Legend of Ruina
Growing eyes on the inside
Trying to open it gives me a notification I lack permission to see it.
General Exalted Thread
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's generally "Sidereal'd", but @ManusDomine is a silly Terrestrial
The only important thing to know about Dragon-Blooded is that Terrestrials rule, Anathema drool ya'll.
- Location
- Spain
Their name is still stupid, though.
- Location
- Germany
After some consideration I rewrote some of my charms, especeally Chartereuse Sovereign Audience, a bit.
Chartereuse Sovereign Audience is now a bit cheaper and I split it into a single target/location charm and a repurchase that allows the targetting of multiple places at once, as @Bursting Eagerness Soul suggested.
I also made the multi-target version more capable of precision, though still capable of 'accidentally' (read 'on narrative purpose') catching random explorers, trophy taking enemies and thieving Hobbitses, while leaving the Creation-wide targetting a viable option (changes bolded (EDIT: now also red)):
While I considered making the cost Magnitude based for a while, it struck me as a bit unwise as generally the Charms I wrote are supposed to encourage the player to build big and claim more territory.
Expansion alone quite frankly already has a lot resource expenditure attached to it, ignoring the problem that any large-scale Infernal infrastructure gets problems from Yu Shan.
Chattel Commanding Clamour had its cost also reduced to stop being Worse Infallible Messenger.
I also, after some thought, cut the mote cost of All-Prevading Skyfire Glower to 12m/6m , due to, once more, the inherent costs and risks of holding territory in Creation as an Infernal and the fact that big buildings are costly while the charm's effective power scales with the target structure's size.
If my charms are not cheap enough they become flat-out unusable as the investment they require offers not enough pay-off.
Does anyone have any issues with the changes or my charms in general, or can I commit the hubris of asking for a threadmark?
Chartereuse Sovereign Audience is now a bit cheaper and I split it into a single target/location charm and a repurchase that allows the targetting of multiple places at once, as @Bursting Eagerness Soul suggested.
I also made the multi-target version more capable of precision, though still capable of 'accidentally' (read 'on narrative purpose') catching random explorers, trophy taking enemies and thieving Hobbitses, while leaving the Creation-wide targetting a viable option (changes bolded (EDIT: now also red)):
While I considered making the cost Magnitude based for a while, it struck me as a bit unwise as generally the Charms I wrote are supposed to encourage the player to build big and claim more territory.
Expansion alone quite frankly already has a lot resource expenditure attached to it, ignoring the problem that any large-scale Infernal infrastructure gets problems from Yu Shan.
Chattel Commanding Clamour had its cost also reduced to stop being Worse Infallible Messenger.
I also, after some thought, cut the mote cost of All-Prevading Skyfire Glower to 12m/6m , due to, once more, the inherent costs and risks of holding territory in Creation as an Infernal and the fact that big buildings are costly while the charm's effective power scales with the target structure's size.
If my charms are not cheap enough they become flat-out unusable as the investment they require offers not enough pay-off.
Does anyone have any issues with the changes or my charms in general, or can I commit the hubris of asking for a threadmark?
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This can be proven by looking at the oWoD which as we know is the dark future of the world of Exalted.
There we see that Dragonbloods have sweet superpowers like being able to set their own skulls on fire and spit flame or detach their head and spine from their body to attack people like an angry skull-snake
Whereas Solars get to... glow slightly golden and deal aggravated damage with a baseball bat or something.
Also Solars don't get any martial arts in the default book
Dragonbloods get martial arts in the default book which are only moderately worse than Do, a Primordial Martial Art (which is therefore better than all Sidereal Martial Arts)
Clearly this means that Dragonbloods can learn even better martial arts than Solars
*sage nod*
- Location
- my house
Sorry about that, just changed the access and it should work now.
