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General Exalted Thread

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The Nomad said:
The layout and some of the art remind me of 4th edition Legend of the Five Rings, except for the godawful pics, which are more numerous that expected.
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Anything that tries to be more like the 4th Edition of L5R is perfectly fine in my book, but even though I like it I can't help but say the 3e layout is but a pale imitation.
 
Skimming throught the artifact section: has anybody else got the impression that all the Artifacts are actually screenshotted 3d models? They give me this impression.... especially the ones with evocations.

Hell, the ones with evocations have just plain lazy designs, whilst the ones without are cliched but cool.
 
Giygas said:
Skimming throught the artifact section: has anybody else got the impression that all the Artifacts are actually screenshotted 3d models? They give me this impression.... especially the ones with evocations.

Hell, the ones with evocations have just plain lazy designs, whilst the ones without are cliched but cool.
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I would be unsurprised, given the terrible Poser art used elsewhere in the book.
 
It's really quite astounding how terrible the 3D art is. The actual handdrawn stuff is legit fantastic and then you get...

That.
 
Honestly the entire art situation is a good metaphor for WW/OPP as a whole: Fantastic in some places, absolutely embarassing in others, and it all just cancels out to one giant blah. :V
 
Giygas said:
Skimming throught the artifact section: has anybody else got the impression that all the Artifacts are actually screenshotted 3d models? They give me this impression.... especially the ones with evocations.
Hell, the ones with evocations have just plain lazy designs, whilst the ones without are cliched but cool.
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This.
They all look generic as hell, which wasn't an issue with the plain pencil art of 2E.
No surfboards, the spears look odd(and not in a good way),the bows look ripped from generic MMOs....
 
Yeah, I'm with whoever read complaining about the lack of a bureaucracy/Empire system. It's like they learned exactly The wrong lesson from CRM. One of the things that drew me to exalted in the first place was the promise of systems for non-combat stuff.

Pro-tip: intrigue, politics, and navigation are all much more interesting to play out than *^%#ing blacksmithing.
 
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Come to think of it, the craft system is pretty blatant proof that after two decades, WW/OP still has not recognized that "sit in a corner" syndrome is a problem.
 
Roadie said:
Another weapon art comment: on page 590, that's not a firewand, it's just a straight-up lever-action shotgun.
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Yup.
Weren't even trying there.
Roadie said:
Reaver daiklave on page 596, though that's more of a long skateboard than a surfboard.
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More like a cleaver IMO.
And I weep at what they did to the standard daiklave.
Then there's the grimcleavers....

I appreciate the way the reaper daiklave looks different though.
 
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Chloe Sullivan said:
Yeah, I'm with whoever read complaining about the lack of a bureaucracy/Empire system. It's like they learned exactly The wrong lesson from CRM. One of the things that drew me to exalted in the first place was the promise of systems for non-combat stuff.

Pro-tip: intrigue, politics, and navigation are all much more interesting to play out than *^%#ing blacksmithing.
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I don't think 'one' person complained about the lack. Lots of people complained.
 
Given how irrelevant the points and actual rolling in the Craft system become once you have a bunch of the Charms (free point generation every day, transfer points between levels, etc), I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in a rewrite that strips out most of that and just replaces with a set of Charms that say "once you have bought this Charm X times, you can create an artifact of Y tier once every Z months".
 
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic here, but could the "painted over stock photo" thing be OPP trying to preserve some wow factor for the full release?

Edit: Seriously, could they be intentionally crappy as a joke or something?
 
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You could still use a rewrite of the actual Craft-charms.
Burn everything there is to the ground first, of course. It'd probably be best to take inspiration from 2E craft charms. You'll want something that reduces the need for tools, makes crafting faster and so on. So, um Craftsman Needs no Tools, Crack-Mending Technique, maybe Chaos-Resistance Pattern? Throw in some dice-tricks if you want to, and give the charms upgrades that make them work on Artifacts, and you're done. 10 charms or so, and there you go with a solid craft-system.

Well, and a Charm that allows you to easily learn other Crafts would be great too. Crib it off Harmonious Academic Methodology maybe. Actually, let's just make Craft one Ability, with "Craft-specialities" that work like Lore-specialities. And then a charm that simply grants you more Craft-specialties quickly and for free.

I'm sure you could throw in some more interesting effects as well. It's not like a craftsman can't pull some interesting tricks.
 
Yeah, the Lore rules seem like an excellent template to apply to the Craft ability. You have only one Lore rating, but the ST is encouraged to modify or disallow different things based on your character's background. Using that for a craftsman as well would seem fairly straightforward and intuitive.

For example, a Lookshyan sorcerer-engineer is going to know a fair amount about many different crafts, while a village blacksmith would be more specialized/restricted. The player who made a blacksmith is already limiting their options for the sake of a decent backstory, and frankly there's no need to impose an XP penalty on him if he wants to develop his abilities later in the game, nor is there a need to cripple the sorcerer-engineer with the need for half a dozen different craft skills that suck up his ability points.
 
I am currently "Working on"(Read this as thinking about) a craft system parassiting the best parts of the current craft system(The existence of points, maybe the existence of slots, and something else that i currently cannot remember), nixing everything else, and then allowing the crafter ways of getting Gold points by doing non craft twilighty things.(Silver point are now money and material stuff. No more crafting lesser things to craft normal mundane things!)

Unfortunately i would need to understand everything about the current craft system, and such a thing would probably break my brain in half. Or maybe i am simply procastinating, and i am going to do a simple"Fix" by cutting down the charms in a reasonable manner.
 
Is there anything that people do like about the Craft Charms? I have a few favorites (Words-as-Workshop Method, Shattering Grasp, and Breach-Healing Method) but does anyone else find, say, Arete-Shifting Prana or Unwinding Gyre Meditation awesome/interesting/iconic?

Edit: Honestly, I like almost everything that bases in Craftsman Needs No Tools or Crack Mending Technique.
 
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Damn, all excitement I had of potentially using Volcano Cutter is gone.

Stupid not being able to power grand eruption with your own motes...

I'll just have to take the Yandere Sword instead!
 
Speaking of Volcano Cutter, is it just me or is there literally no way to survive Pyroclastic Holocaust Judgment other than simply having a lot of health levels?
 
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