- Location
- Germany
I am pretty sure it was Destruction Begets Creation and Forged In Fury from this doc.
General Exalted Thread
- Location
- England
Graypairofsocks
What is Grammar?
- Location
- earth
That's the same criteria for the book one.
Here is the thing about the whole "things die when they are killed" issue: Ghost-Eating Technique is generally regarded to implicitly work when the problem in question is deemed to be a valid Combat Encounter, as-defined as a legitimate threat to PCs and their holdings. If you can make it your Ageless Unbeatable into a climatic end-boss of an action-adventure campaign, GET is the defacto answer. You defeated him for good, you solved the apocalypse and everyone can go home content there is no sealed-away evil lurking and waiting for a time to return and fuck shit up once again.
Creatures like Vodak, Grandmother Bog, Oliphim, Juggernaut, et al, aren't nearly on this level, nor are they intended to be. Their immortality is a result of their inability to engage player characters on that degree, and instead carry a message about the setting itself as a fixture of it. Things like them are allowed to persist semi-indefinitely under the impression that while characters will "outgrow" any fear of them, and most certainly defeat them at least once, the setting still largely needs such creatures to continue existing as thematic markers so that it will remain an ongoing problem and keep Creation feeling like Creation despite the PCs existing and changing the world alongside them. Its part of the consistency, GET isn't going to suddenly make Creation be not-Creation anymore, no matter how many ways you wield it.
Oliphim is immortal beyond GET because there needs to be tragic examples of the indirect prices paid for First Age, built on a thousand petty injustices beyond simply the Yozis' imprisonment. If you want to rebuild the New Era, you have to formally address those injustices eventually, and be judged by your actions accordingly. Grandmother Bog and Vodak are untameable sections of the map marked "Here Be Dragons," and while you can heavily minimize their influence, you want the places they reside to never be fully safe or attainably habitable anymore than you would the Deep Wyld or the Elemental Poles in miniature. There always has to be a bit of danger still lurking in Creation's dark and wild places no one frequents often, even if your play-group establishes a new and fulfilling age of milk and honey.
By contrast, the Fightable/Killable Immortals, like the Deathlords, the Demon Princes, Elder Exalts and powerful sorcerers, they are explicitly transitory. One Deathlord staking claim of an area for all-time doesn't really define "this is Creation" by existing any more than the players themselves do by overthrowing her. That immortality is there the same way PC immortality is available, as a means to make damn sure that no matter how many timeskips into the future you have, they will still be hanging around long enough for the PCs to finally reach them and end that particular story-thread with a knife at the throat. So it has to be Conditional, it has to fail somehow.
Who gets which KIND of immortality, and how the material approaches the narrative needs accomplished by contextualizing that immortality, is everything.
Creatures like Vodak, Grandmother Bog, Oliphim, Juggernaut, et al, aren't nearly on this level, nor are they intended to be. Their immortality is a result of their inability to engage player characters on that degree, and instead carry a message about the setting itself as a fixture of it. Things like them are allowed to persist semi-indefinitely under the impression that while characters will "outgrow" any fear of them, and most certainly defeat them at least once, the setting still largely needs such creatures to continue existing as thematic markers so that it will remain an ongoing problem and keep Creation feeling like Creation despite the PCs existing and changing the world alongside them. Its part of the consistency, GET isn't going to suddenly make Creation be not-Creation anymore, no matter how many ways you wield it.
Oliphim is immortal beyond GET because there needs to be tragic examples of the indirect prices paid for First Age, built on a thousand petty injustices beyond simply the Yozis' imprisonment. If you want to rebuild the New Era, you have to formally address those injustices eventually, and be judged by your actions accordingly. Grandmother Bog and Vodak are untameable sections of the map marked "Here Be Dragons," and while you can heavily minimize their influence, you want the places they reside to never be fully safe or attainably habitable anymore than you would the Deep Wyld or the Elemental Poles in miniature. There always has to be a bit of danger still lurking in Creation's dark and wild places no one frequents often, even if your play-group establishes a new and fulfilling age of milk and honey.
By contrast, the Fightable/Killable Immortals, like the Deathlords, the Demon Princes, Elder Exalts and powerful sorcerers, they are explicitly transitory. One Deathlord staking claim of an area for all-time doesn't really define "this is Creation" by existing any more than the players themselves do by overthrowing her. That immortality is there the same way PC immortality is available, as a means to make damn sure that no matter how many timeskips into the future you have, they will still be hanging around long enough for the PCs to finally reach them and end that particular story-thread with a knife at the throat. So it has to be Conditional, it has to fail somehow.
Who gets which KIND of immortality, and how the material approaches the narrative needs accomplished by contextualizing that immortality, is everything.
Uh.
I'm pretty sure, for many people, being able to change Creation into a state that is no longer "Creation" - for good or for ill - is the entire point.
We're talking two different things here. I am talking Creation as "Creation, primary setting for the Exalted game line, with distinct narratives and messages" while you're talking about "Creation, the cycles of violence and injustice currently encompassed by the Time of Troubles." Because the myriad crises of the latter are not something so inherent to the former that you need all of the details to remain.
Yet at the same time, there are still absolutes to how far you can stretch it. You can "change the world" all that you want about Creation-the-latter by working at it from within, but things will never become Middle-Earth, Abeir-Toril or Azeroth. Things like GET and similar forces aren't intended for that, and deliberately so. Changing the world does not mean redefining its rules from the root foundations upwards, just making it especially clear that things are Meaningfully Different Now. So even a peaceful Creation created by the tools provided by the Exalted game and its trappings should nevertheless resemble a peaceful Creation, or else what was the point of that exercise?
