I actually really like the Dreaming Sea, and if it counts as gonzo, then I want more gonzo, please.
I don't think it's gonzo though, although in order for me to consider something gonzo it would have to at least approach the bar of "Chanta is utterly pacifist except the one time a year that they all flip out due to the machinations of magical nanobot hive-mind gods."
I mean, Ysyr is a city whose people who are all horrificaly mutated by an ancient Solar artifice whose leaders are all mortal sorcerers who have used their sorcery to reshape themselves into perfect forms. The Nighted City is a city of literal eternal night, Palanquin is an island held in the sky by 4 gigantic titan statues (that contains a gateway to Zen-Mu), Volivat is a city 600 feet below sea level, kept dry by surrounding dams, populated by 'Children of 10 Fathers' who are super-human, the greatest of which are comparable to dragonborn/sorcerers, and whose sewers are filled with the failed expiriments of trying to use more than 10 fathers.
I mean, Ysyr is a city whose people who are all horrificaly mutated by an ancient Solar artifice whose leaders are all mortal sorcerers who have used their sorcery to reshape themselves into perfect forms. The Nighted City is a city of literal eternal night, Palanquin is an island held in the sky by 4 gigantic titan statues (that contains a gateway to Zen-Mu), Volivat is a city 600 feet below sea level, kept dry by surrounding dams, populated by 'Children of 10 Fathers' who are super-human, the greatest of which are comparable to dragonborn/sorcerers, and whose sewers are filled with the failed expiriments of trying to use more than 10 fathers.
Chaya's never felt that weird to me, as a Stargate SG1 fan I had a huge sense of deja vu about the explaination for the Fire Trees, even though they never did that specific plot there was enough nanomachine badness that this feels like its been done before.
I don't like the East book write-up because Chaya only has the one plot hook and the more you talk about it in a major setting book, the more PCs know to stay away from it during the month of Resplendent Fire. So any expansion on the locale has a reponsibility to offer reasons why people would risk that.
Another sin I have for this is the characterisation of the Chayan people. The effects of the Radiolari on their behaviour are an obstacle to caring about them beyond a general desire to help people and not hurt the innocent when they're not in control of their actions.
Chaya's never felt that weird to me, as a Stargate SG1 fan I had a huge sense of deja vu about the explaination for the Fire Trees.
I don't like the East book write-up because Chaya only has the one plot hook and the more you talk about it in a major setting book, the more PCs know to stay away from it during the month of Resplendent Fire. So any expansion on the locale has a reponsibility to offer reasons why people would risk that.
Another sin I have for this is the characterisation of the Chayan people. The effects of the Radiolari on their behaviour are an obstacle to caring about them beyond a general desire to help people and not hurt the innocent when they're not in control of their actions.
I'm with Ichypa on this one. The Dreaming Sea is full of setting elements that would have fit comfortably in Robert Howard or Fritz Leiber. 2e was full of setting elements that would have fit comfortably in Doctor Who or Stargate. Even if they're both "gonzo" (and I'm still not really sure what's meant by that word in this context), they're very different kinds of gonzo.
Yeah, I've been sitting here going, "What is gonzo?" Are we talking Gurren Lagann, weird fantasy, or the works of Hunter S. Thompson?
Anyway, I think stuff like Chaya would still be in 3e. Hell, the nano-machine gods would probably still be in, too. It's just that I feel that 3e would likely describe them as "artificial gods that think as one" rather than explicitly say they're nano-machines. Chaya is an interesting way of showing off exactly how First Age crafting/sorcery can have an effect on the future, after all. It's just that, in order to get that Dying Earth feel back, they had to drastically reduce the casual access that everyone had to First Age stuff and really dial back the extremely blunt language that made First Age stuff seem like mundane Earth technology. Paragon is still ruled by a tyrant wielding a First Age artifact that helps him enforce his authoritarian control, but he can't arm his entire army with artifacts because they're not that common outside of Dragon-blooded society. Lookshy still has powered armor but it's probably not going to be assembly-line stuff (excepting the Gunzosha suits) with names like "Mark III Anti-Anathema Environmental Suit".
A more personal thing that pissed me off about where they went with Chaya.
