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General Exalted Thread

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The Marble Tiger? In reference to the Tiger being associated with the west and the dragon with the east in china.
 
I think you're all rather overestimating what Black Mirror Shintai actually does. Let's have a look at the text, shall we?
Black Mirror Shintai said:
While duplicating another character, the Infernal loses all traits of his own and gains all the target's traits, as if he swapped out his character sheet for a copy of the target's.
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Backgrounds do not copy unless they represent an internal quality of the character rather than an external socioeconomic advantage, such as Breeding, Heart's Blood, Savant, Solar Bond, Whispers, etc. While artifacts do not copy, the panoply of a demon or god does.
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At this point, any sane GM whacks you over the head with the corebook and says "you try to use this Charm on the Ebon Dragon; pure agony explodes through your entire body, and you wake up half an hour later after convulsing on the floor until you pass out from the strain of trying to mimic a Primordial's incomprehensible magnitude and power". However, assuming that does not happen...
Black Mirror Shintai said:
The character retains his memories and sense of self except to the degree that shifts in Virtues, Intimacies and Motivation adjust his behavior.
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The character's Motivation and Intimacies are antithetical to the target's goals rather than being exact duplicates, as per traits conferred by Nemesis Self Imagined Anew.
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TED doesn't have a Motivation, just an Urge, so that's blank. So you just hate what he loves and love what he hates. The former includes darkness, the doomed and the dying, the latter includes anything trying to constrain him or keep him imprisoned, Virtue and sunlight (the first and last of which rather fuck you over as most of TED's powers work best in the dark). You are otherwise unchanged in personality - the Ebon Dragon's worldview and actions are not solely a function of his Intimacies, and thus you are not some sort of embodiment of all idealism and virtue (though you do probably appreciate the latter).

You're basically his personal nemesis who's dedicated to wrecking the stuff he likes and ruining his day, which is rather the point of the Charm. You're far from being the Unconquered Sun 2.0, though, and since you have all the same powers as TED, you still don't exactly come off as a nice person.

Finally:
Black Mirror Shintai said:
Temporary traits remain as they are (health, Willpower points, motes, Virtue channels) but adjust to fit the new pool sizes allowed for them.
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If you try to interpret this as "I now have a kilomote pool size which is mostly empty at the moment but will fill up after resting", the sane GM picks up the copy of Manual: Infernals in addition to the corebook and beats you unconscious with both.

Vaguely amusing and liable to result in a concussion, but not as impressive a "gotcha" as it sounds at first glance.
 
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Black Mirror Shintai has, unless I'm wildly misremembering, a clause noting that it cannot be used to target characters who are significantly more powerful than their Essence rating suggests (such as some behemoths) and who are therefore significantly more powerful than the Exalt using the Charm. A Primordial clearly qualifies, so it fails.
 
Revlid said:
Black Mirror Shintai has, unless I'm wildly misremembering, a clause noting that it cannot be used to target characters who are significantly more powerful than their Essence rating suggests (such as some behemoths) and who are therefore significantly more powerful than the Exalt using the Charm. A Primordial clearly qualifies, so it fails.
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Ah, so it does. In the fluff bit, so I missed it on the first glance through.
Black Mirror Shintai said:
Black Mirror Shintai may only be activated if Nemesis Self Imagined Anew is active and its target is of equal or lesser Essence (and not, at the Storyteller's discretion, significantly more powerful than its Essence indicates, like many behemoths).
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Aleph said:
snip
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I was thinking something that that, actually. Nothing good will ever come of trying to turn into the *Ebon freaking Dragon*, or any other Primordial. Even *if* you succeed, which won't happen. Well, no. I guess a high-Essence devil tiger might manage it? I'm torn, I don't actually know how a high-Essence Exalt would actually compare with a Primordial. Though, I gotta admit, my bet would be on the Prim. Maybe the scale would be closer?
 
