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General Exalted Thread

Reader mode
I've been trying to get a grasp on 3e and Exalted in general for a few months, so like a fool I decided it'd be a great idea to venture into the terrifying world of homebrew. I was reading through 2e and the Fair Folk caught my eye, and it sort of devolved into me trying to adapt some of their charms into 3e without requiring a bunch of Backgrounds/Merits to power them. I'm basically stripping the whole system of shaping combat, explicit uses of the Graces, and anything it doesn't really need.

It's not that I don't enjoy or understand shaping combat, it's just that it doesn't mesh well with the already-existing system of play. Players shouldn't need to learn a whole new system to fight or play a splat. So I've been basically taking away gossamer-as-a-resource, replaced most charms that require it with willpower (some of those effects are very powerful), and generally moved around a lot of things.

I'd like to say I've made progress but honestly I'm not really confident on the raksha themselves. I am, however, slightly more confident on how I've adapted Laughing Monster Style into a martial art, so I'd like to ask feedback on it. I have no clue just how balanced this is. I just kinda eyed it and compared it to existing 3e styles. I'm sure a lot of the charms are too weak or too strong, too expensive or too cheap, or too limiting in some ways, so please don't hesitate to be harsh or give suggestions on how to fix it.

Laughing Monster Style is an alien martial art occasionally used by the Fair Folk, who ride into Creation from the Wyld. Perhaps the style is just a 'natural' imitation of some of the rakshas' behaviors and narratives, developed by some lost savant. Or perhaps, even the bizarre denizens of the lands beyond Creation found it in themselves to learn the discipline of martial arts and for whatever reason created their own; the truth of the matter is unknown, and probably beyond the boundaries of this world.

The Laughing Monster is a demonic child ruled by impetuosity and wicked humor, a merry prankster who takes inordinate joy in the humiliation of his rivals. The Laughing Monster mocks the idea of society, and those who follow this path abandon all pretense of diplomatic solutions. A martial artist who plays the role of the Laughing Monster adopts the persona of a childish and rude trickster. Many, however, take pleasure in using this style to mock cruel dictators and humble the proud and haughty.

Laughing Monster Weapons: Laughing Monster style utilizes unarmed attacks, staffs, swords and spears. Laughing Monster utilizes elegant, sweeping movements meant to draw the opponent's attention and cut through stalwart defenses. Any unarmed strike or staff attack enhanced by a Laughing Monster charm can be always stunted to deal lethal damage.

Armor: Laughing Monster Style is compatible with medium armor.

Complementary abilities: Most Laughing Monster stylists have at least some expertise with Socialize, to mock and trick their opponents with, and many charms of the Style benefit from understanding and exploiting the motivations of its opponents.


Furiously Stalling Destiny
Cost: 3m; Mins: Laughing Monster Style 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Counterattack, Withering-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Laughing Monster turns every attack back against his attackers, mocking their every effort. This charm may be used either after the stylist has been targeted by a withering attack, or after someone has attempted to influence him socially in combat. In the former case, the martial artist may attempt a normal withering counterattack. In the latter case, the martial artist may roll (Charisma + Socialize) to inspire her target with an emotion related to anger, frustration, or distraction.
Either way, if successful, the opponent faces a -1 penalty to attempting to attack or socially influence the stylist for the rest of the fight. The penalty imposed by this charm is cumulative, up to a rating of the user's Essence.


Deeper into Trouble Technique
Cost: 3m; Mins: Laughing Monster Style 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Furiously Stalling Destiny

The Laughing Monster's tomfoolery drives her enemies to distraction and rage. Deeper into Trouble Technique supplements a physical attack or an attempt at inspiring an emotion related to anger or distraction. If successful, the Laughing Monster's mien is so infuriating, that those affected must pay 1 wp to target anyone other than her with their attacks or attempts at social influence for the rest of the fight. Affected enemies may still choose to attack other targets if the stylist is considerably out of reach or nowhere within sight.


Laughing Monster Form
Cost: 6m; Mins: Laughing Monster 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charm: Deeper Into Trouble Technique

The martial artist infuses her body with the Essence of the dweller in the between, the laughing monster that twists oaths and intentions against their holders. Upon successfully defending against a physical attack or an attempt at socially influencing the martial artist in combat, the stylist may attempt to redirect the attack or social influence to a viable target by spending 1 wp. If successful, attacker must roll against the new target's Defense or Resolve, as if normally attempting an attack on them. An appropriate stunt may be necessary to explain how the stylist redirects ranged attacks or specific attempts at social influence. In the latter case, some raksha stylists recommend saying uncouth things about someone's heritage.


Inauspicious Moment for Attack
Cost: 2m per target; Mins: Laughing Monster 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords:
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Laughing Monster Form

With the arts of distraction and omen, the laughing monster slows the enemy's advance. This charm may only be used at the beginning of a battle; the martial artist spends two motes per target to be affected, and then rolls Charisma+Martial Arts. Each opponent whose Join Battle roll produces less successes than the result of this roll is rendered unable to target her with an attack for (Essence) turns, or until they have been attacked by her.


Subtle Hammer
Cost: -; Mins: Laughing Monster 5, Essence 3
Type: -
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charm: Inauspicious Moment for Attack

The Laughing Monster's intentions cannot be divined. Even when he openly tells his adversaries what he plans to do, few have the wit to see through the misdirection. Unless supported by Charms, any attempt to read his intentions automatically fails.
At Essence 4+, the martial artist automatically knows when someone fails to read his intentions, and may cause the attempt to instead 'reveal' any other motivation he desires. It costs 1 wp to see through this deception.

Terrestrial: It costs a Dragon-Blooded 1 wp to attempt to 'reveal' any other motivation he desires after someone attempts to read his intentions.