A friend of mine made a Dawn Caste from there and based on the Devil Tiger of Larjyn and the fact it was in the East ended up making her character ethnically South Asian. Chayans were presented as having pale skin, white/blonde hair and violet eyes. Now you're probably asking couldn't she have had some foreign ancestry?
Compass East page 89 said:
Chayan children can only be born of a union between Chayan parents. Chayan fathers can produce children with non-Chayans, though the result is not Chayan. Chayan mothers cannot produce viable children with non-Chayans. Such attempts result in stillbirth
Basically, Chaya became a magically enforced white ethnostate.
Less of an issue, but it also made Chayan Dragon-Blooded impossible. So the whole scenario of some poor fuck exalts during Resplendent Fire and has their friends and family turn on then? That locked out the most numerous exalt type in a retcon of previously established setting material.
Seems unsurprising to me. They're complicated in different ways.
Here's one example: is it easier to understand Ex2's formally-explained 10-step attack resolution, or Ex3's totally-unexplained 16-ish step attack resolution?
I've seen sensible people on both sides of that one. Some people get lost in the formal explanation of Ex2, other people aren't quite sure how to use the ad-hocracy of Ex3.
Protean Creator Discipline
I have some misgivings about this charm requiring other charm purchases to be something else than a weaker Arete Shifting Prana, especially when Memory Drinking Meditation is Intelligence 3 to ASP's Craft 1. The incentive to kill people for their skills as part of the base charm was also part of the whole 'Lunars are terrifying monsters' theme.
God-Skinner's Art
How many Second Circles or the like are there that qualify as a monster or bestial spirit? I really like the bit about Eclipse Charms.
Shaping Hand Style
This charm seems a bit weak. Looking at pre-existing charms that let the player ignore the penalties for not having the proper tools, that effect is never seen as worth a charm purchase on its own, and the cost seems to be about 2m or less. Contagion Curing Hands in Solar Medicine costs 2m, but also adds (essence) successes to the roll, making it an extra mote efficient excellency with a free benefit. Your version of Craftsman Needs No Tools applies a 2m discount if the Solar has proper tools. The Lunar Dexterity charm Snake-Finger Style costs 5m and removes the need for subterfuge styled actions, but it also Double 9s on a bunch of subtle actions and the tool replacement is mentioned in the last sentence of the charm. Something 1m less expensive for tool removal alone seems over-costed.
One way of improving the charm that strikes out at me:
Give it a Protean effect that let's Lunars in shapes that don't have hands complete actions as if they had hands and human-level dexterity. The dog can pilot a boat, the parrot can shuffle cards, and the rat can cook a gourmet meal.
Another suggestion:
Increase the duration to Indefinite and let the Lunar keep acting without tools as long as the charm is active. Craft and Medicine take place on a dramatic, hours long timescale. Snake-Finger Style supplements shorter actions, but is also a strong dice-trick. As is, this charm can burn through a lot of motes in a scene that takes place in a shorter time-frame, and that's a lot of scenes that involve any possible tool use.
There's a charm in Appearance called Glance-Oration Technique that let's the Lunar pay 4m to make a single social influence action without the need for words or a common language, which is similar to forgoing the need for tools. The charm after it Perfect Symmetry, lets the Lunar use GOT for free while it's active and is scene-long. Shaping Hand Technique had the same Attribute minimums as the latter charm, but isn't as powerfully as being able to make silent, language ignoring social influence rolls for a scene. I suggest Indefinite rather than scene-long because Shaping Hand Technique supplements dramatic actions and those can go on for a while.
The idea is that the Charm makes up in breadth what it lacks in raw power. It applies to basically everything imaginable, after all. Each of those Charms is designed to enhance a narrow field.
That said, I like the Protean idea. I'll add that. Actually, come to think of it, I'll add it without the keyword. Hands chopped off? No problem!
Perhaps the Lunar sculpts the world like clay, making tools unnecessary. Perhaps she transforms her own fingers into whichever tools she needs. Perhaps she simply makes incredibly good use out of whatever she has. In any case, this Charm removes all penalties for missing or substandard tools from any roll with any Attribute. Moreover, it allows the Lunar to act as though she had two good hands regardless of her form or her level of injury. Truly impossible rolls remain impossible; the Lunar cannot play the flute without a flute. But she can make a crude wooden tube sound like a finely-made instrument, carve stone without a chisel, pick locks without lock-picks, row a boat without paddles, perform surgery without medical instruments, and otherwise make do, even if her thumbs have been cut off or she is currently in the form of a snake.