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
You'll be pleased to know that the secret society I'm writing up for GSBS has "encountering an unaffiliated Terrestrial Exalt during operations" as the second most serious and potentially disastrous situation they could run into:
Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
The new version looks much better. I especially like the targeting conditions you put in. They seem like they'd make for some interesting shenanigans. That said, you might want to clarify what happens if someone you something wakes up the affected people that isn't them actively spending willpower to reject the charm. Is it even possible for them to wake up without spending the willpower?1 Also, the "lol I'm sauron" example was hilarious. Is this going to end up with a shintai that turns you into an enormous all-seeing tower, or is that a Heretical spin-off using Qaf charms?
1 If it isn't, this would let you do some cool shit with enemies in one of your buildings. Like, hitting them with this and then sending your army in to slaughter them in their sleep.
Sasha
Not the Leader
- Location
- The Ever After
We just had a little spur-of-the-moment PbP session, so I present to you Session 1.5 of Solar Shenanigans:
TL;DR I managed to seduce an ancient Solar manse without even meaning to. I think I just won the game.
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
I at one point thought up an idea for a Sauron Tower Shintai that grew out of the Malfeas-as-city Charm tree, where you go from "I am the hideous tyrant who destroys all who oppose me" to "I am the tyrant, trapped in his own stony, cancerous flesh, who still wields power through his many servants, and fester within the land where I lie immobile like an urban infection upon its skin".
I'm pretty sure @EarthScorpion came up with multiple reasons why it wasn't a good idea, though. Definitely something for @rogthnor's Devil Tiger rules, though. @EarthScorpion also advocated for Infernals to be able to accidentally screw themselves over if they weren't careful with their Charm purchases, with the Malfeas fuckup being described as "architectural Akira". You could probably get away with a foolish Infernal who did that to themselves and then went Devil Tiger to try and squirm free of their self-inflicted torment. Likely with mixed results.
- Location
- Germany
There is really no need for it to be a shintai. All you need are charms that expand you range of vision. You either:
- Build a tower using August Architect Metousiosis. Use the indefinite effect of Boundless Cognizance Imprisonment, at the cost of 8 motes, a -1 mobility penalty and a lock on having to act through Malfeas' Excellency for important actions, to include the tower's exterior walls in your perception. You may now use, for example, Revlid's World-Scouring Emerald Glare at E4+ for a scene-long, obvious, omnidirectional Keen Sight Technique ignoring darkness and fog, manifesting as a bright green halo on the tower. This costs you, aside from building the tower, 12m and the penalties from BCI. You may add All-Prevading Skyfire Glower for 12m, 2wp/6m, 1wp to add the effect of Eye of The Unconquered Sun to it. Apply additional perception boosters as needed.
- Forge an unwieldy burning eye Artifact using AAM that grants you boosted long range perception within its area of influence. AAM makes its attunement indefinite, allowing you install to it on top of a tower, and turn it into part of yourself with the indefinite version of BCI. An Artifact 5 Eye of Sauron should be rather impressive and using All-Prevading Skyfire Glower on the tower also hits this with Eye of the Unconquered Sun, due to the eye being built into it. Apply additional perception boosters as needed.
I knew precisely what I was doing when I wrote these charms
- Location
- my house
I've actually been thinking about something along those lines as how to handle Elder Infernal's. I really like the idea of changing the game by completely changing what they are. So for instance maybe they become giant towers who can only interact with the world through their minions.
So a variation on E6+ Alchemicals then.
- Location
- my house
Yes and no. While I definitely think that the E6 Alchemical stuff is cool, the Sauron idea was just an example. Mainly I want to expand the play options available to characters at high Essence levels. An Essence 10 Infernal can be the evil dark lord who's array of Socerous towers must be crushed before he can be defeated ala @EarthScorpion's Sorcery homebrew. However he should also be able to be the mysterious dungeon under the mountain which draws adventures in with promises of riches only to drive corrupt them with the terrible knowledge held within. Releasing the adventures back out into the world to spread the gospel of the NEW GOD! Basically at high levels of play I would like Infernal's to have the option of becoming DnD style adventure modules.