Thieves Fall Out
Cost: 5m; Mins: Laughing Monster 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charm: Laughing Monster Form

Before the Laughing Monster's trickery, alliances fail and bonds of friendship shatter. The martial artist targets two targets within short range, and through a mix of anticipating his enemies' movements and manipulating his own, as long as the targets are within close range of each other, they will suffer a -2 penalty to all combat and movement rolls. This technique cannot manipulate a battle group to enter in conflict with itself, but it can cause friction between it and their commander, as long as they are distinguishably different targets.

Mastery: The targets instead suffer the penalty as long as they are within short range of each other.


Poisoned Whispers
Cost: 8m, 1 wp; Mins: Laughing Monster 5, Essence 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Psyche
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Thieves Fall Out

Lies and dissimulation permit the Laughing Monster to turn his enemies against one another. Like a demented child, he exults in their discord. This Charm supplements an instill attempt to weaken one of the target's Intimacies. If successful, the martial artist is able to immediately invert a positive Intimacy into a negative one with a connotation of her choice, or viceversa. This effect requires 2 wp to resist.


Unitary Being Forge
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Laughing Monster 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Psyche, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Laughing Monster Form

The Laughing Monster is ever ready for awkward silences and social faux pas and can seize upon such moments to humiliate his rivals and heap scorn upon them. This charm inflicts an unnatural illusion on any pairs of characters within short range of the martial artist who have mutual negative Intimacies towards one another, causing them to believe the object of their Intimacy has just uttered a deadly insult toward them. It takes 2 wp to see past this illusionary effect.
Some raksha use this Charm to map unfamiliar social environments in which they find themselves; others find it an amusing way to pass a slow afternoon.

Mastery: The range of the illusion effect is instead out to medium range of the martial artist.


Shuffling the Pieces
Cost: 3m; Mins: Laughing Monster 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Terrestrial
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Unitary Being Forge

Never predictable, let alone boring, the Laughing Monster always strikes in a manner that defies expectation. After successfully incapacitating or killing an opponent and resetting her Initiative, the martial artist may roll Charisma+Martial Arts. For each success, the martial artist gains 1 Initiative, to a max of (Essence + extra damage that was not needed to incapacitate or kill the opponent) Initiative. The stylist may also use this charm after emptying the Magnitude track of a Battle Group, but in such a case, the initiative they may gain is limited to a max of (Essence). The stylist may choose to not gain any Initiative herself and instead spread the gained Initiative among her allies, if any.
This charm may only be used once per scene.

Terrestrial: Unless she finds herself alone, a Dragon-Blooded stylist may only choose to spread gained Initiative with her allies.


Dancing Wind Monster Transformation
Cost: 10m, 2wp; Mins: Laughing Monster 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charm: Shuffling the Pieces, Subtle Hammer, Poisoned Whisper

The Laughing Monster is a creature of divisions, who enters or leaves the story at his own pace. He fades away, leaving only the sound of his mocking laughter and the enraged bellows of his beaten foes, or he appears unexpected, astonishing his impromptu hosts.
This charm may be used to escape any confined space in which the martial artist finds himself in, depositing him just outside such boundaries, but only if such a space poses danger to the martial artist (such as a large prison full of angry inmates looking to tear the martial artist apart, a clock tower full of monsters, or even a sealed coffin underneath the earth in which the martial artist has been buried alive). This charm may alternately be used to enter inside one such nearby confined space, but only as long as there is something within that poses danger to the martial artist (such as a Solar tomb, a sealed city which a government has declared a quarantined area, or even the inside of the Imperial Manse1​).
In either case, the charm will never immediately kill or injure the martial artist for using it - if the nearest exist to a high tower is an open window on the seventh floor of a tower, he will appear outside of the front door on the bottom floor. If he is entering the secret volcano lair of a local god, he will not suddenly appear in a pit of lava. However, the Charm does not account for any guards or traps nearby that might feel hostile towards him. The narrative of the Laughing Monster leaves the rest of the stylist's escape or infiltration up to his own cleverness and skill.
This Charm may only be used once per story, but may be reset when the martial artist goes out of his way to get himself into or out of trouble, after spending a considerable amount of time trying to do the opposite.

Mastery: The martial artist may take along (Essence) other consenting characters with him into or out of trouble.

1​ It would be worth noting that such an attempt at entering such highly-protected locations is likely to backfire, but if a stylist has progressed enough in this style to achieve this technique, they probably don't care about common sense or their own self-preservation that much.
 
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Accelerator said:
For those of you who actually participate in games, have any players actually tried to grow their own, say, materials for artifact crafting?

There were several exotic materials in the codex that came from living creatures. And I was wondering if, say, anyone had tried to use craft (genesis) to make their own exotic materials.
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I'm assuming you're taking about making up ingredients for whatever artifact the character wants to make.

Honestly, didn't really do that much, both because they opportunity never came up before the game group moved on, and because of the sheer number of ingredients you would need to create some of the higher powered artifacts. To make five dot artifact, you would need 5*4*3*2*1=120 individual ingredients by my count.

Still, it was fun to cook up a few exotic ingredients, even if they didn't see much use in game. Here are a couple.

Crystal Trees/Living Gems:
These rare specimens could only be found in the most powerful and carefully crafted Earth or Wood Manses, where the living essence of wood was carefully merged with the lifeless solidity of Earth. Priceless gems and jade were planted in the fertile ground, and over the course of decades would grow into beautiful foliage. White Jade trees grew, protected by garnet bark, absorbed the light of the sun with emerald leaves, and displayed blossoms of ruby and sapphire, before bearing diamond fruit. These fruits perfectly balanced the conflicting yet harmonious natures of Earth and Wood, making them excellent ingredients for artifacts focused on either aspects.


Distilled Silence:
One of the most potent ingredients available in he First Age, and still gathered by brave and foolhardy Dragon Blooded in the Age of Sorrows, distilled silence is created through a two fold process.

First, one must locate a place of silence. The silence need not be long, but it must be absolute. The artificer must bind the least god of the silence into a physical form, merging the divinity with the mundane so they two become one in spirit as well as form. While tedious, delicate, and time consuming, this is by far the easier part of the process. Called Material Silence, many stop at this point and use them in one or two dot artifacts suited for stealth.