Trying to alter the fundamentals of Creation-the-former can only serve to make it unthematic to its origins and water down the particular drives which it encourages in player and Storyteller alike to create stories inside it, ultimately undermining a lot of the draw to what makes Exalted simply be Exalted. At that point why even claim to be playing by Creation's rules in the first place, and not some entirely unrelated-yet-similar Shard-sandbox which just so happens to include Exalts in it, and sure, eventually culminates in creating the World of Darkness as some kind of elaborate genesis-myth-crossover.
@Shyft I've been reading through the Shifting Sands logs and I really like them. A main character solving problems through wit and financial savvy (and sorcery) isn't something you see in a lot of Exalted narratives, nor is a main character being so blatant in being a solar.
I'm a little uncertain about what happened in the market when Inks confronted the slavers. Did part of the deal that Inks made involve their releasing the slaves, or did they buy her inaction with the bindi and she abandoned the slaves?
Also, what version of the Twilight anima power are you using in your game?
I'm a little uncertain about what happened in the market when Inks confronted the slavers. Did part of the deal that Inks made involve their releasing the slaves, or did they buy her inaction with the bindi and she abandoned the slaves?
Also, what version of the Twilight anima power are you using in your game?
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
Hahah! Thank you. @Aleph was primarily on board with running this game, because combat would largely be kept to a minimum. Like I've mentioned though, I'm far less averse to it than she is. I enjoy Exalted combat when it's run well and used in the spirit intended, because oh man, a properly run, engaging combat scene is amazing. The trouble as always is that the amount of effort that requires runs people away like little else.
Anyway, yes, Inks exists sort of as a strongly worded argument for the idea of... not murderhobo solars, and more cerebral, thinky challenges. I'm not as smart as Inks is, mind you, so we're only getting an approximation of how brilliant she really is. Basically, a lot of games devolve to combat simply because players don't know how to play a non-combat game, and storytellers don't know how to run it.
The Sun Market Slavers as a group bought a cease-fire with Inks, sealing the pact with the artifact bindi, which is local variant of Collar of Cleansing Light. So on paper, I have a 1-dot ally with the slavers of Sun Market, which goes both ways, but right now they're just happy to not have Inks being Moral in their general direction. I and She have not forgotten and I plan on tackling slavery at some point.
As for Twilight Anima, we're using the 2e corebook version- the main reason is that we're not mandating that our writing or homebrewed mechanics work for public consumption. We evaluated our creativity budget and said 'the amount we'd gain by changing this is not worth it, so let's not'. I also argued that since Inks is a solo character, having a significantly strong defensive measure is healthier for our game. I haven't given it much thought, largely because we haven't even rolled Join Battle yet. Maji made so far the first and only attack roll of the game just last session, after all. Think about that, 15 sessions in and not one kung-fu battle.
Edit- on a last note re: public solar.
Exalted as a fandom has a fear-culture problem. People are conditioned to believe that the Wyld Hunt or Sidereals or whatever is going to ambush them when they least expect it at their most weakest. This is quite simply not how the game is supposed to work, and encourage you to set fire to any game that tries to present it as such. The root of this issue is that the kinds of discussions people have about Exalted are often about how badly it can go.
If you however as a player decide to act in an idiotic manner and invite trouble, it'll fall on your head. Inks is an open Solar in Gem, which has no Realm presence and is not a satrapy. It has no real connection to the Empress or the Immaculate Order or the campaign against the Solars. The Despot in this game knew the Twilight sobriquet.
Inks likely did not know that.
Last edited:
Well the issue is how to adjudicate those kind of results; if your average exalt is already trivially rolling the number of success that is several OOM better then human capability; its much easier to depict that for fightyness as simply hitting harder and causing bigger explosions compared to something being a superlative general that makes Hannibal and Napoleon looks like chumps. Like as a GM how the heck are supposed to illustrate that as much in detail as the Dawn solar who with a single swing of sword causes a ripple that shreds boulders or whatever. Like I personally just do what oMage and just go with all the great people in history were actually mages; which scales down things to level that is actually workable and have actual examples to work with.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
That's... workable, but I can't help but consider that criminally boring, condensing all of history to 'a mage did it'. I do get that it's your personal approach though and not a blanket statement.
I agree that the amount of effort required to articulate high level or esoteric Exalted prowess is daunting- and it's been a consistent failure of the game across three editions to effectively teach us how to play it.
A way to adjucate those results, outside of written mechanics, is to break down the actual 'feat' into smaller chunks, and that's difficult. A cursory skim of the history of Hannibal crossing the Alps, for example, describes dozens of things that were happening concurrently that were being addressed either simultaneously, or in-sequence. Deciding how to break everything down is a skill learned by practice and instruction, neither of which people get enough of.
A minor tangent but an important one to acknowledge in game design is that of refractory or the gameplay loop. They're separate things but connected here. Refractory is how long it takes to 'reset' to neutral or starting position. Exalted and a lot of TTRPGs have a very high, long refactory, because if you die, you have to remake your character, expend a whole lot of effort, and so on. Paranoia, (the game) meanwhile, has very low 'immediate' refractory because you have clone bodies ready to go.
In a specific scene or storyline sense, TTRPGs have a medium to high refractory, because they're primarily focused on resolving actions and consequences, and the management of resources. The longer you attack a specific problem, the less you tend to have, as most games are balanced or designed around the idea of spending resources and waiting to recoup them.