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
Hymn Paslap's Blood
Terrestrial Sorcery
Target:
30m
The Sorcerer chants the hymn of boiling earth, and at its crescendo strikes the earth. From anywhere within 50 yards of the Sorcerer, a rend in the earth (essence x2) yards wide will manifest. From this wound in the earth magma will boil up and spread to a radius of (essence x 20) meters. Anyone standing near the lava flow (Essence Yards) suffer as if they were in a bonfire, if they are actually unfortunate enough to stand in or touch the lava itself, the damage is double and ignores armor or soak. Once the scene is done, the crack in the earth closes and the lava begins to cool into a slab solid volcanic rock about 2 or 3 yards high.
While this spell is mainly used for warfare, block a charge or melting a fortress wall, it has other uses as well, such as geomatic sabotage, strengthening a Earth or Fire demesne or creating or expanding an island, though the depending on the depth of sea or lake in question, that can take a long, long time.
Not sure about this, I like the theory, but I think the mechanics could use some work.
Terrestrial Sorcery
Target:
30m
The Sorcerer chants the hymn of boiling earth, and at its crescendo strikes the earth. From anywhere within 50 yards of the Sorcerer, a rend in the earth (essence x2) yards wide will manifest. From this wound in the earth magma will boil up and spread to a radius of (essence x 20) meters. Anyone standing near the lava flow (Essence Yards) suffer as if they were in a bonfire, if they are actually unfortunate enough to stand in or touch the lava itself, the damage is double and ignores armor or soak. Once the scene is done, the crack in the earth closes and the lava begins to cool into a slab solid volcanic rock about 2 or 3 yards high.
While this spell is mainly used for warfare, block a charge or melting a fortress wall, it has other uses as well, such as geomatic sabotage, strengthening a Earth or Fire demesne or creating or expanding an island, though the depending on the depth of sea or lake in question, that can take a long, long time.
Not sure about this, I like the theory, but I think the mechanics could use some work.
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RedV
Refuelling
- Location
- Right here
That could invalidate certain charms (like, you can't use the Desert body Shintai if you are permanently a mini ocean oozing hate and tar), so it'd need to be a careful compromise. How would you set rules for using human scale charms (crafting charms, dancing) if you are a tower with no hands and no mobility, for example?
Wasn't the name Pasiap?
The part about opening rents in the Earth is great, but the sorcerer is very likely to be harmed by his own spell here (it's a straight AoE, he needs to be within 50 yards of rift to fire it, lava spreads 3*20 + 60 meters at minimum and does damage for 3+ yards around that)
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- Location
- Singapore
A miniaturized version of magma kraken?
Huh.
First time I've seen a Solar successfully out social'd by someone who isn't a peer. Even if they did come to mutually satisfactory(heh) terms.
DB Pepper looks to be fun, and also a bundle of Complications; someone with that many references would have options other than working for a new Anathema sorceress in Gem.
Odds are she's running from something/someone and that contract she's being so cagey about commits Inks to act in her defence. OR she's looking for something/someone that requires a sorcerer to find.
And the Despot has a covert fifth Sorceress?
And one loyal enough to be willing to remain lowkey as a surprise, which tends to go against the tendencies of most sorcerers.
Your Gem is full of surprises.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh hai, I had this sitting in my workingspace document half done that I just found when I went to go write another Charm.
Have one of my two possibilities for an Elloge geomancy charm, the one where you declare "IN THIS AREA, WE'RE WORKING IN THIS GENRE BITCHES".
I may not settle with this. The other alternative was that Elloge got no permanent geomancy Charm, but instead could effectively Wyld-shape Creation into a stage (with an Illusion covering up that everything was obviously fake, and if you saw through the Illusion you could go 'backstage' and move through the real landscape rather than the fake one).
I'd appreciate thoughts on which one sounds better.