If this Charm is used on an Artifact creation roll, it provides the equivalent of a master's workshop. Although this Charm has multiple names to reflect the multiple ways Lunars do without tools, it is only one Charm.
I suppose I could make it indefinite, but I don't really see the need. You can use an Instant Charm to enhance a lengthy action, after all.
I can't speak for everyone here. But as the guy who started this sub-sub-topic, here's what I had in mind when I brought up the word:
Gonzo means weird, crazy, and out-of-place. Stuff that's far larger in scale than the typical game, or seemingly out-of-genre, or just hilariously strange. Stuff that doesn't quite seem like it belongs in the same game as Exalted's central story of pulp demigod politics.
2e had a lot of this stuff, and I think that was a good thing. I'm 100% in favour of the sun turning into a giant robot and beating up a scorpion larger than the world made entirely out of swirling teeth. It doesn't seem to fit alongside the story of two Dragonbloods dueling to settle a point of wounded pride, and that's good; I don't particularly like the way 3e tries to be tonally coherent.
Ideally, a world should pull in many directions at once. Earth is terribly incoherent genre-wise, and I think Creation should be too.
Yeah, I've been sitting here going, "What is gonzo?" Are we talking Gurren Lagann, weird fantasy, or the works of Hunter S. Thompson?
Anyway, I think stuff like Chaya would still be in 3e. Hell, the nano-machine gods would probably still be in, too. It's just that I feel that 3e would likely describe them as "artificial gods that think as one" rather than explicitly say they're nano-machines. Chaya is an interesting way of showing off exactly how First Age crafting/sorcery can have an effect on the future, after all. It's just that, in order to get that Dying Earth feel back, they had to drastically reduce the casual access that everyone had to First Age stuff and really dial back the extremely blunt language that made First Age stuff seem like mundane Earth technology. Paragon is still ruled by a tyrant wielding a First Age artifact that helps him enforce his authoritarian control, but he can't arm his entire army with artifacts because they're not that common outside of Dragon-blooded society. Lookshy still has powered armor but it's probably not going to be assembly-line stuff (excepting the Gunzosha suits) with names like "Mark III Anti-Anathema Environmental Suit".
When most people bring up 'Gonzo', they think of the old demotivators from 2006+; T-rexes in F14s and so on. They think of the hot-take, memetic dare I say Exalted that sells the game as one thing and fails to really convey what it's really about. (Not that there's truly a singular thing it's about, but the dilution is real.)
Basically 'gonzo' in the derogatory or degenerate sense is when things and behaviors in Exalted are included because they're absurd and amusing.
Gurren Lagaan is only gonzo insofar as the spectacle continues to escalate but the core themes are reinforced over and over by every subsequent setpiece. It never stops being what it's about, no matter how big or crazy the giant robots and hot-blooded speeches get. It's by no means perfect, and not everyone's going to find it entertaining. But Gurren Lagann is deliberately gonzo for effect.
Compare say Kill La Kill, which is also gonzo as all getout, with a patently absurd premise and visual storytelling techniques. Clothes as metaphor for imperialist fascism, nudity as the rebellion, the deliberate invocation of barely-clad magical girls in a hyper-violent fighting anime? It's at times too gonzo, and quite often sabotages itself with how it leaps between scathing criticism of fanservice culture, and gleefully indulging it with how it animates and frames various scenes and shots.
'Gonzo' as taken in the negative is arbitrary absurdist humor or setting direction. It can go in any number of directions and subtypes like how a saccharine care-bear-esque 'everything is nice and cool' world is gonzo compared to the grim darkness of the 41st millennium. Gonzo is often set in opposition to consistency, and sometimes making that exception is worth it! A lot of people who were attracted to Exalted though were sold on it being gonzo first, a serious stab at mythic hyborean fantasy second.
A friend of mine offered this interesting insight, which they called 'The Two Gokus Theory of Exalted Misunderstanding.'
