Gems in the Wastes (Exalted/Warhammer Fantasy/CK2)

Two; "Every working of Thaumaturgy is a unique and incomprehensible miracle that not even the Gods understand."
Where are you getting this from?
One; You need to learn by being taught by someone else directly, you can't learn from something like a book.
...but you can learn them from other people? Assuming you have the thaumaturge merit.

Three; It's a setting-wide assumption that Thaumaturges know one or two uses of Thaumaturgy, and never learn more because they have no access to people that can teach them.
Except in places like Sijan. Which is called out in the book as a center of occult learning.

You are right it is a bit stinkier than the "magic rituals for mortal essence scientists" of previous editions.

Yeah, one of the issues with 3e Thaumaturgy is that its premises harm the viability of Mortal Thaumaturges, which is a problem with mortal Martial Artists as well. Mortal Sorcerers are at least somewhat usable.
Mortal thaumsturges and martial artists still exist. But the systems for creating them are a lot less... elegant? Involved?

Much like the project system oh hey look at the time.
 
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You might as well use a hasty conversion of the 1E or 2E Thaumaturgy rules, because anything you make will be better than the trash that 3E tried to push.
You are right it is a bit stinkier than the "magic rituals for mortal essence scoentists" of previous editions.
I would just call the old version as an occult role. Why would you have to spend XP to learn how to do a magic ritual if all you need is knowledge? Personally, I would have retired thaumaturgy with a side bar states that it was rolled into occult.

edit 2: Or at least add the side bar.

Where are you getting this from?
Core pg. 490 said:
This means that the instinctive secret or trick developed by one thaumaturgist might be completely unique to him, unseen in the world before his birth, and lost to the world after his death—unless he passes it on.
Edit: "might" is carrying weight here.
 
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In adversaries of the righteous amusingly, they have one lady who studied a manse for a thaumaturgic ritual (and the ritual only works at that Manse). But the rest of them appear to be rituals and traditions passed down.

Evocations of Grandmother
Passive: A non-dissonant wielder who invites Alveua into Creation unbound via sorcerous working suffers no penalties for going beyond the Terrestrial Circle's boundaries (Exalted, p. 488). Grandmother is a sorcerous relic (Exalted, p. 470).

While this is neat.
 
Turn 2 Vote Closes
Well, it's time, and I think we already knew who won. I'll just have to move on to doing the rolls for the actions now. Thank you everyone who voted, let's get this show on the road.
Scheduled vote count started by Critian Caceorte on Jun 7, 2024 at 2:30 PM, finished with 86 posts and 8 votes.

  • [X] Plan Walls, Workings, and Ways of the Enemy
    -[X] You will not stress yourself too much.
    -[X] You will ration your current supplies (-0.5 per turn)
    -[X][Martial][LOCKED] Protecting the Flock 1 (DC 10+)
    --[X] Fight by yourself (-1 Personal Action, Frees up 1 Martial Action)
    --[X] Take Prisoners (Inflicts -20 to roll, but will take up to (Size - 1) prisoners if successful, minimum Size 1).
    -[X][Martial][LOCKED] Protecting the Flock 2 (DC 40+)
    --[X] Bejeweled Eidolon Army (Size 5, Quality 1, Might 1 = +32?)
    --[X] Assign Flaris (Hero, +12, Applies Flaming Weapons)
    -[X][Martial] Raise Earthen Walls (DC 20/30/40)(SORCEROUS)
    --[X] SPECIAL: Nokun (Ramparts of Obedient Earth)(Hero; +20)
    -[X][Diplomacy][LOCKED] Organize the Festival of Funerals (DC 40+)
    -[X][Diplomacy] Raise Spirits (DC 40+)
    -[X][Stewardship] Tent Crafting (DC 20)
    -[X][Stewardship] Draw Freshwater (DC 15/25/35)(SORCEROUS)
    --[X] Assigned Sorcerer: Abioye (Hero; +6)
    --[X] Done once so far (including this time)
    -[X][Intrigue][LOCKED] The Pangu Opening (DC 40/60)(Costs No Action)
    --[X] Assign Fuvor (Hero, +7)
    -[X][Intrigue] Scouting Ahead (Variable)
    --[X] In General (DC 20)
    -[X][Intrigue] Scouting Ahead
    --[X] At the Settlement (DC 30)
    -[X][Piety] On the Fount (No Roll)
    -[X][Piety] Ask the Earth Elementals for help (DC 10+)
    --[X] +20 to Ground Survey
    -[X][Learning] Know Thy Enemy
    --[X] The Point-Ears (DC 40+)
    -[X][Learning] Mobile Lodestone (DC 30/40/50)
    --[X] Assigned Sorcerer: Your Students (Hero; +7; +20 DC for 10/100 Miles)
    -[X][Mining] Ground Survey (DC 60)
    --[X] Assign Rising Dawn (Hero, +11, -10 DC)
    -[X][Mining] Set Up Smitheries (DC 50+)(CONSUMES 1 LUMBER OR STONE)
    -[X][Personal] Summon a Demon! (Variable)
    --[X] Second Circle (DC 60)
    ---[X] Sondok, She-Who-Stands-In-Doorways
 