For those wanting something more powerful, they must take the material to the Demon Realm of Malfeas, where they must trail in the wake of Ajoran for hours or days, so that their Silence can truly know what defines it. Many of them wither away, much as a flower does in the shadow of the mightiest oak, but some survive the process by taking the barest fragments of the Silent Wind's nature, becoming something both divine and infernal, worthy of being the crowning ingredient in the perfect assassin, or a blade capable of killing an entire court while it sleeps.
 
Bugs said:
[Exalted] Heretical Charms!!


Found something for y'all.

Also, I've been wondering, could anybody show me the text of Spirit of the Living World?
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I wouldn't allow a single one of those Charms to be used at my table. They're all shit.

Hatching Wisdom's Egg is cap-breaking bullshit if optimised for, and a waste of a charm if not optimised for.
Incubating the Future Self is a waste of a charm purchase given you're throwing 9XP down the drain.
Invitation of the Whispering Choir builds off the stupid prereqs of the canon 3CD stuff, and is bad thematically on top of that.
Son Slays the Father is fucking awful in every way possible, and also only of use to female characters because if a male character buys it it'll make the kids want to kill you. Did I mention it's badly written? It's very badly written.

The text for Spirit of the Living World can be found in the Broken Winged Crane.
 
Bugs said:
[Exalted] Heretical Charms!!
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(...)
For every dot of Past Life that the Infernal had, one requirement may be ignored for Essence or a Charm. For Essence, this is the age cap. For Charms this may be a single minimum or a prerequisite Charm. The Charm can be used even without this prerequisite being met, though it cannot serve as a prerequisite Charm until the Infernal actually meets the requirements.
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That is how not to write a charm. I read it three times and I am still not sure what that does, exactly.

And that part:
Upon reaching age of maturity, the character gains an Urge to ruin the father and a limit track (if not already possessed). The son must seek to fulfill the damned destiny of destroying his father. If he does so, any Exaltation or other unique but duplicated quality of the father passes into the son. (...)
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... is just stupid and contrary to setting lore in every shape and form.

In general, 0/10 for all of those charms.
 
EarthScorpion said:
Son Slays the Father is fucking awful in every way possible, and also only of use to female characters because if a male character buys it it'll make the kids want to kill you. Did I mention it's badly written? It's very badly written.
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My favourite part about it is how you have to wait around 18 years and nine months to have another person kill a dude you have been close enough to have sex with, like you've had a million opportunities to kill this single dude but no, it's important to have your son kill him for you.

Very important.
 
ManusDomine said:
My favourite part about it is how you have to wait around 18 years and nine months to have another person kill a dude you have been close enough to have sex with, like you've had a million opportunities to kill this single dude but no, it's important to have your son kill him for you.

Very important.
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Oh, no, see, the stupidity of the writer goes beyond that.

"The being thus conceived will, by age of maturity (as per what sort of being the father is) have traits as a Black Mirror Shintai double."

Yeah. You know what is included in Traits? Permanent Essence. Charms. Abilities. Attributes.

This lets your E4 Infernal produce faux-Exaltations that auto-level the child up to the level of the father in 18 years. Oh, but wait, maybe you don't want a faux-Exaltation. Maybe you'd rather give birth to a MP Primordial. Sleep with Adorjan, get a Black Mirror Shintai child who longs to "make everything hear her noise". Or maybe you're just going for a Dark Sun or Dark Moon.

And the author did that deliberately. It's not just sloppiness in the wording. As per the comment below, "As a plot device, I'd let the sons keep Charms of their father after countermagic is applied, but not learn more.". It is by design that this child gets all the Charms of their father.
 
Parabola said:
I'd like to say I've made progress but honestly I'm not really confident on the raksha themselves. I am, however, slightly more confident on how I've adapted Laughing Monster Style into a martial art, so I'd like to ask feedback on it. I have no clue just how balanced this is. I just kinda eyed it and compared it to existing 3e styles. I'm sure a lot of the charms are too weak or too strong, too expensive or too cheap, or too limiting in some ways, so please don't hesitate to be harsh or give suggestions on how to fix it.
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So first off, thanks for putting so much work into this! Homebrew can be a bit of a terrifying thing sometimes. I've got a few thoughts about it if you're interested.

Furiously Stalling Destiny: My gut instinct says to be careful with the costing on this one. The only other sources of withering counterattacks in the core are Flashing Edge of Dawn and Crane Form (ignoring the pseudo-counterattacks of Torn Lotus Defense), both of which are slightly more restrictive than this; Flashing Edge of Dawn costs Willpower, while Crane Form awards counterattacks only if you're in full defense or are defending your ward.

A little more broadly, I'm curious why you're making use of the Socialize pool here. Inspire actions are usually Performance, and thematically the style focuses a lot on tearing down societal structures. I can definitely imagine cases where you'd use it as opposed to another social ability, but I think if you don't feel it weakens the themes of the style too much you might be better served broadening it to (Charisma + [relevant Social Ability]).

Deeper into Trouble Technique: It might go without saying, but the effects of your taunt should probably also be waived if you're incapacitated. I might also throw in the restriction that if you buy off the effects, you're immune for the rest of the scene; it's not too difficult to grind down someone's Willpower like this. If you did that, I'd also throw in a small benefit for the martial artist so that it doesn't feel like you locked yourself out of using one of the entry Charms to no major benefit; something along the lines of causing the target to lose a little Initiative as they have to restrain themselves from giving in to your mockery wouldn't be out of place.

Laughing Monster Form: This feels a little out of place as a Form Charm to me. Every other example we have of one provides strong passive benefits whose costs are paid for up front by the activation time and commitment - Snake Form boosts your soak and penalizes attackers; Nightingale Form ups your Evasion, kiai damage, and awards you Initiative when someone buys off your influence rolls; etc. Here, you're paying for the option to pay Willpower again later. This might be better served as a separate Reflexive Charm with a Willpower cost.