A gameplay loop is essentially the core mechanics of a game that 'cycle' in such a way as to self-reinforce. This is most common in video games, which are designed with loops in mind. Exalted has very elaborate, interlinked gameplay loops, because it's not a 'fixed' system with a centralized, procedural resolution mechanic. You aren't moving from setpiece to setpiece ala a first person shooter or videogame RPG. Plot A mingles with plot B and you can tangent off to side project C, etc.
Anyway, back to hannibal for a moment. The 'goal' of Exalted as a game should have been to arm the storyteller with the tools and vocabulary to describe an environment, in which there is 'an Alps', and then given enough detail for the players to in turn identify that marching over the Alps has a strategic or tactical advantage, or the costs to doing so can be mitigated, thus making it a viable option.
Finally, this leads to the philosophy of 'play'. Fun is subjective, based on personal aesthetic and experience. Play is objective, as it is essentially defined as 'something that has flexibility and looseness'. You can 'play' with it. Wiggle, make it go left or right, adjust your grip on it, and in terms of game design, optimize.
The best games are the ones that create a very stable set of rules that in turn creates a very fluid, dynamic environment in which to use those rules. Too few rules means arbitration is a waffly nightmare. Too many and you burden the players with complexity. In context of Exalted, being able to approach a problem in three broad categories of Fight, Talk and Smart is 'play'. Being able to further diversify into abilities, Charms and Spells is more Play. Speaking for myself, I enjoy the 'play' of artifact and charm design, because i have tools (grammar and technical writing) that have play (words communicate meaning), which in turn can result in new or optimized behaviors (the charm is considered well written or functions as intended.)
So again back to hannibal- the objective of anything in game design is achieving sufficient Play. Mechanics should exist that govern assets and features like 'this is a city' and 'this is a mountain range' and 'this is a naval power', and those definitions should in turn inform and describe to players the means with which to interact with them. Do you lay siege to the city, or offer an alliance. Do you climb over the mountain, or demolish it. Do you fight the navy on high sea, or summon a storm god to defeat it?
Apologies for the ramble, but I felt it relevant.
A pet peeve of mine about Exalted in regards of this; that for all Exalted spends on trying to make things believable and consistent in a single world; I don't feel it actually does a particularly good job integrating the Terrestrial Exalted in the sense the Realm doesn't really feel like a place where it thousands upon thousands of superhumanly good bureaucrats/traders/generals actually exist; because if they actually did; there should pretty much no actual mortal run polities that aren't backed by Exalted or potent supernatural force already like Whitewall should even exist in Creation given even the DB already exert prowess an OOM better then mortals in every field already. It would trivial to for a single socially focused Dragon Blooded to topple a mortal polities if we are to believe something Napoleon return to France after his exile where the troops sent to arrest him refused to fire and joined him; causing the entire country to rally around him is something can easily best with a single excellency; nevermind actual charms.
Last edited:
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
I agree with this to a point, but I don't have Dragonblooded indexed in my head like Solars, so I have to conceed this to someone who knows their prowess better than I.
Well I mean I'm just going off the mere existence of excellencies.
- Location
- Singapore
Anyone did gaian exalted for homebrew, or know of one? Cause i got a few ideas.
A mixture of void tech, yuuzhan Vong, and biotech. A gaian exalted can, with time and xp, develop and grow new eyes for itself.
The themes would be regeneration, rebirtb, cycles, life, healing, and strength via adversity.
A mixture of void tech, yuuzhan Vong, and biotech. A gaian exalted can, with time and xp, develop and grow new eyes for itself.
The themes would be regeneration, rebirtb, cycles, life, healing, and strength via adversity.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
IIRC Gaian "Themes" are supposedly; Earth, Wood, Fire, Water, Air, Blood, Birth, Growth, Life, and Extinction.
Graypairofsocks
What is Grammar?
- Location
- earth
The "Ritual of Elemental Empowerment" is cool. I like the wood benediction in particular, You can give objects regeneration. It would be really useful with any sort of complex machine.
- Location
- Singapore
You sure?
I'm fairly sure it requires you to bless individual components.
That said, i wish there was a celestial or adamant version.
AFB at the moment so going off memory, but Dragonblooded don't really have much in the way of acceleration, delegation, or force multiplication charms. Your average Dragonblooded is VERY good at some jobs, but they aren't exactly everywhere, they aren't exactly common, and their social status means assigning them will be a bit like herding cats.
Finally, the average Dragonblooded is highly factional and is going to spend a singificant chunk of their time fucking with Dragonblooded in rival houses by indirect means.
So considering the percentage of the population they occupy, you could expect Dragonblooded to take three main roles in Realm society(allowing for individual quirks of course):
-The Troubleshooter. No fixed role, but this is the guy making the circuits around the Realm to hammer lumps into favorable shapes for their family, auditing local magistrates, slaying bandits and monsters and generally doing adventurer random walks. They don't stick around, they just go to a place, leverage some charm power to tip the scales, then wander off to do it elsewhere, while their counterparts will go nudge the scales again, undoing or taking over some of the work.
-The Noble. This guy owns a place. He's very busy making sure he continues to own the place, and so while he does some significant things, he spends a lot of the time just staying ready to protect his ownership and enjoying the benefits of ownership.
-The Champion. This guy is really damned good at a specific job and loves the job. Here you slot in the Dragonblooded artificers, diplomats, Immaculates, etc. They don't change the game at the ground level because their time is wasted there, they take on the big and critical challenges mere mortals can fail at.
So I don't really see them doing things like taking over the economy, mostly because as Exalted a lot of them have bigger interests than that.
