azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
If you're using 2.5e, just use the stats for short swords. IIRC, they got the Thrusting tag in the errata.
General Exalted Thread
They still are. Only feitch souls have this restriction, and even then it's an option. They don't have to do it, though if you bind them for the express purpose of trying to spirit kill them then they will.
Walker of the Yellow Path
Ho There!
- Location
- The Land of Memes
Just checked. They do not have the Thrusting Tag in errata.
Edit: Short Daiklaves do, however.
Before becoming a Dev, Holden statted both artifact and non-artifact versions for his homebrew MA Golden Hummingbird Style
Hummingbird Style - Ninja_Sensei_Gaming
Hope that helps.
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The Surrender Oaths do apply to demons. Banishment and Summoning are part of them, for one thing.
The Yozis absolutely make things worse for themselves because they are spiteful, lobotomized wrecks, but I highly doubt that the victorious exalted of the Primordial War (with Autobot and Gaia around to chat with) would leave such a glaring loophole as "the only thing stopping you from murdering us all is that your overself is a dick."
The Yozis absolutely make things worse for themselves because they are spiteful, lobotomized wrecks, but I highly doubt that the victorious exalted of the Primordial War (with Autobot and Gaia around to chat with) would leave such a glaring loophole as "the only thing stopping you from murdering us all is that your overself is a dick."
Aaron Peori
Rest in Peace
I mean, you can believe that and change it for you game but (points up at quote).
Summoning and banishment work as a side effect of the oaths and a deliberate Yozi strategy. Sorcery was never an intended part of the Oaths and was given as a gift to the Exalted long after the War was over. If it was supposed to be a part of the entire package of Oaths why did the Yozi have to basically trick Brigid into using it? How could she have been the person to discover it at all if the Primordials handed over Summon First~Third Circle Demon the day of the sealing?
No, demons being bound by the oaths makes no sense from either a history or utility approach.
Remember that the oaths did more than just seal the Yozi inside Malfeas. It mutilated their souls to change their very nature. They were not always as they are, and their spite and jealousy and impotent rage is as much a part of the Oaths as a result of them. That is to say, there was no loophole in relying on their overself being a dick, because them being a dick was intended.
Yeah, what the Exalted/Incarna did to the Yozi was kind of all fucked up.
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
Awright.
The game is set at a kitchen table, nominally running weekly for about 4 hours at a time, but in practice we only had like 30 sessions throughout a year or so.
During the sessions, we're mostly on-camera. Dialogues are mostly realtime first-person, which tends to make measuring durations of Social charms a nuisance. This also means that the GM is disinclined to treat first-person speech as a Stunt, since he expect this as a minimum from the players most of the time.
During the sessions stuff is mostly on-camera, but that doesn't mean there are no downtimes. It's just that downtime is usually handled between sessions. So far we had a few downtimes lasting weeks to months each. Last two downtimes were very short, barely enough to spend most of the accumulated XP, but the others were, inversely, much longer.
Scenes are constructed as a GM's description of the location and any new NPCs (i.e. ones we haven't seen before), followed by descriptions of events, actions, and by performance of dialogues.
Problems are largely presented as events in the setting which can have certain consequences if interacted with and some other consequences if not interacted with. Examples include:
- A plot by Abyssals to blow up the biggest dam in Nexus, which we thwarted completely, thus preventing the destruction of Nexus.
- A Lookshy thaumaturge-engineer being kidnapped by slaver pirates along the way from Lookshy to Nexus, the former of whom we rescued, and the leader of the latter of which we killed.
- The dying Emissary (back during the first chapter) asking us to find a replacement (because an Emissary is needed to keep one of Adorjan's summoned-yet-unbound
FirstThird Circles imprisoned under Nexus), which we agreed to and clumsily succeeded in doing. - A major activity spike of Walker (from Walker's Realm) and Mask of Winters indicates an upcoming invasion, probably in a matter of weeks to months, so we started warning and trying to prepare the city-states for the defence.
- A Circle of Solar Elders with a legion of well-equipped Tiger-Warriors took over Denandsor. We came in and negotiated a sorta-truce with them, getting what the data we could to figure out just how soon they might become turn on us. (Which seems to be 'not soon, but probably eventually, given the goals they have'.)