Because you see, there are two Gokus. The first Goku is incredibly powerful, charismatic and likeable, super-competent, has a laundry list of special niche techniques, and has saved the universe like 5 times over from a variety of bad guys across multiple levels of existence and metaphysical strengths.
The second Goku is the Actual Goku, an idiot savant who muscles through everything by being too dumb to grasp nuance, who has put the universe in danger like 5 times over because it'd make for an Awesome Fight, and never even kissed his wife even after his kid was born.
Exalted is a game which says, "You're all that second Goku, and you have to pay XP to be the first one sometimes." Meanwhile the memetic cloud surrounding the game encourages everyone to believe they are the first Goku, and rages endlessly at the idea the second Goku is even hanging around, let alone is the assumed default.
Now this is not a 100% applicable all the time impression of Exalted, but a lot of people do come in wanting to play 'Formative Experience' moments from their fictional canons, DBZ being one of them.
I think so too, but then again this is made difficult by the fact that at times Creations very metaphysics seem to resist it happening. For example, disregarding everything else about the Dreaming Sea and the plot hooks located there, the thing I like most about it is simply that it's a fuck huge body of water on the goddamn opposite side of Creation from the West.
It was a mighty blow against the very geography of the setting trying to slot everything in the world into one of 5 slots. Not 9, because imo before 3e the intermediate directions were just which end of a Direction you were at, rather than being where the flavors of the cardinal Directions mingle to create unique locales in their own right.
Seriously. It has a well defined political arena, so you'd think it would be the go-to place for giving people who want to do courtly intrigue but don't want to do it in the Realm a place to do their thing. That in itself seems worthy of being fleshed out.
Except it's also a former satrapy that broke away from the Realm and joined the Federation of Rivers, and both the story of how a satrapy flipped the Realm the bird — back when the Empress was still around no less — and got away with it, and Port Calin being a point to explore the mixing of former Realm culture with the relatively new influence of the Federation, are utterly fascinating potential narratives.
It just absolutely blows my mind that they left all that to collect dust on the wayside in favor of a one-note isolationist nation.
So I'm working on a version of exalted which replaces Exaltations with martial arts. Here's a link if anyone is interested, I could use a second opinion.
Now this is not a 100% applicable all the time impression of Exalted, but a lot of people do come in wanting to play 'Formative Experience' moments from their fictional canons, DBZ being one of them.
Thinking about the Daystar always makes me wonder why the Sids simply didn't just steal it and beat the shit out of the Fae with it when they were invading. There's like, what, two sentient beings on it?
Also now that I think about it (I promise I'll stop posting about the bad shit from 2e but I wanna get this off my chest), I loathe 2e's take on the Ebon Dragon. 1e wasn't really detailed as much as his kin; Moran sure spent a lot of time talking about how he is very shadowy and spooky, but I got the sense from what little was displayed of his personality that he had a morbid fixation on death and doom as death was a part of his nature to begin with, and that he combines pessimism with the ego only a Yozi could have ("I can't possibly be trapped here forever, which would totally kick ass in my opinion; those hairless apes have to have fucked up somewhere, they're not a perfect being like me.") I hesitate to call other writers bad since I'm not at all good at it myself, but 2e's writers stretched that description out into making him the Christian Devil but in draconic form, and god that sucked.
Since those authors decided he needed to be the ultimate embodiment of evil, he had to out-evil the already existing evils of the setting, the Deathlords. This resulted in an evil arms race; oh sure, the Silver Prince might be smart and have a secret base where he makes First Age war ships, but the Ebon Dragon is super duper smart and put a secret mind control technique into a common martial art Sidereals learn! Oh, the Dowager likes to force children to become a traumatized deathknight? Well, the Ebon Dragon made Lilun even more traumatized! In addition, making the Unconquered Sun his opposite was tonally inconsistent, since I feel like since 1e, the Unconquered Sun has been a huge dick. He's well-meaning, sure, but he sat around playing video games while Creation was getting ransacked by the very thing he was made to destroy because one of the Solars offended him greatly; it's odd that he's metaphysically supposed to be the opposite of the shittiest being alive and yet also a huge dick who will let everyone die because he's rather miffed about the heresy of specific individuals.
Honestly hoping they dump that characterization of him and try to go with a different approach.