It's also worth noting that most Forms have a special activation rule, which this one doesn't. (Not quite all of them; Steel Devil only has one on the capstone Charm, and then only if you have Mastery, but it has three separate Forms anyway.) As for the redirected attack/influence roll, I'd probably tighten it up so you're either using the attacker's original result (the less powerful version) or rerolling with the same Charms in effect (the more powerful version). You allude to it in the text, but it may be worth noting that some social influence might automatically fail if it's targeting Intimacies the new victim doesn't have - making sly allusions to Intimacies you know of that could work instead sounds like the purview of a stunt.

Inauspicious Moment for Attack: I'd clarify you can only use this on opponents you're aware of, which I suspect is already the intent. Depending on how granular you want it to be, you could sidestep the inevitable question of battle groups by treating them as a single combatant. I do like this as a way to have a few rounds of posturing or dramatic preparation beforehand, although I'd want to test it to see how this actually pans out in play - being able to delay the fight's start to your terms is very powerful, and I might have it target Resolve instead of the Join Battle roll if that seemed like a better compromise.

Subtle Hammer: I'm...somewhat leery of putting this effect down as a permanent upgrade. Even if you can technically bypass it with a single mote's worth of Excellency, it feels like a weird place and use of it. (For reference, the only other Charm in the core martial arts with the Permanent keyword that isn't upgrading a prerequisite is Nightingale Style's kiai charm.) I might shift this effect to the Form Charm, and change it so that it penalizes read intentions rolls by some amount (which is a little more broadly useful and gives you some room to play with the power: Your Essence? Your Charisma? A flat 3?), plus some other effects (which would be a good place to drop the misdirection part of the Charm as well).

Thieves Fall Out: This feels pretty narrowly applicable, considering it's 5 motes and a combat action. I understand the intended use is to drop this during the free time you earn with Inauspicious Moment of Attack, then build on that penalty with Furiously Stalling Destiny to drive things toward a slow, inexorable conclusion, but it's very situational. The flavor and name of this seems like it might fit better with what Laughing Monster Form currently is, really - an expensive-ish way to redirect attacks and social influence toward other valid targets (which I'd price by comparing it to Drifting Shadow Focus).

Poisoned Whispers: Hm. It's certainly an expensive effect, as it should be, and in order to flip an Intimacy you need a sufficiently strong existing Intimacy that supports it. I'd say this is probably okay. I might tweak it somewhat - by default, I'd say the effects last for the current scene and cost two Willpower to resist (possibly one with the Terrestrial keyword, which is what it would normally cost to prevent a Major or Defining Intimacy from being degraded), and possibly with the Mastery keyword if you don't buy the influence off immediately, it lasts until you're reminded of the Intimacy's original context and pay (the martial artist's Essence) Willpower, in separate installments if need be.

Unitary Being Forge: So the intended use of this one is that you can walk into a crowd and drop it to start a lot of infighting? It's a neat idea, but I don't particularly care for the fact that, as it stands, you get no roll or chance to apply Resolve to see through it; it's two Willpower or bust, and the consequences for not buying in are also fairly situational. I'm not sure how I'd go about rewriting this one if I were to tweak it - maybe you roll (Charisma + [a Social Ability]) and for the rest of the scene you can treat anyone who witnessed your display whose Resolve you beat as though they had a Minor Tie with a negative context (either chosen by you or by them, depending) toward some other nearby party? There's all kinds of stuff you can do with that; for one, it gives you the justification to tag them with Poisoned Whispers and flip a positive Major Tie for someone into a negative Major Tie, and if you've beaten their Resolve twice, the second time going up against a strong Intimacy, that seems like a more reasonable foothold for talking people into turning on their allies in some fashion.

Shuffling the Pieces: Considering how heavy on social influence the rest of this style has been, having a Charm that activates only when you've killed or incapacitated someone seems a bit abrupt, suddenly, but in fairness we did start off with a counterattack Charm. Compare this to Striving Aftershock Method in Brawl - 2m for 2i on resetting to base after any decisive versus 3m for an expected [(Charisma + Martial Arts) / 2] Initiative after killing an opponent, which you can spread around to your allies or keep yourself. The comparison's not straightforward - Striving Aftershock Method is usable more frequently and generally, I'll grant, but this is a very good effect considering one of the things that makes decisive attacks risky is the period of vulnerability immediately after you've made one and are hovering at base Initiative again. Maybe too good? I couldn't say without testing it out, though I will say that no matter what, you should make it clear the roll can't be enhanced by magic. Otherwise, you're just allowing them to Join Battle immediately after the decisive attack with what's likely one of their better Attribute+Ability pools.

Dancing Wind Monster Transformation: If only to bring it in line with other get-out-of-combat-free effects (like Travel Without Distance or the Twilight anima), I'd suggest putting the Perilous keyword on this one and maybe giving it a windup time, such that if you're Crashed before your next action, it fizzles. Otherwise it's going to be even more maddening to bring down someone using this style between the attack penalties inflicted by your counterattacks, the medium form weapons, and the medium armor (which, just so you're aware, means a sorcerer can practice the style with Invulnerable Skin of Bronze up). Maybe that's what you're going for! But for my money, it would be very frustrating to knock someone into Crash and have them completely on the ropes, only for them to wink out of the scene without the dice ever touching the table. (As a small side note, the Mastery effect wants you to limit how far away from the martial artist the people you bring along can be - I'd suggest within short range.)
 
Bozwevial said:
So first off, thanks for putting so much work into this! Homebrew can be a bit of a terrifying thing sometimes. I've got a few thoughts about it if you're interested.

Furiously Stalling Destiny: My gut instinct says to be careful with the costing on this one. The only other sources of withering counterattacks in the core are Flashing Edge of Dawn and Crane Form (ignoring the pseudo-counterattacks of Torn Lotus Defense), both of which are slightly more restrictive than this; Flashing Edge of Dawn costs Willpower, while Crane Form awards counterattacks only if you're in full defense or are defending your ward.