- One of the more influential local leaders of the Guild (which de facto rules Nexus because the council was all killed by the Emissary in retaliation for their collective attempt to assassinate him) said cleaning out Firewonder of Wyld would go a long way to increasing our influence and enabling some political stuff we requested (has to do with the upcoming war). So we went in there and did. Turning a local Dragon worth of Fair Folk soldiers and their commander into mortals in the process.
The game seems to have a certain bias towards giving more stuff to do for our Twilights (especially in the last adventure, but not as much in the other ones). However, the GM still does provide challenges to the others too. Such as a complicated door with a dual-lock mechanism and several traps that took a whole scene to get past (requiring careful descriptions of approaches, Larceny + Intelligence and + Dexterity rolls, and the aid of another person because the lock wasn't meant to be operated by just one; no, I don't have Lock-Opening Touch yet). As far as problem-solving goes, I think the most prominent member of the cast is our Magitech Samurai-McGuyver Twilight, who is always ready to improvise something, jury-rig an encountered magical device and the like.
There's a serious combat every half-dozen sessions or so, on average. Which I think is enough or more than enough, but the other Night (who originally wanted to be a Dawn) thinks is too little; our sorceress thinks "combat? Oww, I need to add and subtract numbers and count dice, nooo". Combats against worthy opponents are serious business. Combats against Extras so far have not been played out, but rather described in very narrative terms (IIRC there has been only one such combat so far).
Oh, also, between sessions, we write down 1-3 paragraphs of our characters' thoughts about the recent events. Informally we call these 'diaries', but that doesn't imply that the characters actually write down all that stuff (not necessarily, anyway). Players don't show the 'diaries' to each other. They're merely a tool to facilitate the GM's understanding of our characters.
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- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
... I think, on the balance of possibilities, that you probably mean "Third Circle" here. A First Circle is a bossfight only for five mortal dudes in a base-system game.
Nah, totally a First Circle. They just fed it a lot of steroids. It turns out being imprisoned for eons with nothing to do but work out, plot revenge, and chow down on metaphysical creatine turns you into a badass.
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
Right, thanks. I still find it counterintuitive that they're named in the weak-to-strong ordering instead of the order-of-being-created ordering (like Generations).
"And so the ultimate revenge of the Yozis came, when the Sun was conquered by Teragh the Incredibly Swole, the One Punch Blood Ape. The battle was swift, as Teragh called out his great battle cry, 'Do you even lift, bro?' and flexed a mighty flex. The once-Unconquered Sun felt the light fall from his gaze as he stared at those tight monkey abs and impressive ape pecs, and prostrating himself he asked but one thing - that he might study under the Blood Ape and become as swole as he was.
"Taking up his residence in Yu Shan, Teragh the Incredibly Swole looked down at the Games of Divinity. And then he flipped the board. 'Lame', quoth he. 'Let's get rid of this and get a proper gym set up here. Come on, Maidens and Luna. I bet you could get a sweet burn going.'
"The gods heard these terrifying words of wisdom and they were afraid, for how could a humble blood ape have come across the Shining Answer itself?"
Giygas
Cutest Sawk i could find. Lucario is a nice extra.
This ruins ED Keikaku.
Or maybe not?!?!?!?!.... Nah, it is totaly ruined. Peoples are happy! The flanderized EDDDDDDDIE cannot handle it!
EarthScorpion Homebrew: On Designing Demons
On Designing Demons
When designing a demon, remember to make them a bit weird. It is an important part of their aesthetics and helps to distinguish them from gods. First circles in particular should call upon imagery which evokes biopunk and technology in a demonic manner - a first circle won't touch a bundle of grapes and turn them into wine, but it might scoff down grapes and then lay eggs filled with a slightly vinegary vintage.
Second and third circles, meanwhile, should avoid the trappings of the stereotypical Western devil (red skin, pitchforks, horns), but should nevertheless evoke mythological demons. Indeed, the stereotypical Western devil is just a subset of the Christian and related traditions - the Lesser Seal of Solomon is valid inspiration. A giant eagle with the head of a man which carries a spear in its claws would be a valid form of a second circle, as would a morbidly obese woman who dresses in finery and rides a chariot pulled by crocodiles.
These demons fill the role of demon lords and demon princes in most settings, and it is perfectly acceptable for the main antagonist of a campaign to be a third circle demon who has converted a city to worship them under the guise of being a god and who is spreading their faith across the region in order for the devotion to allow them to be summoned. It's a fine narrative role. Demon princes corrupting areas is one of the purposes of demon princes. It's just it's important to remember that they're not just classical tempters, and players should - if they choose to do more than just react to demonic plots - see that there's a wide range of them. Indeed, one of the more cunning ways to thwart a demonic subversion plan is to make an arrangement with one of the demon's rivals in Hell so they can take advantage of their distraction and so attack them on two fronts.