Alright, rolling time. Let's start with the Martial Actions.

So, our first "warband" is actually a group of human hunting slaves with 2 Dark Elf masters. Evidently, the Elves were leery of just randomly sending in another warband to be slaughtered, and wanted to scout things out a bit more with some expendable units. It's a good thing you're taking prisoners then, and that you yourself were thrown into the ring, because you won't need to worry about coordinating with anyone else.

In this case, there is only the Size 1 group of slaves, and normally they would be Quality 0 due to not being willing military units, but the -1 from the cloaking field has actually pushed them into the negatives (might change this in the future so that there's a minimum, but I didn't think about it when designing these fights so you'll get it anyway.) And with a mostly human group with little-to-no weapons, that's just Might 0. So with Size 1 and Quality -1, that's actually a DC of 0. Still going to roll for it, to see if Sango is wounded from the fight, but I doubt it will be much of a problem. With Gwai's +12 and Sango's own Combat bonus of +16, that's a total of +28, more than enough to push him over the threshold of not being hurt. Well, -20 from taking prisoners as well to just +8, but that's fine.

Roll bonus: 12 (Gwai's Martial) + 16 (Sango's Combat) - 20 (Taking Prisoners) = +8
Result: 37 + 8 = 45, Success! Sango is able to disarm the Dark Elf taskmasters and their slaves, and after seeing how this golden glowing man is invulnerable, the slaves willingly surrendered!

Next is our second warband, which is... well, it's a ship. It's a ship full of Black Ark Corsairs (thankfully without Black Ark in tow). It's a major threat, especially since it can bombard from a distance... just a slight problem. It can't find New Uluiru from a distance. So, they get close to the shore, hoping that will help, and even that doesn't help them. So, they send their units onto land via rowboats, and its on that shore where the Eidolon Army catches them off-guard. You see, your scouts were able to catch a large ship coming close to where your homestead was located, and that gave Gwai the time he needed to build up his army, traveling alongside Flaris to surround this privateers.

The Corsairs are a Size 3 Army of Quality 2 (maybe should have been 1 now that I thought about, but I already determined the stats ahead of time, so oh well), reduced by 1 due to the field to Quality 1. They have Might 1. That means a total of DC 50 to beat.

The Eidolon Army outnumbers them by 2 (+20), and are the same Quality. With Flaris in tow, their Might is increased by 1 to 2, meaning that they have more Might than the elves (+10). With Gwai's bonus (+12) and Flaris' leadership (+12), that adds up to a total of +54, which will be enough to guarantee a victory barring any crit fails.