A little more broadly, I'm curious why you're making use of the Socialize pool here. Inspire actions are usually Performance, and thematically the style focuses a lot on tearing down societal structures. I can definitely imagine cases where you'd use it as opposed to another social ability, but I think if you don't feel it weakens the themes of the style too much you might be better served broadening it to (Charisma + [relevant Social Ability]).

Deeper into Trouble Technique: It might go without saying, but the effects of your taunt should probably also be waived if you're incapacitated. I might also throw in the restriction that if you buy off the effects, you're immune for the rest of the scene; it's not too difficult to grind down someone's Willpower like this. If you did that, I'd also throw in a small benefit for the martial artist so that it doesn't feel like you locked yourself out of using one of the entry Charms to no major benefit; something along the lines of causing the target to lose a little Initiative as they have to restrain themselves from giving in to your mockery wouldn't be out of place.

Laughing Monster Form: This feels a little out of place as a Form Charm to me. Every other example we have of one provides strong passive benefits whose costs are paid for up front by the activation time and commitment - Snake Form boosts your soak and penalizes attackers; Nightingale Form ups your Evasion, kiai damage, and awards you Initiative when someone buys off your influence rolls; etc. Here, you're paying for the option to pay Willpower again later. This might be better served as a separate Reflexive Charm with a Willpower cost.

It's also worth noting that most Forms have a special activation rule, which this one doesn't. (Not quite all of them; Steel Devil only has one on the capstone Charm, and then only if you have Mastery, but it has three separate Forms anyway.) As for the redirected attack/influence roll, I'd probably tighten it up so you're either using the attacker's original result (the less powerful version) or rerolling with the same Charms in effect (the more powerful version). You allude to it in the text, but it may be worth noting that some social influence might automatically fail if it's targeting Intimacies the new victim doesn't have - making sly allusions to Intimacies you know of that could work instead sounds like the purview of a stunt.

Inauspicious Moment for Attack: I'd clarify you can only use this on opponents you're aware of, which I suspect is already the intent. Depending on how granular you want it to be, you could sidestep the inevitable question of battle groups by treating them as a single combatant. I do like this as a way to have a few rounds of posturing or dramatic preparation beforehand, although I'd want to test it to see how this actually pans out in play - being able to delay the fight's start to your terms is very powerful, and I might have it target Resolve instead of the Join Battle roll if that seemed like a better compromise.

Subtle Hammer: I'm...somewhat leery of putting this effect down as a permanent upgrade. Even if you can technically bypass it with a single mote's worth of Excellency, it feels like a weird place and use of it. (For reference, the only other Charm in the core martial arts with the Permanent keyword that isn't upgrading a prerequisite is Nightingale Style's kiai charm.) I might shift this effect to the Form Charm, and change it so that it penalizes read intentions rolls by some amount (which is a little more broadly useful and gives you some room to play with the power: Your Essence? Your Charisma? A flat 3?), plus some other effects (which would be a good place to drop the misdirection part of the Charm as well).

Thieves Fall Out: This feels pretty narrowly applicable, considering it's 5 motes and a combat action. I understand the intended use is to drop this during the free time you earn with Inauspicious Moment of Attack, then build on that penalty with Furiously Stalling Destiny to drive things toward a slow, inexorable conclusion, but it's very situational. The flavor and name of this seems like it might fit better with what Laughing Monster Form currently is, really - an expensive-ish way to redirect attacks and social influence toward other valid targets (which I'd price by comparing it to Drifting Shadow Focus).

Poisoned Whispers: Hm. It's certainly an expensive effect, as it should be, and in order to flip an Intimacy you need a sufficiently strong existing Intimacy that supports it. I'd say this is probably okay. I might tweak it somewhat - by default, I'd say the effects last for the current scene and cost two Willpower to resist (possibly one with the Terrestrial keyword, which is what it would normally cost to prevent a Major or Defining Intimacy from being degraded), and possibly with the Mastery keyword if you don't buy the influence off immediately, it lasts until you're reminded of the Intimacy's original context and pay (the martial artist's Essence) Willpower, in separate installments if need be.

Unitary Being Forge: So the intended use of this one is that you can walk into a crowd and drop it to start a lot of infighting? It's a neat idea, but I don't particularly care for the fact that, as it stands, you get no roll or chance to apply Resolve to see through it; it's two Willpower or bust, and the consequences for not buying in are also fairly situational. I'm not sure how I'd go about rewriting this one if I were to tweak it - maybe you roll (Charisma + [a Social Ability]) and for the rest of the scene you can treat anyone who witnessed your display whose Resolve you beat as though they had a Minor Tie with a negative context (either chosen by you or by them, depending) toward some other nearby party? There's all kinds of stuff you can do with that; for one, it gives you the justification to tag them with Poisoned Whispers and flip a positive Major Tie for someone into a negative Major Tie, and if you've beaten their Resolve twice, the second time going up against a strong Intimacy, that seems like a more reasonable foothold for talking people into turning on their allies in some fashion.

Shuffling the Pieces: Considering how heavy on social influence the rest of this style has been, having a Charm that activates only when you've killed or incapacitated someone seems a bit abrupt, suddenly, but in fairness we did start off with a counterattack Charm. Compare this to Striving Aftershock Method in Brawl - 2m for 2i on resetting to base after any decisive versus 3m for an expected [(Charisma + Martial Arts) / 2] Initiative after killing an opponent, which you can spread around to your allies or keep yourself. The comparison's not straightforward - Striving Aftershock Method is usable more frequently and generally, I'll grant, but this is a very good effect considering one of the things that makes decisive attacks risky is the period of vulnerability immediately after you've made one and are hovering at base Initiative again. Maybe too good? I couldn't say without testing it out, though I will say that no matter what, you should make it clear the roll can't be enhanced by magic. Otherwise, you're just allowing them to Join Battle immediately after the decisive attack with what's likely one of their better Attribute+Ability pools.