First circle demons are tools. When designing a first circle, consider why they were made and how they're used. The only 'useless' first circle demon is one which was made for a purpose of being useless (which in itself is a use - consider an ornamental bird-demon who is too heavy to fly and stands around looking pretty), or one which was a failure at its intended purpose. In the latter case, it may still have a use in the hands of a cunning sorcerer. Consider a knife-clawed demon intended to cut open armoured behemoths, but which was too slow for real combat, A sorcerer may find a use of this demon for crafting purposes, using them to carve metal and cut stone. Most first circle demons will exist in the E2-3 range, while a few exceptional breeds can start at E4. These exceptional breeds should have linked downsides - the teodozija are the archetypical E4 first circle.
Second circle demons are demon lords and midbosses/lieutenants. When designing a second circle demon, one must consider how it is used as an antagonist and how it is used as a tool. In a Celestial Exalted game, it is likely at least one player will start summoning them in ordinary play. The ST must therefore consider both how the demon can be useful to a player who summons them, as well as their own motivations and goals and possible plans in Creation and Malfeas. Most second circle demons will exist in the E5-6 range, with a few powerful older ones managing to reach E7.
Third circle demons are demon princes and endbosses. When designing a third circle demon, your primary consideration should be its role as an enemy or an ally for characters. Summoning and binding them is meant to be high risk, with a good chance of failure. Only Solar Exalted can bind them - while Green Sun Princes can summon them, they cannot bind them. If you are involving Infernals, take account of their position as the people who give Infernals orders. They'll try to use Green Sun Princes as their pawns to accomplish their goals in Creation, so know what they want. Third circle demons reflect a facet of their parent Yozi, but they are not their Yozi. Most third circle demons will exist in the E8-9 range, while fetich souls are E10.
When designing a demon, remember to make them a bit weird. It is an important part of their aesthetics and helps to distinguish them from gods. First circles in particular should call upon imagery which evokes biopunk and technology in a demonic manner - a first circle won't touch a bundle of grapes and turn them into wine, but it might scoff down grapes and then lay eggs filled with a slightly vinegary vintage.
Second and third circles, meanwhile, should avoid the trappings of the stereotypical Western devil (red skin, pitchforks, horns), but should nevertheless evoke mythological demons. Indeed, the stereotypical Western devil is just a subset of the Christian and related traditions - the Lesser Seal of Solomon is valid inspiration. A giant eagle with the head of a man which carries a spear in its claws would be a valid form of a second circle, as would a morbidly obese woman who dresses in finery and rides a chariot pulled by crocodiles.
These demons fill the role of demon lords and demon princes in most settings, and it is perfectly acceptable for the main antagonist of a campaign to be a third circle demon who has converted a city to worship them under the guise of being a god and who is spreading their faith across the region in order for the devotion to allow them to be summoned. It's a fine narrative role. Demon princes corrupting areas is one of the purposes of demon princes. It's just it's important to remember that they're not just classical tempters, and players should - if they choose to do more than just react to demonic plots - see that there's a wide range of them. Indeed, one of the more cunning ways to thwart a demonic subversion plan is to make an arrangement with one of the demon's rivals in Hell so they can take advantage of their distraction and so attack them on two fronts.
First circle demons are tools. When designing a first circle, consider why they were made and how they're used. The only 'useless' first circle demon is one which was made for a purpose of being useless (which in itself is a use - consider an ornamental bird-demon who is too heavy to fly and stands around looking pretty), or one which was a failure at its intended purpose. In the latter case, it may still have a use in the hands of a cunning sorcerer. Consider a knife-clawed demon intended to cut open armoured behemoths, but which was too slow for real combat, A sorcerer may find a use of this demon for crafting purposes, using them to carve metal and cut stone. Most first circle demons will exist in the E2-3 range, while a few exceptional breeds can start at E4. These exceptional breeds should have linked downsides - the teodozija are the archetypical E4 first circle.