It does mean that disobedient gods get beaten up, and most bandit infestations tend to get purged within a couple of years, but you aren't going to have Dragonblooded Batman on duty rendering constables and magistrates obsolete...well at least barring them doing it as a hobby or kink.
There just isn't enough of them, and most of them are nobles who go where they(or where a bigger noble) says.
Jon Chung
=][=
Point of order: The 1E Sidereals fatsplat gave them powers that made it trivially easy for them to ambush your Solar when they least expect it at their most weakest and kill them with a combat monster build there was no actual way to legitimately defeat. That ain't fanon, dude. I TPK'd a full circle of paranoid, experienced, actually-play-it-correctly combat-happy Solars in one round with zero risk of death the first time I tried it.
Now, it's obviously not supposed to work like that because if it did you wouldn't have a game, but that's why we have a paranoia issue in the collective Exalted fan consciousness, not undirected fan-culture paranoia. For the majority of the game's lifetime, attracting hostile elder attention meant you were dead. Particularly from Sidereals, since they could find you anywhere in Creation unless you metagamed and hid Outside Fate. Of course, 2E happily made it worse by making you die if you got attacked by a bunch of extras with sledgehammers.
Note that to solve either of these problems requires a GM that a) realizes that this is a problem before it blows up in their face and b) is willing to houserule or wing it in every instance where the RAW does something retarded. Also, note that a lot of games don't have this (like, say, mine, lol), so there are a lot of system-landmine victim Exalted players.
Last edited:
Graypairofsocks
What is Grammar?
- Location
- earth
Rognthor Homebrew: Rognthor's Discount Devil Tiger III
- Location
- my house
Rogthnor's Devil Tiger Pt III
For the third installment I will be showing the before and after for the second of the three(?) charm trees I am making for The Heretic Sky.
Original Charms
Originally this was going to be the craft tree, as craft is a big part of the character. But when deciding how to craft I looked at my themes and some of the charms I wanted my character to have and decided to go with the theme of "strange alien sky mutating everything underneath it." This was something I had actually partially decided before making the character as the final primordial form I had originally come up with was a wandering alien sky which causes everything underneath it to change. People mutating into monsters, metals transmuting into strange materials, and objects taking on alien shapes. I also tied it into the worship charms that I picked up for the character, as I felt that worked well thematically and they were a big part of my mutating people charms.
I also feel this works better as a Yozi charm tree as they are rarely so focused as to have "social" or "fight" trees. Instead they have "nuclear fire trees and the like.
Here is his "Alien Sky" charms, each one modified from one of the above charms.
One thing I'm uncertain on is how I want to handle the various dream charms. In the one hand they are integral parts of the character and ones he would use often. On the other hand they are very much Oramu' charm tech and I don't want to step on his themes. Anyone have any ideas?
For the third installment I will be showing the before and after for the second of the three(?) charm trees I am making for The Heretic Sky.
Original Charms
Tool Trancesnding Labor
Compartmentalized Labor Extension
Destruction Begets Creation
Forged in Fury
Inescapable Visions
Dreamlands Heath Exhalation
Adaptive Radiation Bombardment
Echoes of Enlightenment
Sanity Shattering Instruction
Ascensions Lullaby
Compartmentalized Labor Extension
Destruction Begets Creation
Forged in Fury
Inescapable Visions
Dreamlands Heath Exhalation
Adaptive Radiation Bombardment
Echoes of Enlightenment
Sanity Shattering Instruction
Ascensions Lullaby
Originally this was going to be the craft tree, as craft is a big part of the character. But when deciding how to craft I looked at my themes and some of the charms I wanted my character to have and decided to go with the theme of "strange alien sky mutating everything underneath it." This was something I had actually partially decided before making the character as the final primordial form I had originally come up with was a wandering alien sky which causes everything underneath it to change. People mutating into monsters, metals transmuting into strange materials, and objects taking on alien shapes. I also tied it into the worship charms that I picked up for the character, as I felt that worked well thematically and they were a big part of my mutating people charms.
I also feel this works better as a Yozi charm tree as they are rarely so focused as to have "social" or "fight" trees. Instead they have "nuclear fire trees and the like.
Here is his "Alien Sky" charms, each one modified from one of the above charms.
Tool Transcending Labor -> Esoteric Tool Substitution
Destruction Begets Creation ->DESTRUCTION BEGETS CREATION
FORGED IN FURY -> Tool Transmutation Effect
Compartmentalized Labor Extension -> Passive Transmuation Effect
Music of the Spheres
Inescapable Visions -> Looming Sky Visions
DREAMLANDS HEATH EXHALATION->Incursion of the Nomad Sky
Adaptive Radiation Bombardment -> Adaptive Radiation Bombardment
Sanity Shattering Instruction->Company Training Program
Ascensions Lullaby -> Climbing the Corporate Ladder
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mind-Hand Manipulation
The Heretic Sky needs no tools or workshops. Why use a heat and hammer to forge a sword when he can soften and harden the metal at will.
Whenever an Infernal has this Charm active, he removes the need for tools or workshops, and all penalties for crafting without tools. If the warlock crafts a structure in his way, he may also ignore the need for assistants, provided the structure in question is smaller than him.
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Mind-Hand Manipulation
The Heretic Sky needs no tools or workshops. Why use a heat and hammer to forge a sword when he can soften and harden the metal at will.
Whenever an Infernal has this Charm active, he removes the need for tools or workshops, and all penalties for crafting without tools. If the warlock crafts a structure in his way, he may also ignore the need for assistants, provided the structure in question is smaller than him.