Dancing Wind Monster Transformation: If only to bring it in line with other get-out-of-combat-free effects (like Travel Without Distance or the Twilight anima), I'd suggest putting the Perilous keyword on this one and maybe giving it a windup time, such that if you're Crashed before your next action, it fizzles. Otherwise it's going to be even more maddening to bring down someone using this style between the attack penalties inflicted by your counterattacks, the medium form weapons, and the medium armor (which, just so you're aware, means a sorcerer can practice the style with Invulnerable Skin of Bronze up). Maybe that's what you're going for! But for my money, it would be very frustrating to knock someone into Crash and have them completely on the ropes, only for them to wink out of the scene without the dice ever touching the table. (As a small side note, the Mastery effect wants you to limit how far away from the martial artist the people you bring along can be - I'd suggest within short range.)
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Thank you for your kind response!

The reason I emphasized Socialize was mostly because I think that to tear down society, you need to understand it to a degree. The raksha shaping stances are about becoming the opposite of what the associated Graces suggest. Laughing Monster is supposed to enhance Staff-shaping, and the Staff is representative of Conviction and being a diplomat and general social guy. So naturally you become someone who shuns society while wielding its tools. That said, yeah, I'll amend it so Performance is also an encouraged option. I'm also vaguely considering changing the style to be only compatible with light armor. Tricksters are usually more nimble and dodgy than they are resilient.

I'm going to generally follow your advise, but I'll note some things about particular charms.

I'm thinking of changing Furiously Stalling Destiny to be a decisive counterattack, it'd make the applied penalty and cost more meaningful. It's either that or increasing the cost by a few more motes.

I'll probably switch around Laughing Monster Form's redirected attack over with Subtle Hammer's inscrutability and a slight boost of Thieves Fall Out.

Incidentally, on Thieves Fall Out: Would you believe that the original version of this charm is that as long as the two targets were within a certain range of one another, they automatically took lethal damage? >_>
I'll probably put the redirect here.

That's a really good suggestion with Unitary Being Forge. Adds more complexity, but in an entirely logical way.

The effect from the original Shuffling the Pieces is that if you kill someone, you can create a wee folk from the enemy's body. Obviously, that's a whole can of worms that I didn't want to touch. Thematically it makes sense that the Laughing Monster essentially makes minions out of the blood of his enemies, but no, it's really too strong for that. If I can't balance the Initiative-gaining, I may instead change it to an attempt to convince an enemy that he's in the wrong side and that he would serve better at the stylist's side.

The Perilous keyword for Dancing Wind Monster Transformation is definitely going in, can't believe I didn't add that in the first place.

I'll prolly change more, but that's my first reaction on how to improve things. Thanks once again!
 
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EarthScorpion Setting Homebrew: The Rouheni Wanderers
  • Threadmarks
    • The Rouheni Wanderers

    The Rouheni are the descendants of the urban elite and priesthood exiled from Pershwa when the witch-queen assumed power long ago. Cast out for their refusal to partake in the rituals of the moon, they fell into mendicancy as old enemies and a curse laid on them by the moon-witch forced them to keep moving. Their ritual magics and ecstatic trances became the hasty rituals of the exorcists and the willing spiritual possession of the mediums, and as their old knowledge was debased they became associated with vagrancy, thievery and prostitution.

    The ancient curse laid upon them still manifests. Each of the Rouheni is marred with a pale witch-mark somewhere on their body, which does not bleed if pricked with a pin. If they spend more than a lunar month in one place, this mark spreads to the crops and animals around them, which begin to wither and die. Whenever the Rouheni try to settle down, they bring failed harvests and sick cattle, so invariably they are forced out.

    These days, the once-proud priests of Pershwa are scattered across Taira and up and down the Grey River. Their yellow headscarves mark both their former role as priests of the sun, and their present day domination by Mercury. Other wandering folk have joined up with them over the years, and so when a band arrives at a settlement they are a disparate group. They are traders, lenders, entertainers and harlots; so too are they exorcists, astrologers and mercenary priests. Either way, they do what decent folk do not, and respectable citizens are glad to see the back of them.

    In this time of civil war, though, there are far fewer respectable folk than there once were. Some of the Rouheni have grown rich over the years, and now in this war-ridden society many mercenary bands wander with them. Their fairs have become places where people go to hire mercenaries, and people who refuse to trade with them often find themselves sacked by their less reputable companions. And there are whispers among the Rouheni; a dream long suppressed but never forgotten. What if they could return to Pershwa and break this curse? The mad prophetess of Pershwa claims to be the child of the witch who cursed them. Perhaps she would forgive them - or perhaps they could force relief out of her.

    Roaming Entertainers

    The Rouheni are family-based. Within their bands, parents lead their households. The way a band heads is usually decided by the hubbub of the households arguing it out, aided by astrological divinations and prayers to Mercury. Larger ties of clan and kin are acknowledged and tracked in their ledgers, but on a day to day basis, it is the tiny travelling community which is their world. As a people, they are isolated from those around them. To have a child with an outsider is a sin, though not an unforgivable one. The curse passes down the maternal line, but sometimes a man will sire a silver-marked child. In almost all cases, the father will have moved on by then, and such children often find themselves abandoned or smothered.

    When two Rouheni bands meet, they usually go to a nearby settlement and hold a great fair. In truth, this is just an excuse to make them tolerated for long enough for the necessary rites to be performed. During such times, they cast the omens and consult the stars to see if any of the children of their band are good matches. Sons go over to their new wife's band. When a band gets large enough that the family heads start having problems tracking who owes who what, bands will tend to split The larger clans of the Rouheni are born from these fissions, and split bands keep in touch, often exchanging children.

    Not all members of a Rouheni band bear the curse. Other wanderers travel with them, for safety and because their travelling markets are a good place for sales. Many merchants accompany a Rouheni band as they travel between two places, paying a small fee to enjoy the benefit of the protection of the armed men and women. For their part, such merchants also serve to protect the Rouheni because in later years they often become friendly voices in towns and villages.

