- Pronouns
- They/Them
LLAMA. Grab a charm that makes them able to talk at game start and just be Pacha with Cuzco.
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General Exalted Thread
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Do you actually not know, or is it just a design decision you don't like? Because, the Essence devs have been pretty open and explicit that they feel that throwing down sixteen dice offers a viscerally satisfying thrill that is somewhat core to the feel of Exalted they want to sell people on.
There are definitely simpler dice mechanics, but I can't say that this has exactly been a specific pain point for getting new players to try Essence in my personal experience.
The_Reptile_
Jolly Good
- Location
- THE PITS OF HELL. Also known as Connecticut.
I mean fuck, there is literally a livestream of Exalted Essence with one of the people at OPP who laughed at and didn't like the dice tricks, got to use one, and then immediately went "... Oh this is fun!". So they can be just as much an appeal and draw to a new player to Exalted as a turn off. The real issue with 3e is that it went way overboard with it and it felt like every other Charm was a dice rerolling mechanic.
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- Location
- The North
It's been a hot minute, but here's another entry in my campaign journal for Paths of the Maker! This session has everything: weird monsters, cute gods, inter-party conflict, and a gay goth cowboy.
Here are the links to sessions 1, 2, and 3. Session 1 also contains an introduction to the game, so you can learn who these two huge nerds are.
Here are the links to sessions 1, 2, and 3. Session 1 also contains an introduction to the game, so you can learn who these two huge nerds are.
Nadezhda has just completed her first artifact, the hearthstone belt! This miraculous wonder of White Jade and Orichalcum creates an interesting need: it calls out for a hearthstone to adorn it! Fire-Melting Red doesn't have any hearthstones on hand - her volcano workshop, manse it may be, does not generate the puisant stones.
However, the goddess knows of a place where some might be found. She points her apprentice Nadezhda to a location to the southwest of her great mountain, across a wide forested river basin. The mountains opposite hers contain an ancient dig site she remembers from her youth, when glorious sun-kings ruled the earth and she studied at the feet of a great Exalted master of artifice. Hearthstones were used to power the ancient machinery there, in the inhospitable peaks. Some may yet remain.
And so, with a goal in mind and packs filled with provisions, our two heroes set out across the valley in search of hearthstones. Their journey passes by mostly peacefully - the animals of the valley are peaceful, far more focused on filling their bellies with autumn berries than with the two strange travelers who pass by. Bosa, Ez's Ore-Boar familiar, forages for clumps of metal, which Ez idly fashions into nails or tweezers or shears to keep herself occupied. Euron studies the natural phenomena of the valley and keeps an ear to the wind, ever alert for hidden dangers.
Soon they come to the bank of the river itself - a broad body of water maybe a hundred feet wide. It's far too deep to cross easily, and neither fancy their chances of swimming it. Ez makes the obvious suggestion - she could build a bridge! In her time wandering the North she's built plenty of bridges, some merely for herself but most at the request of others. Euron agrees, and together they scope out the best place to start and then begin gathering materials. Euron watches with awe as Nadezhda slices down trees like wheat-stalks and strips them into boards with a few quick axe cuts. She drives several whole logs into the river bank as supports, and begins building out the bridge. Planks go down, logs form the next set of supports, and the process repeats until - with just a single day's work, Nadezhda has built a hardy wooden bridge that will last decades. Such is her skill.
As Nadezhda works, Euron's clever eyes notice something in the water. Floating beneath, here and there, are pieces of flotsam - splinters of wood, frayed ropes, the wreckage of a building, all sunken to the bottom of the river. He surmises that there must be some community upriver somewhere, and a calamity must have befallen them in order to scatter this rubble into the river. At once Euron is reminded of something from his past.
In the Northwest, a little island is crushed beneath the foot of a scarlet crane. A traitorous eel accepts a place on a turning calendar, forsaking the octopus and pelican. Two priesthoods dissolve, three cities burn, and one culture is forever shattered beneath the wings of an empire.
Euron knows what it's like to see your home destroyed. He feels compelled to help them.
He tells Nadezhda about the rubble under the water and about his theory.
"Ez, these people might need our help! We should go."
"No, Eury. This ain't any of our business. We have a goal here, remember? We can't stop to help every wayside village, especially if they're this far out of our way."
"But you helped Greenbranches, didn't you?"
"I had business in Greenbranches, Eury. I don't have any business with whoever these people are. It's not our concern."
"Not our concern, Ez?!" Euron's voice rises. "These people don't have anyone else who can help them! We have a duty!"
"Eury I ain't that kinda hero. I don't get involved if I don't have to, you know that! I don't go fightin' in wars and whatnot. And 'these people' might be corpses for all we know. Have you got any idea how long this rubble has been in the water? It might've been years since whatever happened happened. "
"N-no. But, Ez, we-"
"I ain't hearing another word of this, Eury. We've got a task to do. Don't get any fool notions of running off and getting yourself involved with a situation you know nothing about - that's how people like us get killed. Promise me, Eury."
"...I promise, Ez."
"Good. Now get ready and let's get a move on." She hoists her pack back onto her shoulders and marches across the new bridge.
Euron looks down into the river for a few seconds, studying the rubble under the surface. This couldn't have happened years ago. The wood and ropes are dirty, but they look intact, so to speak. This has to have been recent. How recent, Euron can't tell. And Ez is getting away from him. He follows after her.
The two of them camp a few miles from the river, in a quiet hollow among the trees. Nadezhda falls asleep quickly, but Euron stares at their small fire and thinks. He wants to figure out what happened upriver, to see if anyone needs help, to see if there's anything he can do. But he also doesn't want to go against Ez's desires. A part of him acknowledges that she has a point - they have a specific goal in mind, and ought to avoid detours and distractions.
He needs guidance.
So Euron slips out of their campsite, bringing along the massive wooden tabernacle he carries on his back. He finds a place not too far from the camp, but hopefully out of earshot so he doesn't wake up his sleeping companion. He finds a flat patch of ground and places the box down. He scatters some offerings before it and sits down facing it, legs folded under him. Then he begins to pray.
In his mortal life Euron was the priest of Tayir, a pelican-god revered by the people of his home island as a being of great compassion and wisdom - a guardian of peace who would sacrifice his own blood to feed the needy. Euron prays to his god now, in this quiet grove, under the autumn stars. He prays for guidance in a harsh time, for a voice to hear his struggles and to mediate between him and his good friend. His god hears him, and a knock resounds from inside the tabernacle.
Euron opens the box up - the side facing him has two concealed panels like double doors - and reveals a fat yellow-billed pelican with brilliant black eyes - the spirit Tayir in the flesh.
"Tayir, Whose Blood Nourishes New Life, Whose Wings Beat Back the Harsh Waves, your humble servant Euron calls upon you." Euron bows deeply to Tayir. Assuming physical shape is taxing for a god, particularly one with no cult or domain, and so he is thankful that Tayir is willing to expend the energy to speak with him directly. He withdraws a large piece of bread from his sleeve and presents it to his god.