Destruction Begets Creation ->DESTRUCTION BEGETS CREATION
Cost: — ; Mins: The Heretic Sky 0, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Wood must be burned to stoke a forge; marble must be chipped to form a statue.
When making a Craft roll, the Infernal may acquire additional free successes, provided the raw materials and/or exotic ingredients for the project he is working on could be considered complete, usable items in their own right, rather than simply base materials, unusable except as components. The Infernal gains one free success at each interval for each Resources dot of raw materials acquired in this way, and three successes for each exotic ingredient. These successes are added to each and every interval of the project. Craft rolls enhanced in this manner always qualify to be enhanced by The Heretic Sky's Excellency.
Valid examples might include smashing apart a wooden house to build a boat, rather than using raw wooden planks, or melting down a pair of orichalcum hearthstone bracers to make a switchklave, rather than simply procuring unforged orichalcum. Note that actual living creatures are always considered to be complete items in their own right for the purposes of this Charm.
This Charm may be purchased a second time at Essence 4+, allowing the Infernal to use his Strength in place of the usual (lower of Dexterity, Perception or Intelligence) on a Craft roll that would gain even one additional success in this fashion, or that would otherwise qualify to be enhanced by The Heretic Sky's Excellency. In addition, the manner in which functional artifacts can be used as exotic ingredients is altered. Working artifacts can normally only be used as an exotic ingredient if they would be an appropriate component of the artifact being crafted. At this level, however, the Infernal may treat any functional artifact as an appropriate component in any kind of helltech artifact he creates.
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Wood must be burned to stoke a forge; marble must be chipped to form a statue.
When making a Craft roll, the Infernal may acquire additional free successes, provided the raw materials and/or exotic ingredients for the project he is working on could be considered complete, usable items in their own right, rather than simply base materials, unusable except as components. The Infernal gains one free success at each interval for each Resources dot of raw materials acquired in this way, and three successes for each exotic ingredient. These successes are added to each and every interval of the project. Craft rolls enhanced in this manner always qualify to be enhanced by The Heretic Sky's Excellency.
Valid examples might include smashing apart a wooden house to build a boat, rather than using raw wooden planks, or melting down a pair of orichalcum hearthstone bracers to make a switchklave, rather than simply procuring unforged orichalcum. Note that actual living creatures are always considered to be complete items in their own right for the purposes of this Charm.
This Charm may be purchased a second time at Essence 4+, allowing the Infernal to use his Strength in place of the usual (lower of Dexterity, Perception or Intelligence) on a Craft roll that would gain even one additional success in this fashion, or that would otherwise qualify to be enhanced by The Heretic Sky's Excellency. In addition, the manner in which functional artifacts can be used as exotic ingredients is altered. Working artifacts can normally only be used as an exotic ingredient if they would be an appropriate component of the artifact being crafted. At this level, however, the Infernal may treat any functional artifact as an appropriate component in any kind of helltech artifact he creates.
FORGED IN FURY -> Tool Transmutation Effect
Cost: 5m; Mins: Malfeas 0, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One interval
Prerequisite Charms: Destruction Begets Creation
The Heretic Sky changes the world by his very presence, passively altering it to suit his designs. The Infernal may use this Charm to enhance any Craft action he makes, reducing the length of its interval by two degree of time if the project in question is a direct replacement for one of the items destroyed in its making. Further, if the Craft action would gain even one additional success from Destruction Begets Creation, the item's effective Resources or Artifact rating is halved (rounded up) for the purposes of determining the length of its intervals.
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One interval
Prerequisite Charms: Destruction Begets Creation
The Heretic Sky changes the world by his very presence, passively altering it to suit his designs. The Infernal may use this Charm to enhance any Craft action he makes, reducing the length of its interval by two degree of time if the project in question is a direct replacement for one of the items destroyed in its making. Further, if the Craft action would gain even one additional success from Destruction Begets Creation, the item's effective Resources or Artifact rating is halved (rounded up) for the purposes of determining the length of its intervals.
Compartmentalized Labor Extension -> Passive Transmuation Effect
Cost: — ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Esoteric Tool Substitution
The Infernal's mere presence warps the world around her to better fit her designs. She can use her mutating light to work on a project aided or enhanced by Tool Transmutation Effect without totally occupying herself with it. The project must remain in the warlock's general vicinity (within [Willpower+Essence] yards, in fact), but she is free to train, work on another project, or even travel with it following her. She can only have one such separate project running at once.
Keywords: Shaping
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Esoteric Tool Substitution
The Infernal's mere presence warps the world around her to better fit her designs. She can use her mutating light to work on a project aided or enhanced by Tool Transmutation Effect without totally occupying herself with it. The project must remain in the warlock's general vicinity (within [Willpower+Essence] yards, in fact), but she is free to train, work on another project, or even travel with it following her. She can only have one such separate project running at once.
Music of the Spheres
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: None
This Charm allows the Exalt to hear individual prayers directed at them by Servile Characters as if they were a spirit. Actually listening to all prayers imposes a -3 internal penalty to all non reflexive actions; if the Infernal does not care to pay attention, the Storyteller only relays the most widely repeated or urgently spoken prayers.
Characters with an Intimacy of Fearful Fascination or Terrified Awe towards the Infernal reduce the difficulty of prayer rolls to the Infernal by (Occult), to a minimum of 1.