Eric Minton;n166212 said:
This week's Ink Monkeys entry is a guest post by our own beloved Robert Vance:

Ink Monkey Bones #5: Modern Lunar Charms
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Crossfire Guardian Vigilance / Arrow Sentinel Stance: I already wrote a Charm like this, complete with Cattalesta-based name. The Modern name is cool, though.

Moon-Graced Gunplay Method / Winged Volley Marksmanship: The Lunar (ie: Poor Man's) Accuracy Without Distance, but with some shades of Lightning Stroke Attack. A much better pre-LSA Charm than Ferocious Biting Tooth because of the poor man's Accuracy Without Distance elements that LSA cannot provide. I figure a close-range variant of this Charm would allow the Lunar to use an overlarge weapon in tight quarters without difficulty when it would otherwise be impossible (and I wrote such a Charm, once).

Everyone's Tongue Storyteller: Upgrades Instinct Memory Insertion rather than errata-adding to the original lack-luster Charm = -1 point (penalty reduced to -0 on account of the lack of other options). No guidelines for how far word spreads in non-Modern circumstances = -1 point. I wonder what Third Edition does in regards to modeling things like (Magnitudes) of people and how that might effect the modeling of the spreading of information.

Memory-Spinning Gossamer Couture: Finally, the poor man's (ie: Lunar's) version of Memory-Reweaving Discipline. But for some reason, it's stuck allll the way behind Lost Mirror Flight; why do Lunars have such deep Charm trees? I could also complain how this Charm is completely unrelated to all other Lunar Charms for affecting memories (Instinct-Memory Insertion, Mind-Blanking Terror Technique, Forgetful Victim Prana) but what else can one do with all of them are Charisma-based and suffering from shoddy arrangement and/or design?

Digital Phantom Distortion and Living Cipher Incarnation: Neat. Needs classic versions that don't assume Information Age technology, but rather targets magical sensing and recording devices and spells, as well as scrolls and books in which words or pictures are used to depict the Lunar. But are these things remain possible for Lunars in Third Edition, given reports that their Essence is about revealing and disguising itself to the exclusion of concealing itself?

Argent Saga Upload: Neat. A classic variant would grant the Lunar artistic skill enough (negating penalties; or perhaps just a straight bonus) to artistically rendering any of his memories through classical mediums like calligraphy, poetry, painting or sculpting. Argent Saga Immortalization?

Digital Dreamer Hacking Methodology: Neat. Offers a very distinct flavor while providing some very useful advantages. Unfortunately, it's incompatible with any sweet hacking equipment the Lunar may own, forcing the Lunar to choose between My Cool Toys and My Cool Powers. Also, completely useless outside of an Information Age setting, with no easy way to convert it into a classical setting.

Steel Falcon's Wings / Iron Kraken Admiralty: Neat. One step away from discouraging Lunars from collecting or using tools, and it gives Lunar Wits something more to do.

Metal Moon-Beast Awakening: Awesome. One giant leap forward in regards to reconciling Lunar Toys with Lunar Powers, since it not only empowers a Lunar's vehicle, it allows him to use it even when he is currently wearing a form that can't even fit inside of it. You can totally pull a "4th War Berserker surfs the F-16" stunt with this, and with a range-extending upgrade, Admiral Leviathan can con his flagship while personally smashing enemy vessels as a giant whale. I wonder if Lunars might invent something similar for their swords and guns?

Concrete Jungle Instincts / Scurrying Rat Wisdom: Neat; very neat. But like with Everyone's Tongue Storyteller and Instinct Memory Insertion, I can't help but feel this Charm should absorb and replace Lodestone Reckoning Manner, rather than upgrading it. Also, I can just hear Dinosaur / Adamant Siaka / Whatever He Calls Himself Now complaining that it should be named "Intuition" instead of "Instincts"; I sort of agree.

Argent Memoriam Repast: This is Vance's best shot given the crap he has to work with. Bah, what's the point of the prerequisite Ash And Tears Banquet when the Lunar can't actually turn into a ghost? There's no immateriality without Air Body Style, and all other visible ghostly features are cosmetic and thus easily in the province of Appearance-based disguise Charms or Changing Plumage Mastery. This Knack also reminds me of Second Edition's aggravating stance of "if you didn't have it before eating them, you lost your chance forever!"