This honestly would lead to a rant I've had brewing for years now, which I will spare the thread, but the short version is 'People come into Exalted wanting to play [Classic or hit anime/game/comic] scenes effectively wholecloth, without recontextualizing them for Exalted or taking any meaningful attempt to reconcile the themes with the game.
Thinking about the Daystar always makes me wonder why the Sids simply didn't just steal it and beat the shit out of the Fae with it when they were invading. There's like, what, two sentient beings on it?
Also now that I think about it (I promise I'll stop posting about the bad shit from 2e but I wanna get this off my chest), I loathe 2e's take on the Ebon Dragon.
The thing about the Daystar, at the end of the day, is that it's not really a plot hook as a game would demand. It's a campaign premise sure, but it can't be organically revealed in-game. No (non-sidereal) player can start with knowledge of it, the storyteller can only really have a friendly NPC or antagonist reveal it's existence, and then the PCs have to decide to go for it. Basically it's root flaw, beyond just being far too gonzo for most people, is that it's increasingly obviously a 'fanfic' plot inserted into the game by Hatewheel.
And yes, Ebbie did get hit with the satan stick with increasing frequency as the game went on. It's not that he can't be a good villain- his arch typical concept (especially the early 2e take) lends itself well to it. I think though Ebbie was hurt by his own success- of all the Primordials, he's the only one that you're arguably supposed to talk to as 'You talking to The Ebon Dragon'. He's within human comprehension, and as such dodges the deity-voice problem of say Malfeas or Cecelyne.
Ebbie at the core is the most person-friendly yozi, in the sense of 'Can be interacted with'. And since only a handful of his souls are defined, we don't even really have a very good idea of his pantheonic agenda. It's easier to model Malfeas as 'A given number of his souls want X, Y and Z', and then Malfeas wants a synthesis of XYZ- or maybe he doesn't'. The point is that it's easier to treat the other yozis as pantheons of god-beings who happen to all be part of a greater titan who maybe speaks up once or twice in a singular voice.
Ebbie however comes off as a singular actor in a sub-setting that is very clearly meant to not encourage that. Erembour can't do anything, you're heavily discouraged from summoning her, and while she reveals something of Ebbie, she has no playable agenda of her own.
And yes, then they decided that Ebbie had to be evil. When in reality he only wanted to be antagonistic. The Sun/Ebbie split is... it honestly works fine if you just don't take it so far in either direction. The Sun is virtuous, driven by his passions and so on- and Ebbie by contrast is completely self indulgent and willfully incapable of being driven to do anything he doesn't want to. A lot of the failure of Ebbie in late 2e was rooted in trying to make the Sun too good as well- and people forgetting that he was Aztec Heart-Eating Sun Dinosaur Lucifer.
The Sun is not Optimus Prime Jesus Daddy. He is allowed to be petty and frustrated and make bad decisions as well as be honorable and compassionate and willing to do what it takes.
Thinking about the Daystar always makes me wonder why the Sids simply didn't just steal it and beat the shit out of the Fae with it when they were invading. There's like, what, two sentient beings on it?
Five reasons, any one of which could be sufficient:
1. It's not that easy. Thing's not undefended, and the Sidereals are no doubt uncertain about how far its defenses go. Will the Gardullis be unleashed if they attack it? Not a sensible risk to take.
2. There's no guarantee they could use it effectively if they did seize it by force. Perhaps a Sidereal-wielded Daystar would be an apocalyptic problem in itself.
3. Directly rebelling against the King of Heaven and stealing his domain / heart / companion is not a good idea. They had enough trouble fighting the fey, no sense adding the Incarnae to their list of opponents.
4. There's, like, ninety Sidereals. They will never do even one percent of the things that it would make sense for them to do. It's a small and idiosyncratic group, so "why didn't they" is rarely a good question for them.
5. It's utterly illegal and arguably immoral as well.
Also now that I think about it (I promise I'll stop posting about the bad shit from 2e but I wanna get this off my chest), I loathe 2e's take on the Ebon Dragon.
So I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on the Hack I just posted, specifically:
Does 10 charms per essence level sound about right? 50 Charms to get to E5 seems good to me, but I don't have the play experience to back it up
I changed Essence calculations to be the Sum of the Characters Way Ratings (Formerly Style Essence Rating) in order to encourage players to invest in multiple martial arts. This came with a few other minor balance changes. What are everyone's thoughts on these changes?
