General Exalted Thread

[horngeek]

Scroll of Errata is silent on the subject... um. On a certain level, it does make sense for the Abyssal Charm in this area to be a bit more powerful than the Solar one, because one of the concepts of Oblivion is that it's unchanging.

I would, personally, make the anti-Shaping part of DSD an optional extra, that required a larger cost to activate. (I'd also make it explicit that the area affected by the base Charm counted as part of the Underworld).

 

[Gnarker]

Getting extra motes in combat is one of the more powerful effects one can have? Your motes are your life. Getting more of them is really good. That's why almost every combat-time mote-regen charm was errata'd to provide Overdrive motes instead.

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So combo'ing these two (Abyssal) charms...:

Screaming Mealstrom Maw

The Abyssal sucks in a great and long breath of air, and gravewind rushes into his mouth with with a shrieking noise, never to be seen again. Around him forms a Vortex (Essence x 5) yards across, dragging everyone within towards him by (Essence) yards every turn as a Knockback effect. Immaterial Beings such as Ghosts are particularly susceptible and double the Knockback.
If an Immaterial Being would normally touch the Abyssal while this Charm is active, it has to either evade, brace itself somehow, or otherwise defend. It rolls (Essence + appropriate attribute and ability), with the Abyssal's Essence as target. If it fails, it is dragged into his mouth by the howling air, likely howling alongside it, and ends up in the Abyssal's House of Eternity-provided space (or can propably just be swallowed and eaten directly, see Cold Soul Furnace).

This Charm also rips free any fresh ghosts from corpses in the area of effect, should any have yet to rise.

Obviously, for the duration of this Charm the Abyssal may not use his mouth for anything else.


Cold Soul Furnace

The Abyssal devours a ghost and burns it's Essence for sustenance. He may now regain motes by eating a ghost in the much same way that drinking someone's blood allows.

If the Abyssal also knows House of Eternity, he can also attempt to devour one of the ghosts within, provided he can stop the ghost from resisting and fleeing from his soul post-haste.

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... to
1. rip free any ghosts-to-be from the corpses in the area, if there are any,...
2. draw all ghosts around you in and swallow them up, and then...
3. break said ghosts down into motes as if they were mortals who you just drained of blood,...
4. giving you more motes, likely with which to kill more people, which will in turn produce ghosts again,...
5. rinse and repeat

would be a big no-no then?

 

[Kaiya]

So combo'ing these two (Abyssal) charms...:



... to
1. rip free any ghosts-to-be from the corpses in the area, if there are any,...
2. draw all ghosts around you in and swallow them up, and then...
3. break said ghosts down into motes as if they were mortals who you just drained of blood,...
4. giving you more motes, likely with which to kill more people, which will in turn produce ghosts again,...
5. rinse and repeat

would be a big no-no then?

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Kinda, yeah. In general, any mote regen Charms need to be overdrives, which give you a mote to a special pool every time you fulfill certain conditions, like, say, deal damage to someone who damaged you, or dodged an attack by going immaterial, ect, ect. Overdrives tend to reward you for fighting in a specific way, usually in a way stereotypical of the splat, or in a way reminiscent of the theme of the Charmtree. Something like this should be an overdrive like...you get an offensive mote every time you drain an enemy, mortal or not, of blood

The pool also needs a cap, usually it's ten motes, and in general you can't gain more than one mote per tick.

 

[Gnarker]

Snip

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So, how does the Abyssal vampirism play into it? As is, the Abyssal mote-economy is somewhat special, in that they don't respire motes in the places where the majority of action goes on; Is there any kind of errata to make them 2.5-metagame-compliant?

Anyway, thanks for answering. I've been asking about my attempts at homebrew repeatedly, especiall such things as pricing, other numerical values, and general balancing, and not getting more than a single response has been amazingly unhelpful. I couldn't, coincidentally, trouble you to take a look, could I?

 

[notthepenguins]

So, how does the Abyssal vampirism play into it? As is, the Abyssal mote-economy is somewhat special, in that they don't respire motes in the places where the majority of action goes on; Is there any kind of errata to make them 2.5-metagame-compliant?

