clear that they can keep a totemic anima up forever as long as they keep dashing because fatigue penalties are being suppressed, but are they stacking up more suspended penalties from the flare?
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    And if so, is there a high-enlightenment Scourge who's been racking up those penalties and not caring for the past dozen years, and will starve to death before she wakes up if she ever stops dashing?

    edit: ninja'd, but the idea amuses me anyway.
     
    pheonix89 said:
    Ok. Wasn't sure. I had taken "without Charms such as Nightmare Fugue Vigilance or Running to Forever taken into account" to mean that there were quirky interactions where charms like RtF and NFV could increase effective flare time.
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    Oh, no doubt there are by RAW.

    That's why I'm going to have to think how to phrase things to shut them out as a general rule, because there's no way I can be bothered to go through the entire set of all Charmsets and errata everything individually.
     
    EarthScorpion said:
    Oh, no doubt there are by RAW.

    That's why I'm going to have to think how to phrase things to shut them out as a general rule, because there's no way I can be bothered to go through the entire set of all Charmsets and errata everything individually.
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    How about just a flat "The exhaustion caused by flaring cannot be prevented by any charm, nor can the penalty be reduced while the flare is still ongoing. Any interpretation that would allow indefinite flaring or flaring far in excess of that permitted by Athletics + Stamina is incorrect."
     
    Okay, question:
    Aleph said:
    • Characters can perform continuous heavy exertion for a number of hours equal to their (Endurance + Athletics + relevant Style). Such exertion includes running, swimming, sex or any other athletic activity.
    • For each subsequent hour of activity after that, characters suffer a cumulative one-die internal penalty to all actions from fatigue. Spending a Willpower point negates all fatigue for one action and reduces total fatigue by one. Channelling a point of Conviction negates fatigue for the next minute and reduces fatigue by a character's Conviction.
    • When the fatigue penalty exceeds a character's (Endurance + Athletics), the character passes out and remains unconscious until she has slept for at least one hour (which removes one die of penalty).
      • Every additional hour of sleep or three hours of rest removes another one die until the penalty is removed.
    • Until the penalty is completely gone, the character automatically begins accruing more penalty dice for doing anything strenuous. Characters who are treading water will drown unless they have a buoyant object to keep them afloat while they rest.
    • Particularly extreme conditions of temperature (in either direction) can penalize a character's effective (Endurance + Athletics) total for the purposes of determining resistance to fatigue. Generally, such conditions do not impose a penalty greater than -3.
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    Doesn't this mean you can just sit at a level 2 flare and spend five willpower an hour to keep your penalty down at 0, since at that level you recover willpower like mad anyway? Or have you changed the willpower regen part of the hack? I know it originally let you get 2 wp/action if you didn't care about the motes, but I'm not sure if that's still the case.

    pheonix89 said:
    How about just a flat "The exhaustion caused by flaring cannot be prevented by any charm, nor can the penalty be reduced while the flare is still ongoing. Any interpretation that would allow indefinite flaring or flaring far in excess of that permitted by Athletics + Stamina is incorrect."
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    As a rule, declaring rules interpretations to be incorrect without defining what the correct interpretation is is bad game design.
     
    EarthScorpion said:
    This is not sleep. This is exhaustion from fatigue. The character does not "fall asleep" - they "pass out".

    Hence, anything which removes the need for sleep will not, by RAW, prevent unconsciousness from this. I would probably be generous and say that a high Essence Infernal with Running to Forever with this Charm sleep-runs, because otherwise they never wake up again as they can't reduce fatigue by resting normally.

    (Also, remember, once you're at the "passing out" stage you're already basically crippled with penalties. At the point when Naan is passing out from exhaustion, he's got a -13 internal penalty to everything. He is literally having to use excellencies and penalty-ignores to do anything at all)
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    Makes sense.
     
    EarthScorpion said:
    Oh, no doubt there are by RAW.

    That's why I'm going to have to think how to phrase things to shut them out as a general rule, because there's no way I can be bothered to go through the entire set of all Charmsets and errata everything individually.
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    Maybe a rule that, as a special cost on effects that would negate or ignore Anima Flare exhaustion, characters must pay [penalty] health levels of bashing damage at the end of the scene? I'd imagine that would get across "Anima Flare is risky and always has a cost," and making the damage part of the activation cost of the charm should make it hard to negate?

    Edit: how does this interact with particularly long scenes? Say my Jade Caste decides to fix a supply issue by spending the hours until the transit system is fixed hauling literal tons of metal from a depot to a factory, while flaring Totemic and spamming all the strength and speed boosters for MAXIMUM HERO OF THE PROLETARIAT.
     
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