    As befits their status as dubious outcasts, many of the hangers-on are less savoury. Most of the camp followers who associate themselves with these bands are not from the Rouheni. Some bands are more reputable than others - some are in practice roaming bands of thieves and criminals who have lost almost all their old priestly ways. Such bands tend to thrive in the aftermath of a pogrom, unfortunately, because the more traditional exorcist-bands rely on a good degree of trust with the villages they visit. When no one will let them placate their ancestors or make offerings to their gods, the instability encourages the worst elements of their society. The Rouheni rely on a certain precarious toleration, and when that is lost there is little left for them.

    Rented Priests

    Once the Rouheni were priests of mighty temples of the sun, giving themselves to his holy light in great ecstatic rituals. They called on mighty forces and ancient wisdom passed down through the Shogunate. Now they travel in carts and on donkeys, and in small villages they lease their bodies to spirits and ghosts so that they may commune with them. One calls the spirit into their body, and when the time has passed they exorcise them. There are even fell rites they know which let them slay a possessing spirit - at the cost of the life of the host. They are obsessed with divination, and a Rouheni will usually roll dice or look for an omen before making any major decision. When their lives are so precarious and dependent on the generosity of others, any ill luck is more than they wish to risk.

    Their families hold much lore on things that were forgotten by others; the names of demons, the ways of the gods, and even stranger things. Still, time wears and much they once knew is now forgotten or corrupted. The secrets of Voumah are thought to be just a child's rhyme, and if one were to whisper the Bahla Prayer to its recipient, she would laugh at the broken Old Realm.

    The Rouheni are ecumenical to a fault. They worship nearly anything they are paid to, and many naibs and princes of Taira will use them to contact darker spirits on their behalf. They make offerings at crossroads to demons and the princes of chaos to ward off their attention, and they rent their bodies to the Dead on behalf of their descendants so that they may experience the flesh again. Some Rouheni bands have fallen to dark powers, and when this is known to have happened others gather together to purge them - or more commonly hire mercenaries.

    There is one god who the Rouheni refuse to worship, and that is Luna. To them, she is queen of the demons and king of the princes of chaos and a monster who constantly afflicts them. When something hurts them, it is an act of Luna or the devils who serve them. They refuse to travel on the night of the full moon, for her malicious attention and his cruelty is most present when Luna turns their baneful eye to the world. In their eyes, the world is a dualistic one - between the righteous heavens ruled by the Sun, and the forces of wickedness ruled by the Moon. The Five Maidens are the treacherous daughters of the demon Luna, pure as their mother is depraved, and they light the sky when Luna rules and tell the world of her secrets and dark plans.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • EarthScorpion said:
    The Rouheni Wanderers

    The Rouheni are the descendants of the urban elite and priesthood exiled from Pershwa when the witch-queen assumed power long ago. Cast out for their refusal to partake in the rituals of the moon, they fell into mendicancy as old enemies and a curse laid on them by the moon-witch forced them to keep moving. Their ritual magics and ecstatic trances became the hasty rituals of the exorcists and the willing spiritual possession of the mediums, and as their old knowledge was debased they became associated with vagrancy, thievery and prostitution.

    The ancient curse laid upon them still manifests. Each of the Rouheni is marred with a pale witch-mark somewhere on their body, which does not bleed if pricked with a pin. If they spend more than a lunar month in one place, this mark spreads to the crops and animals around them, which begin to wither and die. Whenever the Rouheni try to settle down, they bring failed harvests and sick cattle, so invariably they are forced out.

    These days, the once-proud priests of Pershwa are scattered across Taira and up and down the Grey River. Their yellow headscarves mark both their former role as priests of the sun, and their present day domination by Mercury. Other wandering folk have joined up with them over the years, and so when a band arrives at a settlement they are a disparate group. They are traders, lenders, entertainers and harlots; so too are they exorcists, astrologers and mercenary priests. Either way, they do what decent folk do not, and respectable citizens are glad to see the back of them.

    In this time of civil war, though, there are far fewer respectable folk than there once were. Some of the Rouheni have grown rich over the years, and now in this war-ridden society many mercenary bands wander with them. Their fairs have become places where people go to hire mercenaries, and people who refuse to trade with them often find themselves sacked by their less reputable companions. And there are whispers among the Rouheni; a dream long suppressed but never forgotten. What if they could return to Pershwa and break this curse? The mad prophetess of Pershwa claims to be the child of the witch who cursed them. Perhaps she would forgive them - or perhaps they could force relief out of her.

    Roaming Entertainers

    The Rouheni are family-based. Within their bands, parents lead their households. The way a band heads is usually decided by the hubbub of the households arguing it out, aided by astrological divinations and prayers to Mercury. Larger ties of clan and kin are acknowledged and tracked in their ledgers, but on a day to day basis, it is the tiny travelling community which is their world. As a people, they are isolated from those around them. To have a child with an outsider is a sin, though not an unforgivable one. The curse passes down the maternal line, but sometimes a man will sire a silver-marked child. In almost all cases, the father will have moved on by then, and such children often find themselves abandoned or smothered.

    When two Rouheni bands meet, they usually go to a nearby settlement and hold a great fair. In truth, this is just an excuse to make them tolerated for long enough for the necessary rites to be performed. During such times, they cast the omens and consult the stars to see if any of the children of their band are good matches. Sons go over to their new wife's band. When a band gets large enough that the family heads start having problems tracking who owes who what, bands will tend to split The larger clans of the Rouheni are born from these fissions, and split bands keep in touch, often exchanging children.

    Not all members of a Rouheni band bear the curse. Other wanderers travel with them, for safety and because their travelling markets are a good place for sales. Many merchants accompany a Rouheni band as they travel between two places, paying a small fee to enjoy the benefit of the protection of the armed men and women. For their part, such merchants also serve to protect the Rouheni because in later years they often become friendly voices in towns and villages.