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Abyssals regain motes as fast as everyone else does in combat time. They don't need any fixes to make them 2.5-compliant in a purely combat balance sense. Something that lets them eat ghosts to regen motes out of combat would probably be fine, depending on how you did it.

 

[Kaiya]

So, how does the Abyssal vampirism play into it? As is, the Abyssal mote-economy is somewhat special, in that they don't respire motes in the places where the majority of action goes on; Is there any kind of errata to make them 2.5-metagame-compliant?

Anyway, thanks for answering. I've been asking about my attempts at homebrew repeatedly, especiall such things as pricing, other numerical values, and general balancing, and not getting more than a single response has been amazingly unhelpful. I couldn't, coincidentally, trouble you to take a look, could I?

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I need to correct myself, a friend pointed out I made a mistake. Pure regen with no conditions attached is one per action, regen that is conditional can be, depending on the condition, anywhere between two and five motes per action, or occasionally 'Essence/2' or 'Essence'. And I actually did respond to the first set of those Charms back when you first posted them. Unfortunately, I wouldn't even begin to know how to balance Crafting Charms, I won't be able to help you there.

 

[Gnarker]

And I actually did respond to the first set of those Charms back when you first posted them.

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So you did, my bad, should have checked. Still doesn't help me any more than anything since. Nonetheless, thank you.

 

[beowolf]

Does anyone have links to currently running exalted games that have openings for new players? Especially ones that run TAW? I've wanted to play one since I read the doc on them, but I think most of my ideas are things I'd have to go over with the individual GM, because I'm fairly certain they're all broken, but might be acceptable depending on the game.

 

[Aaron Peori]

So, how does the Abyssal vampirism play into it?

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In the same way Lunar's werewolfism should play into it; that is, not at all.

Turning Abyssals into vampires was one of the worse decisions in the line history. They're Exalts. They breath Essence anywhere they damn well please. If an Abyssal wants to drink blood? That's his preference not his obligation.

 

[Walker of the Yellow Path]

Are there any fixes or Homebrew for the 2 or 2.5 combat system that makes it go a little faster? I've come to be afraid if saying "roll Join Battle" in games with my friends because everytime it just slows the pace of the game down immensely. And once it does that, people start pulling their laptops and DS's out whilst waiting for their turns and it kills the interest in the game.

 

[Chloe Sullivan]

There's the generic RPG speed ups. have everyone pre-prep. As a DM i got sick enough of people not pre-prepping that my rule became "if you have to look it up, you don't get to use it. It should be in front of you, written down."

Visual aids also help people put their thoughts together faster. For exalted, have a visual tick tracker, and have your players keep a mote tracker.

 

[notthepenguins]

Charm cards might also help - each player has each of their combat-relevant Charms on a card, and can thus attach them together to more quickly and easily 'see' a combo.

 

[horngeek]

Iirc, you don't need to go through every step for every attack. Possibly get the people to roll to hit and damage at the same time, although you then run into the problem of threshold successes.

This is one of the areas that 2e is really bad at, though.

 

[azoicennead]

Iirc, you don't need to go through every step for every attack. Possibly get the people to roll to hit and damage at the same time, although you then run into the problem of threshold successes.

This is one of the areas that 2e is really bad at, though.

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Once my players figure out what the fuck they're going to do, the turn usually resolves within a couple minutes.
It's when they spend ~20 minutes figuring out what they'll do that combat slows down.

So, to answer the question:

Are there any fixes or Homebrew for the 2 or 2.5 combat system that makes it go a little faster? I've come to be afraid if saying "roll Join Battle" in games with my friends because everytime it just slows the pace of the game down immensely. And once it does that, people start pulling their laptops and DS's out whilst waiting for their turns and it kills the interest in the game.

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Tell players when their turn is coming so they plan ahead a bit. Have them prepare their expected dice rolls. Make sure they know what their charms do.
Pray that's enough.

 

[Aldon]

Are there any fixes or Homebrew for the 2 or 2.5 combat system that makes it go a little faster? I've come to be afraid if saying "roll Join Battle" in games with my friends because everytime it just slows the pace of the game down immensely. And once it does that, people start pulling their laptops and DS's out whilst waiting for their turns and it kills the interest in the game.

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Is your problem player speed or combat speed.