Tayir lunges with his beak, plucking the bread from Euron's hand and swallowing it in one gulp. "Euron of Torein, my faithful priest, what troubles thee? You do not often call me from my slumber. Tell me what is wrong."
"Tayir, I am unsure of what to do. I suspect that innocent people may be in harm's way, but my companion urges me to push them from my mind and continue with our current objective. I've made her a promise that I won't involve myself. I do not wish to betray her trust, but I also don't want to fall short of your teachings. If people are in danger, I must do something."
Tayir considers his priest's words, tilting his head this way and that and nibbling idly at the inside of his wing. After a few minutes he is ready to speak again. "Euron of Torein, my faithful priest, I can see the conflict that rages within you. You do not want to ignore these people, but you also do not wish to break faith with your friend. Perhaps, in that case, you could act indirectly? You could use an intermediary, a scout of some kind, to see what has befallen these people more clearly. With that knowledge, you can make a more informed decision, and also perhaps better persuade your friend."
Euron nods. "You are wise, Tayir. I thank you for your council. Please, linger no longer. I will burn offerings in your name to ease your slumber."
The spirit dips its head in acknowledgement and thanks. "Before I slumber, one final subject. You must understand, Euron, that your desire to help others does not come from your belief in me, but rather from your own compassionate heart. Let your heart guide you, Euron. I do not think that it will lead you astray."
Euron smiles broadly. He has served Tayir as a priest for many years, and the two have developed a friendly rapport. "Thank you, O Tayir."
Tayir curls up on the cushioned floor of the tabernacle and Euron closes the shutters. He offers another prayer to his god, and then sets to work summoning an 'intermediary.'
There is a certain type of Air Elemental that rules the skies. Some call them Eaglehawks, for they are hawk-shaped and prey exclusively on the largest of northern birds. He uses his classic method, summoning circle and fishing pole, and from the energies that pulse and flow beneath the earth he draws up a great bird as blue as the clear Northern sky. The Eaglehawk emerges drowsily, blinking its jet and sapphire eyes. Euron gives it a task: it is to fly upriver in search of a village or township. Should it find one, it should take careful observation of the people there and then report back to Euron on its findings.
He sees the bird off and then returns to camp, going to sleep opposite his companion. Bosa keeps watch.
After another day of travel they reach the edge of the valley, where the trees give way to northern scrub land and slopes of cracked rock. Here the Exalts begin to notice a strange, pervasive aura. These hills are cold. Not the usual chill of autumn, but a deep, sucking cold that pulls the heat from their breath like a leech and spreads hoarfrost across the edges of their clothes. There's something unwholesome to this cold, or so Euron thinks. He urges caution as they continue into the mountains.
On the way, as clouds gather overhead and the peaks shine like black spears against them, the two notice dark creatures lurking in the rocks. These creatures move sinuously through the cracks in the rocks, their scaled bodies propelled by row after row of insect legs. These things, Euron realizes, are ophidipedes - strange beasts born from the intrusion by the Underworld on Creation. They feed off of the bleeding energies of both worlds, and their venom grows more potent with age.
Ez and Euron hustle, so as to not draw the attention of these creatures. Killing one is the work of a hammer blow or a bolt of lightning, but killing the hundreds and hundreds that call these mountains home is the work of warrior heroes beyond their ken.
They cut a path up into the mountains and eventually find themselves traversing a narrow pass between two peaks. Here the chill is stronger, and Ez and Euron wonder what fate may have befallen this ancient dig site. Perhaps, Nadezhda muses, they dug too deep and poked a hole straight through into the Underworld. Now all that badness is seeping up through the hole they made! Euron is a bit less convinced. He doesn't know much about the Underworld, but his knowledge of Creation's geomancy leads him to believe that it is separated by some numinous architecture of the planes, and not a forty foot thick layer of bedrock. They press on.
It is late in the afternoon, at the end of almost a week of travel, when Nadezhda and Euron set their sights on the ancient First Age dig. A narrow valley lies before them, punctured in several places by immense holes. A tower stands high at the far end of the valley, a black stone fortress with spiked crenelations and an imposing gatehouse. Several of the holes are straddled by great iron spiders - winch rigs and scaffolding, connected to massive bucket systems or lifts. Several of the holes are so deep that even from this vantage point Nadezhda and Euron cannot see the bottom. It is evident from here that this place is a Shadowland - a place where the worlds of the living and the dead intersect. There are ophidipedes here, some as large as fallen trees. Ez and Euron can see them crawling about the rocks of the valley floor, coming and going from the holes.
It is then that the two of them realize that they are not alone on this overlook. A tall figure, eyes hidden behind the brim of their hat, watches the valley. He is shorter than Nadezhda, clad in form-fitting leather garment that buttons at the front. He wears dark chaps over his flared trousers, and black boots with wicked steel stirrups tap the stone in anticipation. A long jacket, worn open in the front and worn off his shoulders, billows in the wind.
He tilts his head towards Ez and Euron and addresses them in a low drawl, similar to Nadezhda's. "Howdy, strangers. What brings you to the end of the world?"
Nadezhda speaks first. "We're here to investigate yonder dig site. And yourself?"
"The very same." His eyes are like chips of rusted metal beneath the brim of his hat. As he turns, Ez and Euron see that his right arm is sheathed in a gauntlet of black metal, coming to sharp points at the tips of each finger and spiked at each knuckle. A long blade emerges from the gauntlet, folding back to follow the line of his arm up to the elbow. The handsome stranger continues. "I'm here at the behest of my liege, The Shining One. I had intended to slay the vermin from horseback, but the cramped quarters of the valley are… treacherous." He sighs. "Without my horse, bringing my full power to bear is… well, it's right difficult."
Euron steps forward. "We also need to explore the valley floor. Perhaps we could work together?" The offer hangs for a moment before Lunar adds. "I'm Euron. My friend is Nadezhda. We may not look it, but we can hold our own in a fight."
"A craftswoman and a holy man in a valley of monsters." The handsome stranger gives them an amused smile. "My name's Rilke. Some people call me Lonesome Despair."
And with that, session four comes to a close. Next session: exploration into the depths, and an encounter with a hidden terror!
However, the goddess knows of a place where some might be found. She points her apprentice Nadezhda to a location to the southwest of her great mountain, across a wide forested river basin. The mountains opposite hers contain an ancient dig site she remembers from her youth, when glorious sun-kings ruled the earth and she studied at the feet of a great Exalted master of artifice. Hearthstones were used to power the ancient machinery there, in the inhospitable peaks. Some may yet remain.