Roll bonus: 12 (Gwai's Martial) + 12 (Flaris' Martial) + 20 (Outnumber) + 10 (Might) = +54
Result: 8 + 54 = 62, Success! The Eidolon Army take most of the hits, and Flaris only suffers minor injuries, not enough to stop him from being used next turn.

This was supposed to be a difficult fight, and I guess it was. Unfortunately, the galleon decided to turn around when the soldiers it carried died, BUT the rowboats at least are fine! That will help with any water actions close to shore in the future.

And now our third Martial Action with raising the walls. Nokun is being used here because of her charm allowing her to make earthen walls instead of having to rely on Sorcery. Her Martial bonus of +10 combines with the charm bonus of +10 to make +20. Combine that with Gwai's Martial of +12, that becomes +32. (I debated whether non-Sorcerers can provide benefits to Workings, but decided that it would count as "expert advice" and so just kept the bonuses as is. Plus, it would be a jerk move to spring that on you guys without prior warning). That should be enough to guarantee the 2nd threshold, barring any Crit fails.

Roll bonus: 12 (Gwai's Martial) + 10 (Nokun Martial) + 10 (Earthen Wall Bonus) = +32
Result: 65 + 32 = 97, Notable Success on top of making the 3rd threshold! In this case, the walls are likely thick enough to have soldiers patrolling on top of them, giving you a convenient way to spy things from afar. On top of the other benefits that really thick walls provide.
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 1st Martial Action Total: 37
37 37
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 2nd Martial Action Total: 8
8 8
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 3rd Martial Action Total: 65
65 65
 
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Next is our Diplomacy actions. Its the same stuff as last turn, and since they both had bare failures, they both get a +10 bonus this turn. Combine that with Fumnanya's Diplomacy, and that's going to really turn things around, hopefully at least.

First is the Festival of Funerals. We have Fumnanya's +11 with the +10 from last turn. Let's see how this does.

Roll Bonus: 11 (Fumnanya's Diplomacy) + 10 (Bare Failure) = +21
Action DC: 40
Result: 3... With the +2 threshold from last turn's overwork, that's a Critical Fail. Limit Break time! In this case, Fumnanya was so nervous about ensuring that the festival went well that Sango's overprotectiveness kicked into overdrive. He decides to just cancel the event completely to spare her any potential pain or humiliation... the day before it was supposed to happen. With all of the preparations in place, and everyone getting advanced notice beforehand. People are pissed. -1 to Opinion for both the Peasants (3/10 -> 2/10) and Nobles (5/10 -> 4/10). Fumnanya isn't exactly happy that you didn't trust her to handle things either, but not yet enough to affect things with her beyond the Noble opinion loss.

Next, you're going to attempt to cheer people up (which you REALLY need here). Same as above, +21 bonus.

Roll Bonus: 11 (Fumnanya's Diplomacy) + 10 (Bare Failure) = +21
Action DC: 40
Result: 95 + 21 = 126, Notable Success! You managed to make up for the failures of the canceled Festival by having Fumnanya coordinate with the musicians to create one hell of a concert. +1 to both Peasant (2/10 -> 3/10) and Noble (4/10 -> 5/10) opinion, canceling out the failure. This also provides yet more inspiration for future workings and artifacts, a composition "tainted" with sheer joy to contrast the previous sorrow. If you want, you could use this for a working, another artifact in the future OR for a special bonus, you can attempt to combine it with the sorrowful sheet music to create a greater artifact that covers both emotional ranges! It will require a lot of magical materials, including some you won't have access to for a while, but it will be an exemplary work.
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 1st Diplomacy Action Total: 3
3 3
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 2nd Diplomacy Action Total: 95
95 95
 
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You absolutely can. If you had gotten a Crit on that action, I would have given you the galleon as well, but oh well.

Hmm. Actually, looking at it again, the action says it's just building the boats...would that mean we get a free instance of it since we have boats now?

EDIT: And shit, we have a crit fail. Great. Let's hope that's the only one this turn...at least the other Diplomacy action goes well.
 