For slow players enforce a time limit on choices if it's not met skip them they spent their time thinking. I also like making everyone acting in a given phase declare their actions at the beginning of the phase slowest to fastest then resolving them concurrently if possible or fastest to slowest otherwise. Players should be planning their next action before their next turn comes up so push the timing till they start doing this.

If it's combat speed favour offensive stunts over defensive and go in with the enemies planning to burn through their power in X actions then retreat so they hold less back.

 

[greensun]

Alright, I've got a few custom Ebon-Dragon Charm that needs a going over, anyone have some advice for me?

Living Shadow Charms

Cost 2m; Mins:Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Ok, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Loom-Snarling Deception
It pays to be careful near the shadow of an Infernal, you never know when you'll trip on nothing.

With this charm, an Infernal may stretch out their own shadow and trip a character within (Manipulation)*10 yards. The shadow snarling on the victims own and pulling them down. Unless the afflicted character succeeds on an Integrity roll at a difficulty of the Infernal's (Essence), They are automatically knocked prone. It is possible to stunt away the Obvious nature of the charm, if for example you can maneuver your victim to stand in your shadow by choice.

A repurchase at Essence four adds the option to immobilize them instead of tripping them, holding them in place as shadows wrap around them as they helplessly struggle against the shadows that now bind them at the cost 3 extra motes.

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Cost: 10M, 1W ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Sorcerous
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Noon-As Night Evocation
The Ebon-Dragon's shadow hides worlds and wonders unseen in its darkness, only he knows the true extent of his horde, and the only replay he gives when asked is a smile and a wiggle of his mile long whiskers.

When an Infernal activates this charm, he may place a number of objects weighing no greater than (Essence)*10 pounds into his shadow, tendrils of darkness grasping greedily at the items as they devour them. later on, the Infernal may retrieve these items from his shadow as a reflexive action by reaching into his Shadow-Horde and pulling them out.

This charm is automatically deactivated if the shadow is specifically targeted by the appropriate counter-magic; weapons and coins appearing as the shadow dissolves. It is also possible that the Infernal may be unable to access their shadow if they are in a location that is too bright for their shadow to reasonably be able to be cast, at the storytellers discretion.

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[Skelm]

Can someone point me to the rules regarding using archery charms with artillery?

 

[beowolf]

Well, since I've been unable to find any Exalted games that are accepting new players to join in, I figure I might as well post both of the most broken things I saw in the TAW Charms and see what the consensus on their applicability is.

Can multiple instances of Dreaming Heart World be used at the same time? Also, what book is Mutagenic in? I've checked both Dreams of the First Age and Oadenol's Codex, and didn't see that manse power.

Change-Accepting Adaptation allows the Lunar to spend "one Willpower to remove any mutation affecting her" and add them to her form library. Does this mean all of them at once, or can they be cherry picked? If bonus points were spent on mutations at character creation, would this turn those mutations into XP at the rate of two XP per mutation point, as mentioned in the mutation rules? Do the Wyld mutation rules hold, and if you go into XP debt to pay for the new mutations, doesn't XP debt only eat up half of the xp you get afterwards until it's gone, rather than all of it?

 

[notthepenguins]

Shadow-Snare Trick

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The defender's roll is nearly impossible to make at the best of times, and the repurchase just makes it worse. This is too powerful.

Dragon's Tenebrous Horde

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This is fine, probably too expensive even, but needs a clause explaining how it stacks.

Well, since I've been unable to find any Exalted games that are accepting new players to join in, I figure I might as well post both of the most broken things I saw in the TAW Charms and see what the consensus on their applicability is.

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Well, @Imrix or @Revlid could give you The Real Answers, but I'll do my best.

Can multiple instances of Dreaming Heart World be used at the same time?

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I don't see why not.

Also, what book is Mutagenic in?

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It's from Ink Monkeys.

Change-Accepting Adaptation allows the Lunar to spend "one Willpower to remove any mutation affecting her" and add them to her form library. Does this mean all of them at once, or can they be cherry picked?

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"Any mutation," singular. You have to remove them individually.