And so, with a goal in mind and packs filled with provisions, our two heroes set out across the valley in search of hearthstones. Their journey passes by mostly peacefully - the animals of the valley are peaceful, far more focused on filling their bellies with autumn berries than with the two strange travelers who pass by. Bosa, Ez's Ore-Boar familiar, forages for clumps of metal, which Ez idly fashions into nails or tweezers or shears to keep herself occupied. Euron studies the natural phenomena of the valley and keeps an ear to the wind, ever alert for hidden dangers.
Soon they come to the bank of the river itself - a broad body of water maybe a hundred feet wide. It's far too deep to cross easily, and neither fancy their chances of swimming it. Ez makes the obvious suggestion - she could build a bridge! In her time wandering the North she's built plenty of bridges, some merely for herself but most at the request of others. Euron agrees, and together they scope out the best place to start and then begin gathering materials. Euron watches with awe as Nadezhda slices down trees like wheat-stalks and strips them into boards with a few quick axe cuts. She drives several whole logs into the river bank as supports, and begins building out the bridge. Planks go down, logs form the next set of supports, and the process repeats until - with just a single day's work, Nadezhda has built a hardy wooden bridge that will last decades. Such is her skill.
As Nadezhda works, Euron's clever eyes notice something in the water. Floating beneath, here and there, are pieces of flotsam - splinters of wood, frayed ropes, the wreckage of a building, all sunken to the bottom of the river. He surmises that there must be some community upriver somewhere, and a calamity must have befallen them in order to scatter this rubble into the river. At once Euron is reminded of something from his past.
In the Northwest, a little island is crushed beneath the foot of a scarlet crane. A traitorous eel accepts a place on a turning calendar, forsaking the octopus and pelican. Two priesthoods dissolve, three cities burn, and one culture is forever shattered beneath the wings of an empire.
Euron knows what it's like to see your home destroyed. He feels compelled to help them.
He tells Nadezhda about the rubble under the water and about his theory.
"Ez, these people might need our help! We should go."
"No, Eury. This ain't any of our business. We have a goal here, remember? We can't stop to help every wayside village, especially if they're this far out of our way."
"But you helped Greenbranches, didn't you?"
"I had business in Greenbranches, Eury. I don't have any business with whoever these people are. It's not our concern."
"Not our concern, Ez?!" Euron's voice rises. "These people don't have anyone else who can help them! We have a duty!"
"Eury I ain't that kinda hero. I don't get involved if I don't have to, you know that! I don't go fightin' in wars and whatnot. And 'these people' might be corpses for all we know. Have you got any idea how long this rubble has been in the water? It might've been years since whatever happened happened. "
"N-no. But, Ez, we-"
"I ain't hearing another word of this, Eury. We've got a task to do. Don't get any fool notions of running off and getting yourself involved with a situation you know nothing about - that's how people like us get killed. Promise me, Eury."
"...I promise, Ez."
"Good. Now get ready and let's get a move on." She hoists her pack back onto her shoulders and marches across the new bridge.
Euron looks down into the river for a few seconds, studying the rubble under the surface. This couldn't have happened years ago. The wood and ropes are dirty, but they look intact, so to speak. This has to have been recent. How recent, Euron can't tell. And Ez is getting away from him. He follows after her.
The two of them camp a few miles from the river, in a quiet hollow among the trees. Nadezhda falls asleep quickly, but Euron stares at their small fire and thinks. He wants to figure out what happened upriver, to see if anyone needs help, to see if there's anything he can do. But he also doesn't want to go against Ez's desires. A part of him acknowledges that she has a point - they have a specific goal in mind, and ought to avoid detours and distractions.
He needs guidance.
So Euron slips out of their campsite, bringing along the massive wooden tabernacle he carries on his back. He finds a place not too far from the camp, but hopefully out of earshot so he doesn't wake up his sleeping companion. He finds a flat patch of ground and places the box down. He scatters some offerings before it and sits down facing it, legs folded under him. Then he begins to pray.
In his mortal life Euron was the priest of Tayir, a pelican-god revered by the people of his home island as a being of great compassion and wisdom - a guardian of peace who would sacrifice his own blood to feed the needy. Euron prays to his god now, in this quiet grove, under the autumn stars. He prays for guidance in a harsh time, for a voice to hear his struggles and to mediate between him and his good friend. His god hears him, and a knock resounds from inside the tabernacle.
Euron opens the box up - the side facing him has two concealed panels like double doors - and reveals a fat yellow-billed pelican with brilliant black eyes - the spirit Tayir in the flesh.
"Tayir, Whose Blood Nourishes New Life, Whose Wings Beat Back the Harsh Waves, your humble servant Euron calls upon you." Euron bows deeply to Tayir. Assuming physical shape is taxing for a god, particularly one with no cult or domain, and so he is thankful that Tayir is willing to expend the energy to speak with him directly. He withdraws a large piece of bread from his sleeve and presents it to his god.
Tayir lunges with his beak, plucking the bread from Euron's hand and swallowing it in one gulp. "Euron of Torein, my faithful priest, what troubles thee? You do not often call me from my slumber. Tell me what is wrong."
"Tayir, I am unsure of what to do. I suspect that innocent people may be in harm's way, but my companion urges me to push them from my mind and continue with our current objective. I've made her a promise that I won't involve myself. I do not wish to betray her trust, but I also don't want to fall short of your teachings. If people are in danger, I must do something."
Tayir considers his priest's words, tilting his head this way and that and nibbling idly at the inside of his wing. After a few minutes he is ready to speak again. "Euron of Torein, my faithful priest, I can see the conflict that rages within you. You do not want to ignore these people, but you also do not wish to break faith with your friend. Perhaps, in that case, you could act indirectly? You could use an intermediary, a scout of some kind, to see what has befallen these people more clearly. With that knowledge, you can make a more informed decision, and also perhaps better persuade your friend."
Euron nods. "You are wise, Tayir. I thank you for your council. Please, linger no longer. I will burn offerings in your name to ease your slumber."
The spirit dips its head in acknowledgement and thanks. "Before I slumber, one final subject. You must understand, Euron, that your desire to help others does not come from your belief in me, but rather from your own compassionate heart. Let your heart guide you, Euron. I do not think that it will lead you astray."
Euron smiles broadly. He has served Tayir as a priest for many years, and the two have developed a friendly rapport. "Thank you, O Tayir."
Tayir curls up on the cushioned floor of the tabernacle and Euron closes the shutters. He offers another prayer to his god, and then sets to work summoning an 'intermediary.'
There is a certain type of Air Elemental that rules the skies. Some call them Eaglehawks, for they are hawk-shaped and prey exclusively on the largest of northern birds. He uses his classic method, summoning circle and fishing pole, and from the energies that pulse and flow beneath the earth he draws up a great bird as blue as the clear Northern sky. The Eaglehawk emerges drowsily, blinking its jet and sapphire eyes. Euron gives it a task: it is to fly upriver in search of a village or township. Should it find one, it should take careful observation of the people there and then report back to Euron on its findings.