Pathetic Fallacious Stage
Cost: 13m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple (15 minute Dramatic Action)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sorcerous, Shaping, Ichor, Obvious, Touch
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Casting Coveted Crowns
The cold blood of Elloge pools in low places in the Demon Realm, subjugating geography to hagiography.
Opening her veins, the warlock lets her fantasies flow out. Her blood soaks into the landscape and makes it pulse to her narrative heart, out to a radius of (Linguistics x 100) yards. Trees quiver in fear, clouds weep and the wind screams. Obtuse symbolism and thematic resonance weaves itself into the world, and the Infernal's blood oozes from dark places. Any Wyld-tainted land within the affected area immediately becomes part of Creation.
When activating this charm, the character declares a genre which holds effect in this location. Examples include "sappy romances", "blood-soaked horror", or "political melodramas". Within the area of effect, the weather and the landscape mutate to enable this genre. In the land of "sappy romances", there are never clouds and every plant blooms with roses, while in the land of "blood-soaked horror" it is perpetually dark and stormy and the crops are blighted. All actions in line with the genre have their difficulty reduced by 1, to a minimum of 0, while all actions opposed to the genre suffer a -1 external penalty. Extras experience a unnatural Compulsion to act in line with the genre, which costs one willpower to resist for a week. Characters can deduce the narrative that holds sway in the land with a successful (Perception + Lore) roll at Difficulty 3, and see the unnatural Ellogean origin of the changes to the landscape and the way extras act with a Difficulty 5 (Wits + Occult) roll.
Repeated stories dig deeper into the landscape. For each week that passes, the affected radius increases by 25 yards per dot of magnitude of residents within the area who conduct at least one action with a reduced penalty. The fallacious stage becomes a persistent Blasphemy upon exceeding five miles in radius. 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.
Have one of my two possibilities for an Elloge geomancy charm, the one where you declare "IN THIS AREA, WE'RE WORKING IN THIS GENRE BITCHES".
I may not settle with this. The other alternative was that Elloge got no permanent geomancy Charm, but instead could effectively Wyld-shape Creation into a stage (with an Illusion covering up that everything was obviously fake, and if you saw through the Illusion you could go 'backstage' and move through the real landscape rather than the fake one).
I'd appreciate thoughts on which one sounds better.
Pathetic Fallacious Stage
Cost: 13m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple (15 minute Dramatic Action)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sorcerous, Shaping, Ichor, Obvious, Touch
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Casting Coveted Crowns
The cold blood of Elloge pools in low places in the Demon Realm, subjugating geography to hagiography.
Opening her veins, the warlock lets her fantasies flow out. Her blood soaks into the landscape and makes it pulse to her narrative heart, out to a radius of (Linguistics x 100) yards. Trees quiver in fear, clouds weep and the wind screams. Obtuse symbolism and thematic resonance weaves itself into the world, and the Infernal's blood oozes from dark places. Any Wyld-tainted land within the affected area immediately becomes part of Creation.
When activating this charm, the character declares a genre which holds effect in this location. Examples include "sappy romances", "blood-soaked horror", or "political melodramas". Within the area of effect, the weather and the landscape mutate to enable this genre. In the land of "sappy romances", there are never clouds and every plant blooms with roses, while in the land of "blood-soaked horror" it is perpetually dark and stormy and the crops are blighted. All actions in line with the genre have their difficulty reduced by 1, to a minimum of 0, while all actions opposed to the genre suffer a -1 external penalty. Extras experience a unnatural Compulsion to act in line with the genre, which costs one willpower to resist for a week. Characters can deduce the narrative that holds sway in the land with a successful (Perception + Lore) roll at Difficulty 3, and see the unnatural Ellogean origin of the changes to the landscape and the way extras act with a Difficulty 5 (Wits + Occult) roll.
Repeated stories dig deeper into the landscape. For each week that passes, the affected radius increases by 25 yards per dot of magnitude of residents within the area who conduct at least one action with a reduced penalty. The fallacious stage becomes a persistent Blasphemy upon exceeding five miles in radius. 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.