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Hmm. Actually, looking at it again, the action says it's just building the boats...would that mean we get a free instance of it since we have boats now?
Basically, yeah.

Next up is Stewardship. You're going to be building some temporary shelters in the form of better tents, let's see how that goes. DC 20, with a +12 bonus from Milosen.

Roll Bonus: 12 (Milosen's Stewardship) = +12
DC 20
Result: 5 + 12 = 17, Bare Failure. Since Sango wasn't involved, it's not a Crit Fail. Doesn't work out, but you can try again next turn with a +10. In this case, it's likely that the weavers or whoever was put in charge of this had to experiment with better designs before making a complete decision.

Abioye is going to attempt to draw up some freshwater for people to drink from. She adds her Learning (+6) plus Milosen's Stewardship (+12).

Roll Bonus: 12 (Milosen's Stewardship) + 6 (Abioye's Learning) = 18
DC 15/25/35
Result: 28 + 18 = 46, 3rd Threshold Success! Abioye creates a pool of freshwater which is fed by underground channels which filter out the saltwater from the ocean. Thanks to your ongoing Wyld Cleansing Working, it's also Chaos Taint free!
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 1st Stewardship Action Total: 5
5 5
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 2nd Stewardship Action Total: 28
28 28
 
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Alright, Intrigue time. We have one of our most important (and difficult) actions yet with the Pangu Opening. Let's hope that Fuvor is up to the task of extracting some information from our compromised guard.

Roll Bonus: 13 (Ekundayo's Intrigue) + 7 (Fuvor's Intrigue) = +20
DC 40/60
Result: 27 + 20 = 47, 1st Threshold Success! While you didn't reduce the guard's intimacy to the Heart-Eater, you did manage to make him slip up and admit some information that he shouldn't have said.

2nd is scouting the general area. If you succeed, you'll generally find something, with every interval of 20 above that providing more stuff.

Roll Bonus: 13 (Ekundayo's Intrigue) = +13
DC 20
Result: 74 + 13 = 87, that's a success with 3 additional intervals! You're going to be finding a bunch of stuff... which I now need to come up with. :V

3rd is scouting the settlement. Because it's a guarded area, the DC is going to be higher here at 30, but hopefully that won't be too much to stop you. Again, with every interval of 20 above you get more information.

Roll Bonus: 13 (Ekundayo's Intrigue) = +13
DC 30
Result: 30 + 13 = 43, Success! No threshold stuff unfortunately, so you only find out some basics. Maybe your scouts had to get out early to avoid guards or something.
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 1st Intrigue Action Total: 27
27 27
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 2nd Intrigue Action Total: 74
74 74
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 3rd Intrigue Action Total: 30
30 30
 
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Our first Piety action doesn't require a roll, so I'm going to be skipping that for now. To get the Elemental's help, you're going to need to succeed on a DC 10, because they quite like you at the moment. That may change in the future.

Roll Bonus: 10 (Chinasa's Piety) = +10
DC 10
Result: 57 + 10 = 67, Notable Success! The Earth Elementals have decided to not just survey the ground for you, but they also conjured up some solid stone for your use! +1 Stone for next turn.
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 1st Piety Action Total: 57
57 57
 
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Intrigue was great so far, would have been nice if we could get that guy to like the Heart Eater less, but other than that more information to add to whatever we can get out of the slaves and Dark Elves.
 
At least the fresh water worked out. Since that was dangerous it would have been worse to fail than the tents.

It also necessitated a critical failure to actually fail. With a +18 and a minimum DC of 15...well, actual failure was even more unlikely.

But we have honestly really not been rolling well thus far this turn. Of the first 11 rolls we have made, 7 of them were 50 or below, while 6 of those were 30 or below. That's just...amazingly bad. More than half our rolls are below 30. Nearly 2/3 below 50.

Result: 57 + 10 = 67, Notable Success! The Earth Elementals have decided to not just survey the ground for you, but they also conjured up some solid stone for your use! +1 Stone for next turn.