He sees the bird off and then returns to camp, going to sleep opposite his companion. Bosa keeps watch.
After another day of travel they reach the edge of the valley, where the trees give way to northern scrub land and slopes of cracked rock. Here the Exalts begin to notice a strange, pervasive aura. These hills are cold. Not the usual chill of autumn, but a deep, sucking cold that pulls the heat from their breath like a leech and spreads hoarfrost across the edges of their clothes. There's something unwholesome to this cold, or so Euron thinks. He urges caution as they continue into the mountains.
On the way, as clouds gather overhead and the peaks shine like black spears against them, the two notice dark creatures lurking in the rocks. These creatures move sinuously through the cracks in the rocks, their scaled bodies propelled by row after row of insect legs. These things, Euron realizes, are ophidipedes - strange beasts born from the intrusion by the Underworld on Creation. They feed off of the bleeding energies of both worlds, and their venom grows more potent with age.
Ez and Euron hustle, so as to not draw the attention of these creatures. Killing one is the work of a hammer blow or a bolt of lightning, but killing the hundreds and hundreds that call these mountains home is the work of warrior heroes beyond their ken.
They cut a path up into the mountains and eventually find themselves traversing a narrow pass between two peaks. Here the chill is stronger, and Ez and Euron wonder what fate may have befallen this ancient dig site. Perhaps, Nadezhda muses, they dug too deep and poked a hole straight through into the Underworld. Now all that badness is seeping up through the hole they made! Euron is a bit less convinced. He doesn't know much about the Underworld, but his knowledge of Creation's geomancy leads him to believe that it is separated by some numinous architecture of the planes, and not a forty foot thick layer of bedrock. They press on.
It is late in the afternoon, at the end of almost a week of travel, when Nadezhda and Euron set their sights on the ancient First Age dig. A narrow valley lies before them, punctured in several places by immense holes. A tower stands high at the far end of the valley, a black stone fortress with spiked crenelations and an imposing gatehouse. Several of the holes are straddled by great iron spiders - winch rigs and scaffolding, connected to massive bucket systems or lifts. Several of the holes are so deep that even from this vantage point Nadezhda and Euron cannot see the bottom. It is evident from here that this place is a Shadowland - a place where the worlds of the living and the dead intersect. There are ophidipedes here, some as large as fallen trees. Ez and Euron can see them crawling about the rocks of the valley floor, coming and going from the holes.
It is then that the two of them realize that they are not alone on this overlook. A tall figure, eyes hidden behind the brim of their hat, watches the valley. He is shorter than Nadezhda, clad in form-fitting leather garment that buttons at the front. He wears dark chaps over his flared trousers, and black boots with wicked steel stirrups tap the stone in anticipation. A long jacket, worn open in the front and worn off his shoulders, billows in the wind.
He tilts his head towards Ez and Euron and addresses them in a low drawl, similar to Nadezhda's. "Howdy, strangers. What brings you to the end of the world?"
Nadezhda speaks first. "We're here to investigate yonder dig site. And yourself?"
"The very same." His eyes are like chips of rusted metal beneath the brim of his hat. As he turns, Ez and Euron see that his right arm is sheathed in a gauntlet of black metal, coming to sharp points at the tips of each finger and spiked at each knuckle. A long blade emerges from the gauntlet, folding back to follow the line of his arm up to the elbow. The handsome stranger continues. "I'm here at the behest of my liege, The Shining One. I had intended to slay the vermin from horseback, but the cramped quarters of the valley are… treacherous." He sighs. "Without my horse, bringing my full power to bear is… well, it's right difficult."
Euron steps forward. "We also need to explore the valley floor. Perhaps we could work together?" The offer hangs for a moment before Lunar adds. "I'm Euron. My friend is Nadezhda. We may not look it, but we can hold our own in a fight."
"A craftswoman and a holy man in a valley of monsters." The handsome stranger gives them an amused smile. "My name's Rilke. Some people call me Lonesome Despair."
And with that, session four comes to a close. Next session: exploration into the depths, and an encounter with a hidden terror!
Words cannot capture how overjoyed my players were when they realized that I had introduced a gay goth cowboy into our Exalted game. They also found his helplessness when unable to bring his potent Ride Charms to bear very endearing. All in all, I was pretty excited to introduce the first Exalt NPC of the game.
I recall this session being really enjoyable. It was neat to have a real disagreement between Nadezhda and Euron, and it was also a joy to portray Euron's god. Tayir gets a bit more screen-time, but ultimately his inclusion is one of those elements of the early game that I really wish I'd done differently now. I wish I'd made him a more significant character. As it stood he spent most of his time asleep in that tabernacle.
Thank you all for reading!
I recall this session being really enjoyable. It was neat to have a real disagreement between Nadezhda and Euron, and it was also a joy to portray Euron's god. Tayir gets a bit more screen-time, but ultimately his inclusion is one of those elements of the early game that I really wish I'd done differently now. I wish I'd made him a more significant character. As it stood he spent most of his time asleep in that tabernacle.
Thank you all for reading!
- Location
- South Carolina
So, my latest project is a major edit of the Solar Charmset, which will one day be sold on the Vault for astronomical sums. Mostly, it's been a lot of fun! Some of the Abilities have mostly gotten a serious spot of technical editing (most of the combat Abilities), and some I made significant changes to (Awareness, Bureaucracy), but all of them, it turns out, really benefit from a nice layout that's easy to read.
Did you know that you can chop ten pages off the size of the Charms chapter by putting Cost/Duration and Type/Mins on a single line? Because you can!
Anyway, this is the layout up through Bureaucracy. I'm quite proud of it, but I'm interested in any comments that anybody might have, especially on the things that are particularly difficult. I'll see you again once I'm done with Craft. <shivers>
Did you know that you can chop ten pages off the size of the Charms chapter by putting Cost/Duration and Type/Mins on a single line? Because you can!
Anyway, this is the layout up through Bureaucracy. I'm quite proud of it, but I'm interested in any comments that anybody might have, especially on the things that are particularly difficult. I'll see you again once I'm done with Craft. <shivers>
- Location
- Ottawa
I actually did something similar ages ago, as did BlueWinds. If you want to swap notes, drop me a line.
Obviously, I have particularly strong opinions where Craft is concerned. If there is one Exalted-related point I will never back down on, it's this: Craft should be good for more than just making Artifacts.
Anyway, my at-a-glance first impression is that you've done a nice job of splitting things into sub-Abilities. But I think you can cut some (more?) cruft; Charms like Eclectic Verbiage of law and Living Pulse Perception clutter up the Charmset without really enabling any particular concept or making anyone's character more interesting.
Amazing, isn't it?
I sincerely want to know how they ended up wasting so much space. They had every reason to try and compress things, but they just... didn't.