Supplicants in the same realm of existence who pray while the Infernal is currently making music hears his melodies, which reverberate down the strings of prayer which connect them. Any social attacks made via the medium of music therefore affect such devotees as if they were there in person
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: None
This Charm allows the Exalt to hear individual prayers directed at them by Servile Characters as if they were a spirit. Actually listening to all prayers imposes a -3 internal penalty to all non reflexive actions; if the Infernal does not care to pay attention, the Storyteller only relays the most widely repeated or urgently spoken prayers.
Characters with an Intimacy of Fearful Fascination or Terrified Awe towards the Infernal reduce the difficulty of prayer rolls to the Infernal by (Occult), to a minimum of 1.
Supplicants in the same realm of existence who pray while the Infernal is currently making music hears his melodies, which reverberate down the strings of prayer which connect them. Any social attacks made via the medium of music therefore affect such devotees as if they were there in person
Inescapable Visions -> Looming Sky Visions
Cost: --; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Compulsion
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Music of the Spheres
Those who serve the Infernal take pains not to sleep during their service, lest they find themselves unwilling leave it. This Charm permanently modifies the Infernal. The Infernal is a lucid dreamer who can influence the contents of her Beyond-given dreams. Whenever she sleeps, her dreams seep out of her head and into the minds of others. Once per day the Infernal may make a Performance-based social attack against all character considered servile for the purposes of her charms. This attack may be enhanced by applicable Charms as usual. The next time a servile character rolls to regain willpower from sleep they are hit by this social attack. Characters may forgo the roll to avoid the social attack, experiencing instead shallow, nightmare-haunted rest.
Keywords: Compulsion
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Music of the Spheres
Those who serve the Infernal take pains not to sleep during their service, lest they find themselves unwilling leave it. This Charm permanently modifies the Infernal. The Infernal is a lucid dreamer who can influence the contents of her Beyond-given dreams. Whenever she sleeps, her dreams seep out of her head and into the minds of others. Once per day the Infernal may make a Performance-based social attack against all character considered servile for the purposes of her charms. This attack may be enhanced by applicable Charms as usual. The next time a servile character rolls to regain willpower from sleep they are hit by this social attack. Characters may forgo the roll to avoid the social attack, experiencing instead shallow, nightmare-haunted rest.
DREAMLANDS HEATH EXHALATION->Incursion of the Nomad Sky
Cost: 14m, 2wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Looming Sky Visions
The Infernal spends 7 hours meditating at the end of which she makes a Performance-based social attack, which may be enhanced by applicable Charms as usual. At the end of this attack the sky is replaced by a strange alien vista of blackened space and twisted stars.
By the end of the day, this sky has spread to a radius of (Integrity x 100 yards) and other worlds intrude on the space.Soil blows away in a harsh, otherworldly wind, while metal and rock transmutes into new and unheard of materials. Plants and animals die off only to be replaced by stranger, more esoteric things. Omen weather and auroras frequently fill the skies overhead. Any Wyld-tainted land within the area immediately becomes part of Creation. The entire area is Outside of Fate.
Any character who sleeps underneath this sky is affected by the same Performance-based attack the Infernal made when she activated this Charm; visions of the strange alien sky filling their dreams and contorting their thoughts.
Any character inside the area of effect of this charm is considered servile for the purpose of the Infernal's charms with the exception of this one.
The Incursion of the Nomad Sky expands by ten yards per day per dot of Magnitude of servile characters that spend at least five hours a day in it. Each Servile character counts for two if they spend the majority of the time crafting objects or studying blasphemous lore, or praying to The Heretic Skyor the Infernal or their demons. The heath becomes a persistent Blasphemy upon exceeding five miles in radius.
Countermagic fortifies the structure of reality and banishes the altered rules by which the world works, although the land will still be a blasted barren heath. Emerald countermagic cleanses an area with a radius of up to 250 yards, while Sapphire and Adamant cleanse a radius of up to 500 and 1000 yards, respectively.
Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping, Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Looming Sky Visions
The Infernal spends 7 hours meditating at the end of which she makes a Performance-based social attack, which may be enhanced by applicable Charms as usual. At the end of this attack the sky is replaced by a strange alien vista of blackened space and twisted stars.
By the end of the day, this sky has spread to a radius of (Integrity x 100 yards) and other worlds intrude on the space.Soil blows away in a harsh, otherworldly wind, while metal and rock transmutes into new and unheard of materials. Plants and animals die off only to be replaced by stranger, more esoteric things. Omen weather and auroras frequently fill the skies overhead. Any Wyld-tainted land within the area immediately becomes part of Creation. The entire area is Outside of Fate.
Any character who sleeps underneath this sky is affected by the same Performance-based attack the Infernal made when she activated this Charm; visions of the strange alien sky filling their dreams and contorting their thoughts.
Any character inside the area of effect of this charm is considered servile for the purpose of the Infernal's charms with the exception of this one.
The Incursion of the Nomad Sky expands by ten yards per day per dot of Magnitude of servile characters that spend at least five hours a day in it. Each Servile character counts for two if they spend the majority of the time crafting objects or studying blasphemous lore, or praying to The Heretic Skyor the Infernal or their demons. The heath becomes a persistent Blasphemy upon exceeding five miles in radius.
Countermagic fortifies the structure of reality and banishes the altered rules by which the world works, although the land will still be a blasted barren heath. Emerald countermagic cleanses an area with a radius of up to 250 yards, while Sapphire and Adamant cleanse a radius of up to 500 and 1000 yards, respectively.