This, however, is excellent. We can make houses. Or something else, I guess, but I'm thinking houses.
 
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Alright, just Learning, Mining and Personal to go!

For our 1st Learning Action, we're attempting to learn more about those strange knife-ears that we've got imprisoned. Let's see how our 2 students do when working together.

Roll Bonus: 9 (Taiwo's Learning) + 9 (Nkiru's Learning) = +18
DC 40
Result: 75 + 18 = 93, Notable Success! They didn't just learn about their biology, they also managed to pick up some bits and pieces of their language just from overhearing some of the prisoners talking, which will reduce the 1st DC of the Pointed Interrogations action by 20 (DC 40 -> 20). You still don't actually know what the enemy calls themselves without interacting with them though, not yet.

For the 2nd action, your students are going to be working together (all 5, but mostly the 3 who didn't make the cut) on what you have called their graduation project: A mobile lodestone, able to reduce the Wyld's influence in an area up to 1 Mile in size by a fair amount. They are eager to prove themselves to you, but it remains to be seen how well they do.

Roll Bonus: 9 (Taiwo's Learning) + 9 (Nkiru's Learning) + 7 (Student's Learning) = +25
DC 30/40/50
Result: 7 + 25 = 32, 1st Threshold Success. Well, they made it, but there's going to be some complications with it.

First, upkeep. The lodestone is going to need some sort of fuel (I'll need to come up with it later) in order to keep going, or it will sputter out.
Second, weight. This thing is heavy, and will require some serious manpower to transport it wherever you want to take it.

You can of course have them redo this action to try again, but there's going to be an increase in DC for doing so.
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 1st Learning Action Total: 75
75 75
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 2nd Learning Action Total: 7
7 7
 
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Since we have a +10 for tents we should make tents and use the stone for something else.

Such as? We need houses eventually and I'm not thinking of anything else we need the stone for. Like...if it were Wood there are a lot of alternatives. but it isn't (if we could, I'd swap to making the smithies out of the stone and free up the wood, that's probably not viable, though).
 
Such as? We need houses eventually and I'm not thinking of anything else we need the stone for. Like...if it were Wood there are a lot of alternatives. but it isn't (if we could, I'd swap to making the smithies out of the stone and free up the wood, that's probably not viable, though).

Off the top of my head bathhouses to keep Papa Nurgle away, that is going to need stone and not wood.
 
Off the top of my head bathhouses to keep Papa Nurgle away, that is going to need stone and not wood.

Well, the listed option is actually a hospital, but yeah, fair enough we do need one of those eventually as well.

And on the bright side, even a 7 technically succeeds on the Working for the mobile anti-wyld zone. I'm concerned about side effects, though...
 
Mining Actions, let's go. For the ground survey, you're pulling out all of the stops: +20 from the Earth Elementals, Rising Dawn adding a +11 from her combat on top of the -10 DC reduction, and then there's Songbird's +10 from her Combat as well. That adds up to...

Roll Bonus: 10 (Songbird's Combat) + 11 (Rising Dawn's Combat) + 20 (Elemental Assistance) = +41
DC 60 - 10 (Rising Dawn's Timeline Shenanigans) = 50
Result: 70 + 41 = 111, Notable Success! Not only did you find a vein of iron within the purified region of your homestead, you found a good deal of silver as well! That will help you set up a source of currency once that mine gets set up, plus it will help with trading.

Next is our smitheries. Since you'll be getting the stone next turn, it's going to consume your remaining wood instead.

Roll Bonus: 10 (Songbird's Combat) = +10
DC 50
Result: 23 + 10 = 33, Failure. You didn't use up the lumber, but the prepwork is taking longer than expected. Evidently the blacksmiths wanted to make sure their spot in the future city won't interfere with where the future residential district is going to be, or something like that.
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 1st Mining Action Total: 70
70 70
Critian Caceorte threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: 2nd Mining Action Total: 23
23 23
 
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