Obviously, I have particularly strong opinions where Craft is concerned. If there is one Exalted-related point I will never back down on, it's this: Craft should be good for more than just making Artifacts.
Anyway, my at-a-glance first impression is that you've done a nice job of splitting things into sub-Abilities. But I think you can cut some (more?) cruft; Charms like Eclectic Verbiage of law and Living Pulse Perception clutter up the Charmset without really enabling any particular concept or making anyone's character more interesting.
Amazing, isn't it?
I sincerely want to know how they ended up wasting so much space. They had every reason to try and compress things, but they just... didn't.
- Location
- South Carolina
I think the split between freelance writer, freelance developer, freelance layout person and the art director makes it really hard to actually coordinate these things in an efficient way. It's basically the opposite of the amazing power that comes with being writer, developer, and layout person all in one body! So at the end of the day, there was no communication going back and forth and saying "this should really be a table."
I think Living Pulse Perception is at least a straightforward Charm that makes you better at doing the thing it's for, but honestly, you're correct that Eclectic Verbiage of Law is just boring and weak. I buffed it and it was still boring and weak! So I tossed it out and put in a new Bureaucracy Charm, although sadly, not in the same tree. (Man, I already pruned Bureaucracy pretty fucking hard, and combined several weak Charms into decent ones.)
I've also updated the layout so that it now includes Craft! Hopefully this organization strikes you as simple, and no doubt you'll also be pleased to see that I've included a subsection for Profession-Specific Charms that don't use the main crafting rules.
I think Living Pulse Perception is at least a straightforward Charm that makes you better at doing the thing it's for, but honestly, you're correct that Eclectic Verbiage of Law is just boring and weak. I buffed it and it was still boring and weak! So I tossed it out and put in a new Bureaucracy Charm, although sadly, not in the same tree. (Man, I already pruned Bureaucracy pretty fucking hard, and combined several weak Charms into decent ones.)
I've also updated the layout so that it now includes Craft! Hopefully this organization strikes you as simple, and no doubt you'll also be pleased to see that I've included a subsection for Profession-Specific Charms that don't use the main crafting rules.
- Location
- Ottawa
I am indeed happy to see those. Craft points I don't particularly like, but can live with; Artifact monofocus just spoils the ability entirely.
DMP needs work, though.
First, it needs a once / story limitation. Not sure whether it's possible to go infinite on craft xp after your tweaks, but multiple activations in the same scene just shouldn't be possible ever.
Second, it should be clearer in its effects. Does it refill your motes and willpower? Can you declare that you made the swap, like, a year ago? Can you bash your own head in to activate it when you discover that you need to be somewhere else right now?
Third, there needs to be some way to play against it. No Charm should just automagically defeat any opposition, and not every Solar is a PC.
My preferred way to go about the fixes would be to remove the whole "the button tells the story for you" angle of the Charm. Making it non-retroactive, so that people actually need to make clever plans in order to have made clever plans, makes everything easier to manage. And anyway, canned stories aren't much fun.
Not sure I get Place-For-Everything Meditation; seems more Bureaucracy than Craft. Also, strikes me as weak.
Other three are pretty cool, particularly Almighty Pillars Assembly.
Seems like a good idea to cut the craft xp -> real xp Charm; I don't think there's any game-improving way to use that sort of number-fidding xp generator. Nobody tells thrilling stories of how they managed to exploit the system to optimize their character's growth rate.
As for Living Pulse Perception and the like, sure, they work. But are they worth the space? The basic system forces us to write more Charms than most people can really remember or fully understand; why make the burden heavier with Charms that are just more complicated ways to buy extra Specialities?
PS: You're missing a number in the last line of Arete-Shifting Technique.
DMP needs work, though.
First, it needs a once / story limitation. Not sure whether it's possible to go infinite on craft xp after your tweaks, but multiple activations in the same scene just shouldn't be possible ever.
Second, it should be clearer in its effects. Does it refill your motes and willpower? Can you declare that you made the swap, like, a year ago? Can you bash your own head in to activate it when you discover that you need to be somewhere else right now?
Third, there needs to be some way to play against it. No Charm should just automagically defeat any opposition, and not every Solar is a PC.
My preferred way to go about the fixes would be to remove the whole "the button tells the story for you" angle of the Charm. Making it non-retroactive, so that people actually need to make clever plans in order to have made clever plans, makes everything easier to manage. And anyway, canned stories aren't much fun.
Not sure I get Place-For-Everything Meditation; seems more Bureaucracy than Craft. Also, strikes me as weak.
Other three are pretty cool, particularly Almighty Pillars Assembly.
Seems like a good idea to cut the craft xp -> real xp Charm; I don't think there's any game-improving way to use that sort of number-fidding xp generator. Nobody tells thrilling stories of how they managed to exploit the system to optimize their character's growth rate.
As for Living Pulse Perception and the like, sure, they work. But are they worth the space? The basic system forces us to write more Charms than most people can really remember or fully understand; why make the burden heavier with Charms that are just more complicated ways to buy extra Specialities?
PS: You're missing a number in the last line of Arete-Shifting Technique.
- Pronouns
- They/them
It might make things easier to manage, but one of the most widely praised things about Blades in the Dark is giving players the ability to retroactively declare that they have, in fact, made clever plans without having made any clever plans in advance.
These things do have the potential to turn your game into Calvinball, but at the same time, it's a legitimate design space that many people enjoy.
In that case, you have to have designed the game around it. And Exalted 3e is not designed around it.
Which leads to nonsense with things like "Dual Magnus Prana can still be used after someone who's heavily specced into Awareness and Occult who used all the best 'scrutinise my target stuff' and verified that yes, this is definitely the person they're here to murder in the face, not an imposter".
Such metanarrative mechanics should be a core system feature, not something bolted on to a Craft charm of all things.
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
I think the issue is that Blades in the Dark doesn't do it for such a wide ranging effect as Duel Magnus Prana and what it does to the setting.
Master Plan Meditation which is a similar style 'retcon' charm gets much less hate and was one of the more popular charms on reading, As does the charm which lets you pull an artifact from seemingly nowhere, that you have totally been working on the entire time,
Smaller retcon effects can be done well, it's just that DMP is the worst type.
- Location
- The North
"You have been killed." Is almost too high-stakes of a problem to be solved with a narrative retcon mechanic. Past a certain point the only narratives you're emulating are anime where the heroes have the villain totally dead to rights only for the bad guy to asspull his way to victory because there's still like, a hundred episodes left to go.
- Pronouns
- They/them
That... seems like a strange argument to make in a game where anyone can render themselves immune to that problem at the low low cost of like 6-8 merit dots and 3 committed motes straight out of chargen.
- Location
- The North
This sounds like a fascinating combo that I am altogether unfamiliar with. Could you elaborate?
grommile
nasty-minded old cynic
- Location
- NERV-Mercia
- Pronouns
- Traditional/Animate
Western supervillains.