This hack is part of an Exalted Shard I am making which aims to change the Exaltations into something Learnable. As part of that some setting elements and themes have had to be tweaked. Specifically. the exaltations have always had a theme of the unfairness of power since people get them effectively at random. I would like to keep this theme, but update it for the fact that anyone could learn the Ways.
In theory. Because in practice learning the Ways isn't easy. It takes a lot of time, and effort, and reagents and knowledge to learn them, and not everyone has access to those kinds of things. And even if you do, you might not have the body for it. Or you might have access to only some of these things so you never do as well as the rich guy down the street who had access to all of them. Or you might have access to all this stuff but the philosophy of the Way you have access to doesn't mesh with your personality so you never get far. Etc. In the end its no more fair than being born into the power like a dynast.
So as part of that I was thinking of changing the Realm from a dynastic monarchy to a more romanesque republic, complete with blatant vote buys and such, in order to move the realm from British!Han Dynasty to American!Rome.
Anyone have suggestions for ways I could make the system obviously rigged in a way that is relatable while not being the exact same problems we have in real life? I'm going for metaphor not satire if that makes sense.
This honestly would lead to a rant I've had brewing for years now, which I will spare the thread, but the short version is 'People come into Exalted wanting to play [Classic or hit anime/game/comic] scenes effectively wholecloth, without recontextualizing them for Exalted or taking any meaningful attempt to reconcile the themes with the game.
Yes, exactly this about the fanon/power creep take on 2ed. I had first contact with Exalted thanks to Ten Thousand Broken Dreams and I [..acquired..] first edition Exalted book and seen that it's Conan the Barbarian and Tales of Flat Earth and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon inspired setting - mix that is my kind of jam. Charismatic barbarian that 8-10 times a day can be superhuman (mote pools being limited as they are), pulp sorcerers, martial artist that can balance on finest tree branch.. so I've always seen Exalts being closer to Conan's sword and sorcery than Goku-punch-out-planet-or-whatever it was[1].
[1] I honestly didn't watch even full season of Dragon Ball, and it was boring as hell as far as I remember.
So I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on the Hack I just posted, specifically:
Does 10 charms per essence level sound about right? 50 Charms to get to E5 seems good to me, but I don't have the play experience to back it up
I changed Essence calculations to be the Sum of the Characters Way Ratings (Formerly Style Essence Rating) in order to encourage players to invest in multiple martial arts. This came with a few other minor balance changes. What are everyone's thoughts on these changes?
This hack is part of an Exalted Shard I am making which aims to change the Exaltations into something Learnable. As part of that some setting elements and themes have had to be tweaked. Specifically. the exaltations have always had a theme of the unfairness of power since people get them effectively at random. I would like to keep this theme, but update it for the fact that anyone could learn the Ways.
In theory. Because in practice learning the Ways isn't easy. It takes a lot of time, and effort, and reagents and knowledge to learn them, and not everyone has access to those kinds of things. And even if you do, you might not have the body for it. Or you might have access to only some of these things so you never do as well as the rich guy down the street who had access to all of them. Or you might have access to all this stuff but the philosophy of the Way you have access to doesn't mesh with your personality so you never get far. Etc. In the end its no more fair than being born into the power like a dynast.
So as part of that I was thinking of changing the Realm from a dynastic monarchy to a more romanesque republic, complete with blatant vote buys and such, in order to move the realm from British!Han Dynasty to American!Rome.
Anyone have suggestions for ways I could make the system obviously rigged in a way that is relatable while not being the exact same problems we have in real life? I'm going for metaphor not satire if that makes sense.
So, after three weeks of slow Discord, the latest session of To Strike Against Hell is now up. This session was... fun and interesting and things quickly went very off the rails from Sakura's perspective.
We also actually used the social system a bit more, which is where some of the cases of Sakura taking a moment to study the demon she's talking to came from. And was also very helpful in keeping from offending Florivet.
Of course, then we had a combat to finish the whole thing off, which was fun and I finally went Maximum Anime.
Seems unsurprising to me. They're complicated in different ways.