Grounders10
Nine-Tailed Kitsune
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada, Mars
*Records idea for future use*
Bring in some Oramus charms to a "gothic horror" stage and you've got yourself some Bloodborne.
On the other hand, Elloge is the castrated remnants of He Who etc. etc., and it would make sense for her geomancy charms to be weaker and/or have a nasty point of failure, since she can't create anything truly unique anymore.
Kinda torn. Since we don't have the other potential charm I can't say for sure, but I'm leaning towards favoring the one you've written here. Mechanically, every Yozi should have some kind of permanent geomancy charm to highlight their ability to impose their own mythos and corrupt the world.
On the other hand, Elloge is the castrated remnants of He Who etc. etc., and it would make sense for her geomancy charms to be weaker and/or have a nasty point of failure, since she can't create anything truly unique anymore.
Shouldn't the countermagic a bit more potent here? It really feels that at least adamant countermagic could just dispel the whole thing in line; given the existence of the shadowlands cleansing spell, and these things aren't nearly as tough to clear out as shadowlands.
- Location
- Germany
Personally I prefer the 'narrative enforcing' geomancy you posted, if only because it is rather straightforward, while
Ignoring the fact that the proposed charm sounds far too much like filthy Raksha nonsense [1], having to play with two layers of landscape/reality at once, while also factoring in stunts and charms that further alter the, or rather, one of the landscapes seems like it could potentially end a session right there, as everyone gets confused as to what is real for whom and what interacts with what.
For example: One character hides behind a pillar for cover, but that pillar is part of the 'stage'. Somebody now lights that pillar on magical fire. Does the fire exist for the guy 'backstage' who ignores the pillar, and if so, how can he affect it, if what it burns is not real?
The concept is interesting, but I see no way that it could be actually playable without marginalizing its effects to a level which would make it worthless.
Flavour wise, would it not also cause a hellish amount of fate-errors and attract Sidereal attention as causality stopps working for, like, more than half the area's population, who run on Illusion logic instad?
For that matter the posted charm also seems like it could mess fate up something fierce, by overlaying a contradictory narrative on an area, leading to a full derail of destinies, as murder plots made to fail suddenly succed, and loves meant to fail bear fruit etc..
Oh and, when you say 'permanent geomancy' - I was under the impression that as Indefinite charms they are merely maintained charms that lock out some motes, and not actually permanent effects like wyld-shaping, was I mistaken or is this just phrasing?
Edit: Nevermind, my memory failed me
[1]: Elloge has that risk in general IMO, mirroring that other Oramus charmset that predated yours
seems quite frankly rather hellish to play with.
Ignoring the fact that the proposed charm sounds far too much like filthy Raksha nonsense [1], having to play with two layers of landscape/reality at once, while also factoring in stunts and charms that further alter the, or rather, one of the landscapes seems like it could potentially end a session right there, as everyone gets confused as to what is real for whom and what interacts with what.
For example: One character hides behind a pillar for cover, but that pillar is part of the 'stage'. Somebody now lights that pillar on magical fire. Does the fire exist for the guy 'backstage' who ignores the pillar, and if so, how can he affect it, if what it burns is not real?
The concept is interesting, but I see no way that it could be actually playable without marginalizing its effects to a level which would make it worthless.
Flavour wise, would it not also cause a hellish amount of fate-errors and attract Sidereal attention as causality stopps working for, like, more than half the area's population, who run on Illusion logic instad?
For that matter the posted charm also seems like it could mess fate up something fierce, by overlaying a contradictory narrative on an area, leading to a full derail of destinies, as murder plots made to fail suddenly succed, and loves meant to fail bear fruit etc..
Edit: Nevermind, my memory failed me
[1]: Elloge has that risk in general IMO, mirroring that other Oramus charmset that predated yours
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