Particularly – in the context of Dual Magnus Prana, a Craft charm – incidents with Dr Doom's death being retconned as "that was a Doombot all along".
- Location
- Ottawa
I once tried to write a retroactive version of DMP. But I found that, despite my best efforts, I could not write it in a way that allowed for enjoyable counterplay.
Maybe you can succeed where I failed. Try and write a DMP that would be fun in a game where the PCs are a Wyld Hunt out for the head of Twilight Doctor Doom. I wish you all the luck in the world.
As for me, I'm fairly happy with this:
Maybe you can succeed where I failed. Try and write a DMP that would be fun in a game where the PCs are a Wyld Hunt out for the head of Twilight Doctor Doom. I wish you all the luck in the world.
As for me, I'm fairly happy with this:
Dual Magus Prana
Cost: 15m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Living Statue Genesis/Clockwork Menagerie Technique x3, Divine Inspiration Technique
The Solar creates a duplicate of themself. The duplicate is controlled by the Solar's mind and animated by their Essence, so it's not really possible for both original and copy to act simultaneously. But the Solar can use all of their abilities through their duplicate, and telling the difference between original and copy is difficulty 10. They can essentially be in two places at once, sharing a mind and an essence pool between two bodies. The duplicate is good enough to fool almost all magical tests, but not the Eye of the Unconquered Sun.
The Solar may create more than one duplicate when activating this Charm, by simply committing 15 motes multiple times. However, they may only create one batch of duplicates per story. A duplicate must stay within 3000 miles of its creator to remain functional.
Cost: 15m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Living Statue Genesis/Clockwork Menagerie Technique x3, Divine Inspiration Technique
The Solar creates a duplicate of themself. The duplicate is controlled by the Solar's mind and animated by their Essence, so it's not really possible for both original and copy to act simultaneously. But the Solar can use all of their abilities through their duplicate, and telling the difference between original and copy is difficulty 10. They can essentially be in two places at once, sharing a mind and an essence pool between two bodies. The duplicate is good enough to fool almost all magical tests, but not the Eye of the Unconquered Sun.
The Solar may create more than one duplicate when activating this Charm, by simply committing 15 motes multiple times. However, they may only create one batch of duplicates per story. A duplicate must stay within 3000 miles of its creator to remain functional.
- Pronouns
- They/them
Gem of Incomparable Wellness, Arms of the Chosen p.135. Major Hearthstone (4 dots as a Hearthstone, 5 if you take a Manse with it, which you probably should, because it's Dependent), renders you undying as long as you maintain a 3m commitment to it. Linked, so you will need a second Hearthstone - literally any Hearthstone will do, you can buy one for 2 merit dots, or you can splurge on another Manse (3 dots). You also need something to socket these stones into, but let's be honest, you probably already have a suitable artifact or a couple holes on your chest (if Lunar).
Now, running around with a Gem of Incomparable Wellness is a/ cheesy as hell, and b/ vulnerable to disruption in ways the doombot charm isn't, but one of these is available to literally anyone and their mother for less than half the amount of freebies the game starts you off with, and the other is the E5 capstone of the game's largest Charm tree.
That's a very good Dual Magnus Prana.
- Location
- The North
Huh! Well, I'm impressed, but not particularly surprised. This is the game with perfect defenses, after all. Thank you for elaborating!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Just popping in to say that the Solars (and core mechanics) in Exalted Reincarnated · are pretty much done, and that I'm pretty happy as to how it sits right now.
I'll be moving onto Martial Arts, expanding Merits (with Artifacts), and detailing some specific Antagonists out. But it's fairly playable as it is right now, so give it a shot if you want!
Here's the pitch
---------
Exalted Reincarnated is a top-to-bottom rewrite of Exalted, essentially a fully-fledged, unofficial "fourth" edition of the system. It aims to be quick to play at the table, while not losing the flavor of high-powered characters--giving you plenty of powers and options, while not being overwhelming nor requiring constant referencing of the book.
Everything in this system has been rewritten and analyzed, specifically in typically high-cruch sections such as combat.
I have felt that Ex3 was far too cumbersome, with far too many small powers that needed to be kept track of. Essence, unfortunately, swings wildly from far too simplistic (attributes + ability choices) to strangely crunchy (the combat system). Exalted Reincarnated aims to be a whole, cohesive unit that has enough crunch to satisfy, but not so much that it bogs down play. And I'm constantly tinkering and improving it based on feedback.
I'll be moving onto Martial Arts, expanding Merits (with Artifacts), and detailing some specific Antagonists out. But it's fairly playable as it is right now, so give it a shot if you want!
Here's the pitch
---------
Exalted Reincarnated is a top-to-bottom rewrite of Exalted, essentially a fully-fledged, unofficial "fourth" edition of the system. It aims to be quick to play at the table, while not losing the flavor of high-powered characters--giving you plenty of powers and options, while not being overwhelming nor requiring constant referencing of the book.
Everything in this system has been rewritten and analyzed, specifically in typically high-cruch sections such as combat.
I have felt that Ex3 was far too cumbersome, with far too many small powers that needed to be kept track of. Essence, unfortunately, swings wildly from far too simplistic (attributes + ability choices) to strangely crunchy (the combat system). Exalted Reincarnated aims to be a whole, cohesive unit that has enough crunch to satisfy, but not so much that it bogs down play. And I'm constantly tinkering and improving it based on feedback.
A few TED charms that I'd had part-done for a bit and got around to finishing.
More stuff that doesn't live behind WtD, and some which can be used in... well, anti-heroic ways even if they're not exactly heroic. Plus, it was interesting to work on these and ensure that they're not Sidereal effects even though they live in something of the same area.
They come off LSD because of that charm's ability to vandalise fate, so I took that and blended it with TED's love of the doomed to give him the Disney Princess-esque ability to make the world more beautiful (from his PoV).
Inevitable Demise Bane
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Poison, Stackable, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Loom-Snarling Deception
Black venom drips from the fangs of the Ebon Dragon and roils in his gullet; painless, subtle, and bringing beautifully inescapable doom.
Activating this charm requires the Infernal to touch a target. The lightless poisons of the Ebon Dragon sink into the target, twisting their destiny to a tragic end. Against targets who are Beyond Doom, this Poison works by standard mechanics.
Against another target, the Infernal declares his bane, which must be non-trivial. Examples would include "at his wife's hands", "while speaking in public" or "at a grand feast". She may stack multiple banes on him through repeated activations, but each bane must be meaningfully distinct. If the target would take damage from this poison, it is recorded but is not marked off on his health track. Once the dose has left his system, the bane becomes active. If the circumstances of the bane occur, events will conspire such that the character takes the stored damage as one instance of unsoakable damage. For example, a character has 3L stored, associated with a bane of "at his wife's hands". One day, he goes for a playful spar with her at the family dojo, using blunted practice weapons. Unfortunately, during the drills, his wife's weapon breaks and he runs into the sharp point which slips through the seam of the padded clothing and tears up his side, causing three levels of unsoakable lethal damage.