Adaptive Radiation Bombardment -> Adaptive Radiation Bombardment
Cost 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essense 3; Type: Dramatic
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Esoteric Tool Substitution
The Nomad Sky brings one thing before all else, change. Those who bath in his light take on some of his fell essence, and with sufficient saturation begin to take on new forms. The Infernal spends at least 5 hrs during a week savagely assaulting a group who's magnitude is equal to or less than his Essence rating. During these 5 hrs, the Infernal bathe's his targets in terrible light, causing their wounds to heal with preternatural speed, though at the cost of developing a series of random mutations. By carefully shaping how he wounds his target, as well as more then a little trial and error, the Infernal is able to endow the target with mutations who's total point count does not exceed +8 points as a training effect. Time spent using this Charm always counts as time spent towards building an Intimacy of Terror towards the Infernal, as well as one other as determined by the Story Teller. Suggested second intimacies include hatred if forced upon the target or gratitude if the target asked for this Charm to be used.
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Esoteric Tool Substitution
The Nomad Sky brings one thing before all else, change. Those who bath in his light take on some of his fell essence, and with sufficient saturation begin to take on new forms. The Infernal spends at least 5 hrs during a week savagely assaulting a group who's magnitude is equal to or less than his Essence rating. During these 5 hrs, the Infernal bathe's his targets in terrible light, causing their wounds to heal with preternatural speed, though at the cost of developing a series of random mutations. By carefully shaping how he wounds his target, as well as more then a little trial and error, the Infernal is able to endow the target with mutations who's total point count does not exceed +8 points as a training effect. Time spent using this Charm always counts as time spent towards building an Intimacy of Terror towards the Infernal, as well as one other as determined by the Story Teller. Suggested second intimacies include hatred if forced upon the target or gratitude if the target asked for this Charm to be used.
Sanity Shattering Instruction->Company Training Program
Cost: 21m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Desecration, Sorcerous, Servitude, Training, Revelation
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: That Horrific Wisdom
The character may activate this charm after spending seven hours total instructing a group with magnitude up to (Essence) over the course of a lunar month. Upon activation, this Charm blasts their minds with sudden acceptance of all the Infernal has spoke of. Characters who are not Servile must spend one willpower to accept this tuition. Servile characters, however, must spend one willpower to reject it.
If the character accepts it, the Charm grants Sorcerous mouths to their brain so that it may sing sweet wisdom to them. As a Desecration, they gain the Creature of Darkness mutation and Madman's Insight as as an Abomination, which functions as the Charm of the same name. The student gains an Intimacy of "Fearful Fascination" towards the warlock as a Servitude effect.
While they possess this mutation, the melodies of unseen things fill their days and the twisted vistas of the Beyond fill their nights. If they have spent at least seven hours in the previous month considering the things the Infernal taught them, studying forbidden lore, or obeying his will, on the night of the new moon the character may choose whether to ascend their flesh or their brains.
Should the character lose the Intimacy of "Fearful Fascination" or "Terrified Awe", the Madman's Insight Abomination goes into remission. The mouths on their grey matter close their pallid lips, remaining silent until they regain the Intimacy.
Keywords: Combo-OK, Desecration, Sorcerous, Servitude, Training, Revelation
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: That Horrific Wisdom
The character may activate this charm after spending seven hours total instructing a group with magnitude up to (Essence) over the course of a lunar month. Upon activation, this Charm blasts their minds with sudden acceptance of all the Infernal has spoke of. Characters who are not Servile must spend one willpower to accept this tuition. Servile characters, however, must spend one willpower to reject it.
If the character accepts it, the Charm grants Sorcerous mouths to their brain so that it may sing sweet wisdom to them. As a Desecration, they gain the Creature of Darkness mutation and Madman's Insight as as an Abomination, which functions as the Charm of the same name. The student gains an Intimacy of "Fearful Fascination" towards the warlock as a Servitude effect.
While they possess this mutation, the melodies of unseen things fill their days and the twisted vistas of the Beyond fill their nights. If they have spent at least seven hours in the previous month considering the things the Infernal taught them, studying forbidden lore, or obeying his will, on the night of the new moon the character may choose whether to ascend their flesh or their brains.
- If they choose their brains, as a Training effect they gain one of the following: a dot in Lore, Occult, Performance, or Resistance, a dot in Intelligence or Perception, or a Speciality in line with the themes of Oramus. Abilities and Attributes may not be raised above four dots. This option may not be taken by characters who are currently in XP debt.
- If they choose their flesh, as a Desecration they suffer a mutation with a Heretic Sky theme (which always includes Enlightened Essence as a valid option) or a derangement. If the character chooses a negative mutation, they are refunded the XP cost of the negative mutation.
Should the character lose the Intimacy of "Fearful Fascination" or "Terrified Awe", the Madman's Insight Abomination goes into remission. The mouths on their grey matter close their pallid lips, remaining silent until they regain the Intimacy.
Ascensions Lullaby -> Climbing the Corporate Ladder
Cost: - (1 wp); Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Desecration, Sorcerous
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Corporate Training Program, Echoes Of Enlightenment
This charm upgrades Music of the Spheres. Should a character pray to the Infernal for immortality, transformation or other things of a similar nature, the Infernal may choose to grant such a request by spending one willpower, unless the character has already been marked by Sanity-Shattering Instruction in which case the willpower is waived.
The supplicant hears music swell from between their ears, instructing them on the path to transcendence. They must pay one willpower to set their feet on this road and accept a Sorcerous mouth on their brain similar to that produced by Corporate Training Program. The mouth sings them of the beautiful butterfly they will become when they shed their chrysalis. It is Obvious to the character that this transformation is a fundamental change equivalent to death that will transform them into a new order of being.