If bonus points were spent on mutations at character creation, would this turn those mutations into XP at the rate of two XP per mutation point, as mentioned in the mutation rules? Do the Wyld mutation rules hold, and if you go into XP debt to pay for the new mutations, doesn't XP debt only eat up half of the xp you get afterwards until it's gone, rather than all of it?

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No, you're being an asshole and your GM smacks you. The benefit you get is "The mutations are gone," not "Yay free XP."

 

[beowolf]

I don't see why not.

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Because the main reason I want it is for Moonlit Gate Practice and Geomantic Nexus, which I feel would be a fairly powerful combo.

It's from Ink Monkeys.

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Cool, thanks.

"Any mutation," singular. You have to remove them individually.


No, you're being an asshole and your GM smacks you. The benefit you get is "The mutations are gone," not "Yay free XP."

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While I expected the second answer, at least for the Wyld mutations part, which is why I explicitly mentioned these were the most overpowered things I could see, I'm not seeing what's wrong with using a charm to convert paid-for mutations into XP. Thus, the ones bought at char-gen, which makes this a way to turn BP into XP, which is something that I know hasn't happened yet, but I have literally never understood why there isn't a system for. It's something I've wanted since I first found WoD, then Exalted, but it's never happened. Even if it normally wouldn't be used, because BP are more cost-efficient, I always thought there should be an option for it.

 

[notthepenguins]

I'm not seeing what's wrong with using a charm to convert paid-for mutations into XP. Thus, the ones bought at char-gen, which makes this a way to turn BP into XP, which is something that I know hasn't happened yet, but I have literally never understood why there isn't a system for. It's something I've wanted since I first found WoD, then Exalted, but it's never happened. Even if it normally wouldn't be used, because BP are more cost-efficient, I always thought there should be an option for it.

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Now, I think BP is a shoddily-executed, dumb system. But there is no system to convert the one to another because the design intent was that you don't; why would there be? The entire point of BP is different cost incentives, and letting someone swap BP to XP (or vice versa) totally defeats that purpose.

If you want to not use BP, houserule in an XP-gen system, or houserule in getting BP instead of XP. "I can get Mutations with BP, then use a charm bought at chargen to turn them into XP" is just a dumb, exploitative mechanism of trying to bypass a system rather than just houseruling it away. Your GM should not allow it without houseruling away pure-BP chargen, and if your GM houserules away pure-BP chargen it's a pointless 'trick.'

 

[Cosar]

Given that it's transferring a stronger currency to a weaker one, I'd allow it. Especially since it does have a potential point(gaining mutations early on). Probably would dictate that you can't spend the xp gained till in game.

It's not like the abusive "start the game at Essence 6" Infernal.

 

[beowolf]

Given that it's transferring a stronger currency to a weaker one, I'd allow it. Especially since it does have a potential point(gaining mutations early on). Probably would dictate that you can't spend the xp gained till in game.

It's not like the abusive "start the game at Essence 6" Infernal.

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That's the other attitude I expected, although it probably misses the reason why it's broken (yes, I happen to like arguing both sides. If I'm doing this outside of a game, I want to see the arguments possible, and figure out a compromise that lets me use the idea without being abusive that I can pitch to a GM if I find one I'll actually be playing with). Each BP spent on Mutations gives three points of Mutations. Each Mutation point converts into two XP. This makes each BP spent on mutations and then turned into xp using the charm into 6 xp, which is probably overpowered, and I would try to find some reasonable compromise.

 

[Cosar]

That's the other attitude I expected, although it probably misses the reason why it's broken (yes, I happen to like arguing both sides. If I'm doing this outside of a game, I want to see the arguments possible, and figure out a compromise that lets me use the idea without being abusive that I can pitch to a GM if I find one I'll actually be playing with). Each BP spent on Mutations gives three points of Mutations. Each Mutation point converts into two XP. This makes each BP spent on mutations and then turned into xp using the charm into 6 xp, which is probably overpowered, and I would try to find some reasonable compromise.

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Where are you getting the 1bp:3mp thing?

 

[beowolf]

Where are you getting the 1bp:3mp thing?

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Sorry, I remembered wrong. It's two BP for three mutation points, not one. 3XP per BP is far more reasonable, actually.

It's in the Revlid Mutation Rules, which are literally part of the TAW document, at the bottom.