Characters with Investigation 3+ who observe these events can roll Wits + Investigation at difficulty 4 to deduce the dark malice in these events. The bane is written in the destiny of the target, and can be read by an astrologer. There exist certain obscure rituals in Creation and dusty old procedures in the archives of Heaven which could be used to mitigate the effects of this Poison.
Midnight Venom: Damage 5L (5B vs Beyond Doom targets)/day, Toxicity 2, Tolerance None, Penalty -0
SIDEBAR: Beyond Doom
For the purposes of Ebon Dragon Charms, only characters who maintain their own causal existence are beyond the dooms he brings. These include Yozis, Primordials, the Neverborn, Third Circle Demons, Green Sun Prince Infernals, and other Chosen making use of charms that put them Outside Fate (for example, a Sidereal using the form charm of Infernal Monster Style). Other beings, who rely on others to define their existence (such as the Loom of Fate, the Design of Autochthon, lesser demons, and so on) can be ruined by their lack of self-reliance.
Creatures of the Wyld are never Beyond Doom; the tall tales of chaos can always be twisted into tragedies.
Characters subject to the Calendar of Setesh or other necrotic forms of causality (such as beings of the nightmares of the Neverborn) are Beyond Doom unless the Infernal also knows Ultimate Darkness Internalisation (or has initiated into necromancy in some other way).
END SIDEBAR
Delicious Suspense Offering
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 8)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Inevitable Demise Bane
To kill a man is one thing; to leave him with the knowledge of his certain death is much more delightful.
The Infernal invokes this charm immediately before she rolls the damage of a physical attack or some similar effect against a target who is not Beyond Doom. Damage rolled is converted to stored damage as per this charm's prerequisite, with a bane of the Infernal's choice. If the Infernal wishes, the bane is made Obvious to the target so that they can beautifully mourn the knowledge of their doom.
At Essence 3, this charm automatically upgrades. If the stored damage would kill an extra, mortal, or first circle demon, the Infernal may lay a more stringent bane, with the world Shaping itself to ensure it will come to pass. This is resolved as an unnatural Compulsion effect when it would compel action from another character (for example, a bane of "will be murdered by Prince Zakhan of Melisa"). The Storyteller retains a veto over acceptable banes, and banes which have a scope outside the death of the character (for example, "will be slain by Creation blowing up") are not permitted.
Martyrdom-Sharing Approach
Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Inevitable Demise Bane
With a casual shrug, the Infernal lets her oncoming doom slide through her shadows and slip into some poor sap.
The Infernal invokes this charm immediately before the damage of a physical attack or similar effect is rolled. This charm is a perfect defence against the raw damage of the attack, taking all the damage dice and applying them to a random unimportant extra in the same realm of existence as if they had taken that many levels of damage from this charm's prerequisite, with a bane of her choice. This charm has the Imperfection of the Ultimate Darkness.
Side-Splitting Misfortune
Cost: --; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Inevitable Demise Bane
Comedy is when a brave prince of the earth falls down an open sewer and dies.
This charm modifies the Infernal's capabilities when she would create a poison with this charm's prerequisites. When the poison would inflict a level of lethal damage, it instead imposes an external penalty of -1 per level on a single roll made while under the effect of the bane. Should the target fail the penalised roll, the failure is treated as a botch, taking the form of catastrophic and improbable bad luck.
Dark Karma Glutton
Cost: --; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Side-Splitting Misfortune
The mishaps of others are the meat and bread of the Ebon Dragon.
An Infernal who has purchased this charm draws nourishment from the fumblings of his foes, obtaining an additional peripheral mote pool which can hold up to ten motes. When he witnesses a meaningful opponent fail at an action which would advance an Intimacy or Motivation of theirs that he knows and the failure was due to his actions, he gains one mote. He may gain no more than one mote an action from this. When he observes an opponent botch he gains four motes, or ten motes if they are a meaningful opponent. Once per action, he may convert four motes from this pool into one point of temporary willpower, or spend one mote from this pool to reduce penalties from starvation or thirst by one.
Rise-and-Fall Equilibrium
Cost: 2+m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion, Stackable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Side-Splitting Misfortune
A beggar rises to become a merchant-prince before losing everything and dying in the same gutter he started in. The Ebon Dragon watches the drama with rapt attention.
The Infernal makes an offer of a Background to a character who is not Beyond Doom, spending two motes per level of the background and one willpower. If accepted, he gains the background for the remainder of the current story. The background is created ex-nihilo from tenebral lies (for backgrounds like Artifact and Resources) and/or from extras who are brought into their new purpose by the Infernal's vandalism of their destiny (for backgrounds like Command, Cult, and Followers). Artifacts created by this charm are unique phantasms and may not make use of the Holy keyword. Heroic characters can spend one willpower to resist the unnatural Illusion that the changes induced by this charm are the natural order of things, and are immune for the remainder of the story once they have spent three willpower. Characters who are Beyond Doom are unaffected by the Illusion. An Infernal may only have up to (Essence x 2) dots of backgrounds created by this charm extant at any one time, and a single character may be granted only (Essence) of them.
The gifts of the Dragon contain the seeds of their own downfall. Once the story is complete, for the next story the created background stays in existence, but devotes itself to opposing the character, his Motivation, and anything he achieved with the use of the background. Followers may defect to one of the character's foes or stay nominally loyal but grow slothful and corrupt; a daiklaive may be lost to a rival through poor fortune or twist in the character's hands and cause botches at critical moments. At the end of this second story, the background disperses and is lost to history.
More stuff that doesn't live behind WtD, and some which can be used in... well, anti-heroic ways even if they're not exactly heroic. Plus, it was interesting to work on these and ensure that they're not Sidereal effects even though they live in something of the same area.
They come off LSD because of that charm's ability to vandalise fate, so I took that and blended it with TED's love of the doomed to give him the Disney Princess-esque ability to make the world more beautiful (from his PoV).
Inevitable Demise Bane
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Poison, Stackable, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Loom-Snarling Deception
Black venom drips from the fangs of the Ebon Dragon and roils in his gullet; painless, subtle, and bringing beautifully inescapable doom.
Activating this charm requires the Infernal to touch a target. The lightless poisons of the Ebon Dragon sink into the target, twisting their destiny to a tragic end. Against targets who are Beyond Doom, this Poison works by standard mechanics.