The supplicant must offer cumulative sacrifices consisting of a total of seven Resources dots and/or health levels to the Infernal as part of successful prayer rolls before their transformation can begin. One they have done that, on the night of the next new moon, the character is twisted into becoming a first circle demon as a Desecration effect. This is equivalent to character death and may not be undone. Their species is one of the Infernal's choice that descends from them, or which they can create. The character gains the Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Appearance and Charms of their demonic breed, but retains all their other Attributes and Abilities, their Virtues and their Willpower. Their Essence is raised to meet the default Essence of their breed if it was not already higher.
By learning this Charm the warlock gains a demon species, and may purchase additional ones for 1xp each.
Keywords: Desecration, Sorcerous
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Corporate Training Program, Echoes Of Enlightenment
This charm upgrades Music of the Spheres. Should a character pray to the Infernal for immortality, transformation or other things of a similar nature, the Infernal may choose to grant such a request by spending one willpower, unless the character has already been marked by Sanity-Shattering Instruction in which case the willpower is waived.
The supplicant hears music swell from between their ears, instructing them on the path to transcendence. They must pay one willpower to set their feet on this road and accept a Sorcerous mouth on their brain similar to that produced by Corporate Training Program. The mouth sings them of the beautiful butterfly they will become when they shed their chrysalis. It is Obvious to the character that this transformation is a fundamental change equivalent to death that will transform them into a new order of being.
The supplicant must offer cumulative sacrifices consisting of a total of seven Resources dots and/or health levels to the Infernal as part of successful prayer rolls before their transformation can begin. One they have done that, on the night of the next new moon, the character is twisted into becoming a first circle demon as a Desecration effect. This is equivalent to character death and may not be undone. Their species is one of the Infernal's choice that descends from them, or which they can create. The character gains the Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Appearance and Charms of their demonic breed, but retains all their other Attributes and Abilities, their Virtues and their Willpower. Their Essence is raised to meet the default Essence of their breed if it was not already higher.
By learning this Charm the warlock gains a demon species, and may purchase additional ones for 1xp each.
One thing I'm uncertain on is how I want to handle the various dream charms. In the one hand they are integral parts of the character and ones he would use often. On the other hand they are very much Oramu' charm tech and I don't want to step on his themes. Anyone have any ideas?
Last edited:
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
Just like how Ramethus could not be killed, for he was conflict and strife and strength born of hardship, and to raise arms against him was to feed him.
The Solars then murdered him.
I can personally attest, based on discussion in another thread, that the Vodak is one of the idea-tumors you should be cutting off of your Creation and incinerating as a matter of course. It's a boring, ridiculously contrived raid boss whose special snowflake immortality only exists to force players to follow the railroad tracks its module lays down for them.
To be specific, the way you kill it is by pulling a lever to activate a First Age Wonder that magically autokills it, even though the module also says the gathered might of the High First Age couldn't put a dent in it and they were forced to simply cede a section of land to the thing. While also building a magic Kryptonite ray that can instakill it, of course, but not actually bothering to use it.
Truly, a narrative tour de force that justifies ignoring one of the setting's most basic elements.
To paraphrase @Aleph, "I don't care if you're destined to be born again from the sword you thrust into the highest mountaintop of the north - I'm a Solar, and I say you stay dead."
You mean like pretty much the entirety of the Underworld? Like, "here lies the Queen of Suicides, her shattered corpse bloated and putrefying in a lake of her own tears. Your ancestors did this. Your ancestors laughed as they did this" is a pretty good way to hammer home that for all the injustice of the Primordials' reign, the Exalted Host's hands became just as bloody in the process of casting them down.
I mean, there should definitely be places like that in the Second Age, because of the postapocalyptic nature of the setting and general "the managers are all gone, so now the world is choking to death on its own aggregate mistakes and the influence of hostile outsiders" aesthetic. However, saying that there should be magical Villain Sues who invincibly out-invincible the protagonists and crush all that oppose them under their mountainous, earth-shaking plot armor is a bad idea of Lucasian proportions. Especially if they're as utterly boring and contrived as the Vodak.
If the Vodak is a powerful, ingenious statement of thematic intent for Exalted, then the gameline doesn't deserve to exist. Fortunately, it isn't.
Exalted's entire history is predicated on the idea that nothing is immortal or invincible. The Primordials thought they were eternal. The Solar Deliberative took it as read that their empire would last forever. The Shogunate states were convinced that the sacrifices they'd made would secure their descendants' peace and prosperity.
And in every single case, they were wrong.
Because Exalted is about being able to break things more easily than you can fix them, and eventually realizing that the reason your world is fucked is thanks to the endless procession of previous godlike overlords who had the same problem. To know the Ghost-Eating Technique is to live in a world of glass, to look at the Sun and Moon and be shaken by the fact that even such basic pillars of reality could be shattered into dust at your hands, that to you not even God is beyond harm.
- Location
- Ottawa
They didn't, though. Or at least I've never seen anything indicating that they did.
Again, they didn't. Or at least I've never seen anything indicating that they did.
This isn't actually true. A low-Essence Solar isn't gonna kill the Sun and Moon, not without getting a lot stronger. Ghost-Eating Technique isn't nearly enough to render the setting kill-able.
There are all kinds of monsters that you can't kill without jumping through hoops; I don't see any harm in monsters that you can't keep dead without jumping through hoops. And for basic setting reasons it's valuable to have various random mid-tier enemies survive the magic that killed the Primordials.
That being said, I'm not a big Vodak fan.