Machine-Heart Integration: "More than meets the eye~"

Primordial Scion Shape: Did we really not already have this?


Good stuff. 9/10, would like to see in future Editions, in some form or fashion.
 
Hey, a while back (may have been on the old forum) someone did some automations that are basically embodiments of martial arts, and posted both profiles and rules for making your own. Does anyone have any current links to those? (Not talking about EarthScorpions Adorjan charms)
 
Havocfett said:
The Style system or something else?
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It was an automation or artifact that was based around basically crafting an 'embodiment' of a style and using it as a body guard. They were pseudo-spirits from memory, and were generally based on Terrestrial and Celestial Martial Arts.

Kung-fu robots so to speak.
 
So what do Kimbery and Metagaos think about each other ? Since they both have a theme for hunger and devour, both are prefer to weakening you with poisons and diseases before going for the kill, and they both have magic that manipulate life and flesh too. I mean, all those river and lake in Metagaos's swamp have to come from somewhere, right ?
 
Like any Primordial, Kimbery and Metagaos are vast beyond measure. Their intimacies and principles exist in Hell as god-like spirits of earth-shattering power; their whims and thoughts take form as demon princes and citizens. Entire levels of Malfeas are torn by bitter war between two or more of their own souls as they come to decisions or run thought exercises. What do they think of each other? To expect a single answer is madness. The Unquestionable that collectively comprise their beings run the entire gamut of human experience and more in their relationships with the other's highest souls; from kinship to indifference to rivalry to hatred. One of Kimbery's souls might be a trading partner of Metagaos's fetich while wishing his Fourth Soul a death too horrific to speak aloud; another of her souls may be entirely absorbed with his own affairs, and pay no more heed to the components of the All-Hunger Blossom than he does to the meanest ghost crawling on its belly in the Underworld.

Primordials are living pantheons, living Mythoi, living worlds. Their relationships to one another cannot be so easily summarised as those of mortals.
 
Sucal said:
Hey, a while back (may have been on the old forum) someone did some automations that are basically embodiments of martial arts, and posted both profiles and rules for making your own. Does anyone have any current links to those? (Not talking about EarthScorpions Adorjan charms)
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I do. On my phone, so I cannot link them now, but I will when able.


@Sucal

Here's the link. It's under both the Embodiments of Martial Arts, and there are also a few under the "Stuff other people wrote in my threads" spoiler.
 
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So, I'm looking on a few different sites right now for possible open games. If anyone in this thread is running any Exalted game that might need a player, PM me and let me know, maybe?
 
C.o.S.a.R said:
Here's the link. It's under both the Embodiments of Martial Arts, and there are also a few under the "Stuff other people wrote in my threads" spoiler.
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I'm not going to lie, my first thought on seeing this is 'why didn't you just use gods'? I mean, the whole point of gods they draw their powers from a domain, and there are domains for basically everything. So logically, there is going to be a god for any given Martial Art, who is going to fulfill the exact same purpose as these.
 
Kylar said:
I'm not going to lie, my first thought on seeing this is 'why didn't you just use gods'? I mean, the whole point of gods they draw their powers from a domain, and there are domains for basically everything. So logically, there is going to be a god for any given Martial Art, who is going to fulfill the exact same purpose as these.
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Presumably because most exalts can't walk into a workshop and craft a god to order.
 
Their arrangement is on the order of how most actual religious praction is. Even modern day monotheistic Christianity (saints, angels, the trinity). Its just organizedand heirachial for your rpging pleasure and ease of grokking. Truly a coup by the Dr. Moran.
 
I'd say it'd be more accurate to say that each Primordial embodies several gods who played similar roles in their pantheons. For example, Malfeas/Theion is a mixture of Cronus, Yomi, Osiris, and other ruler gods who went to the underworld (which is the same as hell in a lot of cultures). TED is Loki, Seth, Eris, and other gods of antagonism and 'evil'. And so on.
 
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