Against another target, the Infernal declares his bane, which must be non-trivial. Examples would include "at his wife's hands", "while speaking in public" or "at a grand feast". She may stack multiple banes on him through repeated activations, but each bane must be meaningfully distinct. If the target would take damage from this poison, it is recorded but is not marked off on his health track. Once the dose has left his system, the bane becomes active. If the circumstances of the bane occur, events will conspire such that the character takes the stored damage as one instance of unsoakable damage. For example, a character has 3L stored, associated with a bane of "at his wife's hands". One day, he goes for a playful spar with her at the family dojo, using blunted practice weapons. Unfortunately, during the drills, his wife's weapon breaks and he runs into the sharp point which slips through the seam of the padded clothing and tears up his side, causing three levels of unsoakable lethal damage.
Characters with Investigation 3+ who observe these events can roll Wits + Investigation at difficulty 4 to deduce the dark malice in these events. The bane is written in the destiny of the target, and can be read by an astrologer. There exist certain obscure rituals in Creation and dusty old procedures in the archives of Heaven which could be used to mitigate the effects of this Poison.
Midnight Venom: Damage 5L (5B vs Beyond Doom targets)/day, Toxicity 2, Tolerance None, Penalty -0
SIDEBAR: Beyond Doom
For the purposes of Ebon Dragon Charms, only characters who maintain their own causal existence are beyond the dooms he brings. These include Yozis, Primordials, the Neverborn, Third Circle Demons, Green Sun Prince Infernals, and other Chosen making use of charms that put them Outside Fate (for example, a Sidereal using the form charm of Infernal Monster Style). Other beings, who rely on others to define their existence (such as the Loom of Fate, the Design of Autochthon, lesser demons, and so on) can be ruined by their lack of self-reliance.
Creatures of the Wyld are never Beyond Doom; the tall tales of chaos can always be twisted into tragedies.
Characters subject to the Calendar of Setesh or other necrotic forms of causality (such as beings of the nightmares of the Neverborn) are Beyond Doom unless the Infernal also knows Ultimate Darkness Internalisation (or has initiated into necromancy in some other way).
END SIDEBAR
Delicious Suspense Offering
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 8)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Obvious, Shaping
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Inevitable Demise Bane
To kill a man is one thing; to leave him with the knowledge of his certain death is much more delightful.
The Infernal invokes this charm immediately before she rolls the damage of a physical attack or some similar effect against a target who is not Beyond Doom. Damage rolled is converted to stored damage as per this charm's prerequisite, with a bane of the Infernal's choice. If the Infernal wishes, the bane is made Obvious to the target so that they can beautifully mourn the knowledge of their doom.
At Essence 3, this charm automatically upgrades. If the stored damage would kill an extra, mortal, or first circle demon, the Infernal may lay a more stringent bane, with the world Shaping itself to ensure it will come to pass. This is resolved as an unnatural Compulsion effect when it would compel action from another character (for example, a bane of "will be murdered by Prince Zakhan of Melisa"). The Storyteller retains a veto over acceptable banes, and banes which have a scope outside the death of the character (for example, "will be slain by Creation blowing up") are not permitted.
Martyrdom-Sharing Approach
Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Inevitable Demise Bane
With a casual shrug, the Infernal lets her oncoming doom slide through her shadows and slip into some poor sap.
The Infernal invokes this charm immediately before the damage of a physical attack or similar effect is rolled. This charm is a perfect defence against the raw damage of the attack, taking all the damage dice and applying them to a random unimportant extra in the same realm of existence as if they had taken that many levels of damage from this charm's prerequisite, with a bane of her choice. This charm has the Imperfection of the Ultimate Darkness.
Side-Splitting Misfortune
Cost: --; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Inevitable Demise Bane
Comedy is when a brave prince of the earth falls down an open sewer and dies.
This charm modifies the Infernal's capabilities when she would create a poison with this charm's prerequisites. When the poison would inflict a level of lethal damage, it instead imposes an external penalty of -1 per level on a single roll made while under the effect of the bane. Should the target fail the penalised roll, the failure is treated as a botch, taking the form of catastrophic and improbable bad luck.
Dark Karma Glutton
Cost: --; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Side-Splitting Misfortune
The mishaps of others are the meat and bread of the Ebon Dragon.
An Infernal who has purchased this charm draws nourishment from the fumblings of his foes, obtaining an additional peripheral mote pool which can hold up to ten motes. When he witnesses a meaningful opponent fail at an action which would advance an Intimacy or Motivation of theirs that he knows and the failure was due to his actions, he gains one mote. He may gain no more than one mote an action from this. When he observes an opponent botch he gains four motes, or ten motes if they are a meaningful opponent. Once per action, he may convert four motes from this pool into one point of temporary willpower, or spend one mote from this pool to reduce penalties from starvation or thirst by one.
Rise-and-Fall Equilibrium
Cost: 2+m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion, Stackable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Side-Splitting Misfortune
A beggar rises to become a merchant-prince before losing everything and dying in the same gutter he started in. The Ebon Dragon watches the drama with rapt attention.
The Infernal makes an offer of a Background to a character who is not Beyond Doom, spending two motes per level of the background and one willpower. If accepted, he gains the background for the remainder of the current story. The background is created ex-nihilo from tenebral lies (for backgrounds like Artifact and Resources) and/or from extras who are brought into their new purpose by the Infernal's vandalism of their destiny (for backgrounds like Command, Cult, and Followers). Artifacts created by this charm are unique phantasms and may not make use of the Holy keyword. Heroic characters can spend one willpower to resist the unnatural Illusion that the changes induced by this charm are the natural order of things, and are immune for the remainder of the story once they have spent three willpower. Characters who are Beyond Doom are unaffected by the Illusion. An Infernal may only have up to (Essence x 2) dots of backgrounds created by this charm extant at any one time, and a single character may be granted only (Essence) of them.
The gifts of the Dragon contain the seeds of their own downfall. Once the story is complete, for the next story the created background stays in existence, but devotes itself to opposing the character, his Motivation, and anything he achieved with the use of the background. Followers may defect to one of the character's foes or stay nominally loyal but grow slothful and corrupt; a daiklaive may be lost to a rival through poor fortune or twist in the character's hands and cause botches at critical moments. At the end of this second story, the background disperses and is lost to history.
Last edited:
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
So.
Hypothetically speaking.
We could set it up so Team Rocket always horrifically botches their plans whenever they try to capture Pikachu, despite their competence against every other target
Yes - within limits. Namely, because the bane is one use and must be meaningfully distinct from other banes, you're going to have to spend a fair amount of time setting up and maintaining your conditional triggers given how often Team Rocket try to steal Pikachu. Additionally, given the mechanics, if they're generally competent there's always a risk they'll succeed anyway because an external penalty is something that you can just power through with a large enough pool.
But if you're asking whether it would be pleasing to the Ebon Dragon that you put years of your life into ruining two people who want to catch a lightning elemental mouse for their boss, yes, it is.
Azrael
Sakura Saber
- Location
- Throne of Heroes
You seem to be missing a word in this sentence. Also, what does resisting the Illusion actually do? Do you get to act like the character's lie-spun daiklave doesn't exist, or stop the Infernal from using the Charm on yourself?