Here's one example: is it easier to understand Ex2's formally-explained 10-step attack resolution, or Ex3's totally-unexplained 16-ish step attack resolution?
I've seen sensible people on both sides of that one. Some people get lost in the formal explanation of Ex2, other people aren't quite sure how to use the ad-hocracy of Ex3.
Weaker? It's literally a copy-paste.
To me, absorbing skills without absorbing memories feels weird. Just doesn't sit right with me.
I think the thematic statement is intact even if you need another Charm to eat skills.
I would think most of them. Monstrousness is a common part of being a demon, isn't it?
The idea is that the Charm makes up in breadth what it lacks in raw power. It applies to basically everything imaginable, after all. Each of those Charms is designed to enhance a narrow field.
That said, I like the Protean idea. I'll add that. Actually, come to think of it, I'll add it without the keyword. Hands chopped off? No problem!
Perhaps the Lunar sculpts the world like clay, making tools unnecessary. Perhaps she transforms her own fingers into whichever tools she needs. Perhaps she simply makes incredibly good use out of whatever she has. In any case, this Charm removes all penalties for missing or substandard tools from any roll with any Attribute. Moreover, it allows the Lunar to act as though she had two good hands regardless of her form or her level of injury. Truly impossible rolls remain impossible; the Lunar cannot play the flute without a flute. But she can make a crude wooden tube sound like a finely-made instrument, carve stone without a chisel, pick locks without lock-picks, row a boat without paddles, perform surgery without medical instruments, and otherwise make do, even if her thumbs have been cut off or she is currently in the form of a snake.
If this Charm is used on an Artifact creation roll, it provides the equivalent of a master's workshop. Although this Charm has multiple names to reflect the multiple ways Lunars do without tools, it is only one Charm.
I suppose I could make it indefinite, but I don't really see the need. You can use an Instant Charm to enhance a lengthy action, after all.
Anyway, thanks. And don't worry about rambling.
I can't speak for everyone here. But as the guy who started this sub-sub-topic, here's what I had in mind when I brought up the word:
Gonzo means weird, crazy, and out-of-place. Stuff that's far larger in scale than the typical game, or seemingly out-of-genre, or just hilariously strange. Stuff that doesn't quite seem like it belongs in the same game as Exalted's central story of pulp demigod politics.
2e had a lot of this stuff, and I think that was a good thing. I'm 100% in favour of the sun turning into a giant robot and beating up a scorpion larger than the world made entirely out of swirling teeth. It doesn't seem to fit alongside the story of two Dragonbloods dueling to settle a point of wounded pride, and that's good; I don't particularly like the way 3e tries to be tonally coherent.
Ideally, a world should pull in many directions at once. Earth is terribly incoherent genre-wise, and I think Creation should be too.
Sorry, I got a wire crossed about Arete-Shifting Prana. I forgot that after you buy 10 specialties it takes another charm purchase to get the Universal Craft Specialty. With that in mind, it's a good equivalency.
For God-Skinner's Art, I guess I was uncertain how bestial something monstrous had to be.
Shaping Hand Style looks good with the new effects. There may be room for something like your version of Essence-Forging Kata, where the Lunar would commit motes to be able to use it for fewer motes.
Seriously. It has a well defined political arena, so you'd think it would be the go-to place for giving people who want to do courtly intrigue but don't want to do it in the Realm a place to do their thing. That in itself seems worthy of being fleshed out.
Yeah, courtly intrigue benefits from words can you imagine someone having to say in about three sentences why they should care about Game of Thrones and its characters?
ichypa said:
Except it's also a former satrapy that broke away from the Realm and joined the Federation of Rivers, and both the story of how a satrapy flipped the Realm the bird — back when the Empress was still around no less — and got away with it, and Port Calin being a point to explore the mixing of former Realm culture with the relatively new influence of the Federation, are utterly fascinating potential narratives.
It just absolutely blows my mind that they left all that to collect dust on the wayside in favor of a one-note isolationist nation.
Shaping Hand Style looks good with the new effects. There may be room for something like your version of Essence-Forging Kata, where the Lunar would commit motes to be able to use it for fewer motes.
Maybe a second Charm purchase to permanently act without hands or tools for free would be fine. It's kind of a Statement, but I don't think it would actually break anything.