    As befits their status as dubious outcasts, many of the hangers-on are less savoury. Most of the camp followers who associate themselves with these bands are not from the Rouheni. Some bands are more reputable than others - some are in practice roaming bands of thieves and criminals who have lost almost all their old priestly ways. Such bands tend to thrive in the aftermath of a pogrom, unfortunately, because the more traditional exorcist-bands rely on a good degree of trust with the villages they visit. When no one will let them placate their ancestors or make offerings to their gods, the instability encourages the worst elements of their society. The Rouheni rely on a certain precarious toleration, and when that is lost there is little left for them.

    Rented Priests

    Once the Rouheni were priests of mighty temples of the sun, giving themselves to his holy light in great ecstatic rituals. They called on mighty forces and ancient wisdom passed down through the Shogunate. Now they travel in carts and on donkeys, and in small villages they lease their bodies to spirits and ghosts so that they may commune with them. One calls the spirit into their body, and when the time has passed they exorcise them. There are even fell rites they know which let them slay a possessing spirit - at the cost of the life of the host. They are obsessed with divination, and a Rouheni will usually roll dice or look for an omen before making any major decision. When their lives are so precarious and dependent on the generosity of others, any ill luck is more than they wish to risk.

    Their families hold much lore on things that were forgotten by others; the names of demons, the ways of the gods, and even stranger things. Still, time wears and much they once knew is now forgotten or corrupted. The secrets of Voumah are thought to be just a child's rhyme, and if one were to whisper the Bahla Prayer to its recipient, she would laugh at the broken Old Realm.

    The Rouheni are ecumenical to a fault. They worship nearly anything they are paid to, and many naibs and princes of Taira will use them to contact darker spirits on their behalf. They make offerings at crossroads to demons and the princes of chaos to ward off their attention, and they rent their bodies to the Dead on behalf of their descendants so that they may experience the flesh again. Some Rouheni bands have fallen to dark powers, and when this is known to have happened others gather together to purge them - or more commonly hire mercenaries.

    There is one god who the Rouheni refuse to worship, and that is Luna. To them, she is queen of the demons and king of the princes of chaos and a monster who constantly afflicts them. When something hurts them, it is an act of Luna or the devils who serve them. They refuse to travel on the night of the full moon, for her malicious attention and his cruelty is most present when Luna turns their baneful eye to the world. In their eyes, the world is a dualistic one - between the righteous heavens ruled by the Sun, and the forces of wickedness ruled by the Moon. The Five Maidens are the treacherous daughters of the demon Luna, pure as their mother is depraved, and they light the sky when Luna rules and tell the world of her secrets and dark plans.
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    So what you are telling me is that between them being degenerates who worship the Sun and the fact that they blight the land fi they settle, I can drive them off the parts of Taira I conquer and force them to settle elsewhere, bringing their curse yonder?

    You are too good to me bad to these people.
     
    Cornuthaum said:
    So what you are telling me is that between them being degenerates who worship the Sun and the fact that they blight the land fi they settle, I can drive them off the parts of Taira I conquer and force them to settle elsewhere, bringing their curse yonder?

    You are too good to me bad to these people.
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    Technically, worshipping the sun doesn't make you a degenerate.

    (it makes you a selfish heretic because you would presume to waste the sun's time on something as unimportant as a mortal life)
     
    ManusDomine said:
    Technically, worshipping the sun doesn't make you a degenerate.

    (it makes you a selfish heretic because you would presume to waste the sun's time on something as unimportant as a mortal life)
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    I would point out that sun-worship is super-common in Taira, and is basically the default. The entire area is in the post-Dragon King cultural sphere. You can't purge all the sun worshippers, or you'll have no peasants to work the land.

    And, you know, Jades is also in that same area, so you've probably got sun-worshippers in House Jades (who put away their altars when the Immaculates are around).
     
    So it sounds like a Rouheni could settle down with minimal problems if they did so within a shadowland.
     
    The bloodline Curse of the Rouheni might not be able to make life in a shadowland significantly worse but that is only because the average shadowland is usually already extremely inimical to human habitation.

    On another note I would like to point out that the Rouheni could potentially be used as an extremely cheap weapon of mass destruction. All someone would have to do is arrange for a large enough number of Rouheni to stay in the same area long enough for environment of the region to be badly damaged. This could entail making a deal with the more immoral and mercenary Rouheni or simply capturing some of them to use as slaves.
     
    Ct613hulu said:
    On another note I would like to point out that the Rouheni could potentially be used as an extremely cheap weapon of mass destruction. All someone would have to do is arrange for a large enough number of Rouheni to stay in the same area long enough for environment of the region to be badly damaged. This could entail making a deal with the more immoral and mercenary Rouheni or simply capturing some of them to use as slaves.
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    This also provides a very strong incentive to simply kill them all on sight (and thus, provide a very strong incentive for them to not be near you), since their simple presence in an area damages extremely valuable things like the harvest you need to feed your army and the livestock you need to farm that harvest.

    Honestly, I would probably tone this down so that there's enough plausible deniability that you can't empirically go "right, everyone with this mark, which can be identified like so, creates a blighting curse upon the land after remaining in place for one month, which can be identified as the same or a very similar mark on the blighted item, so identify everyone with this mark and kill them before we lose this year's harvest and will inevitably starve to death, just in case".
     
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    Jon Chung said:
    This also provides a very strong incentive to simply kill them all on sight (and thus, provide a very strong incentive for them to not be near you), since their simple presence in an area damages extremely valuable things like the harvest you need to feed your army and the livestock you need to farm that harvest.

    Honestly, I would probably tone this down so that there's enough plausible deniability that you can't empirically go "right, everyone with this mark, which can be identified like so, creates a blighting curse upon the land after remaining in place for one month, which can be identified as the same or a very similar mark on the blighted item, so identify everyone with this mark and kill them before we lose this year's harvest and will inevitably starve to death, just in case".
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    I mean, pretty much exactly that has happened to their real-world inspiration multiple times.
     
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