Second circle demons are demon lords and midbosses/lieutenants. When designing a second circle demon, one must consider how it is used as an antagonist and how it is used as a tool. In a Celestial Exalted game, it is likely at least one player will start summoning them in ordinary play. The ST must therefore consider both how the demon can be useful to a player who summons them, as well as their own motivations and goals and possible plans in Creation and Malfeas. Most second circle demons will exist in the E5-6 range, with a few powerful older ones managing to reach E7.
Third circle demons are demon princes and endbosses. When designing a third circle demon, your primary consideration should be its role as an enemy or an ally for characters. Summoning and binding them is meant to be high risk, with a good chance of failure. Only Solar Exalted can bind them - while Green Sun Princes can summon them, they cannot bind them. If you are involving Infernals, take account of their position as the people who give Infernals orders. They'll try to use Green Sun Princes as their pawns to accomplish their goals in Creation, so know what they want. Third circle demons reflect a facet of their parent Yozi, but they are not their Yozi. Most third circle demons will exist in the E8-9 range, while fetich souls are E10.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
This comes from a general rewriting and expansion of the Kerisgame hacks document, incidentally - we're trying to consolidate all of our mechanical and setting alterations in one document, instead of just a series of links (though long stuff like the Fourth Soul mechanics will probably remain as links to their own documents, albeit with a brief description in the main hacks doc).
If you notice/remember any changes we've discussed or mentioned that aren't in the doc, do PM me or ES (or both) about them. Some, as you can see, are unwritten but bookmarked with headings for us to write later at the moment, but there are undoubtedly some that I've forgotten or missed.
If you notice/remember any changes we've discussed or mentioned that aren't in the doc, do PM me or ES (or both) about them. Some, as you can see, are unwritten but bookmarked with headings for us to write later at the moment, but there are undoubtedly some that I've forgotten or missed.
- Location
- Quezon City, Philippines
I would hug you, but I fear that the winds of Adorjan would scour my flesh if I do so. Also, sending PM.
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
Couldn't Infernals or Abyssals also create sorcerous automatons (or Solars also create Necrotech stuff)?
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oh, also, we went from a discussion about keruby to what crystal-keruby might like (Bureaucracy! Organising! Things being neat! Jigsaws!) to presents for the Lawkeeper to why Keris might be giving the Lawkeeper presents in the first place, and, well...
Seven Assembled Scenes
Jigsaw/Painting collection (Resources 4-N/A)
Seven Assembled Scenes (RY 769) is a series of seven artpieces gifted by Keris Dulmeadokht to her Seventh Soul; Princess Haneyl Kerisdokht, in Crowning Earth of Realm Year 769. Each piece is of exceptional quality, roughly 90 by 60cm and painted on thick cardstock in vivid colours. A touch of thaumaturgy hides the secret of the paintings - when light pressure is applied, they fall apart into three hundred and forty three pieces, each cunningly shaped to interlock only with its neighbours. Once the pieces have been reassembled, the pieces lock together so perfectly that the seams are invisible, and the painting once again looks like a solid canvas.
The seven puzzles, when assembled, portray the following:
Seven Assembled Scenes
Jigsaw/Painting collection (Resources 4-N/A)
Seven Assembled Scenes (RY 769) is a series of seven artpieces gifted by Keris Dulmeadokht to her Seventh Soul; Princess Haneyl Kerisdokht, in Crowning Earth of Realm Year 769. Each piece is of exceptional quality, roughly 90 by 60cm and painted on thick cardstock in vivid colours. A touch of thaumaturgy hides the secret of the paintings - when light pressure is applied, they fall apart into three hundred and forty three pieces, each cunningly shaped to interlock only with its neighbours. Once the pieces have been reassembled, the pieces lock together so perfectly that the seams are invisible, and the painting once again looks like a solid canvas.
The seven puzzles, when assembled, portray the following:
- A landscape piece depicting the beauty and craft of the innermost layer of Malfeas; Unquestionable Ligier's domain.
- A landscape piece showing the richness and verdancy of the Unquestionable Shashalme's personal gardens.
- A full-body portrait of the Green Sun Princess Sasimana Nemone; her anima banner flaring totemic around her.
- A group portrait of Keris Dulmeadokht and Sasimana Nemone standing side by side; with Princess Haneyl between them.
- An stylised representation of the Kerisian soul hierarchy; the po forming a border and her souls arrayed around her.
- An informal environmental portrait of Princess Haneyl and Countess Ellyssivera sitting together during storytime.
- A formal depiction of the Marshland court in full session; with a crowned and throned Haneyl surrounded by her subjects.
I think the idea is that while they can, their charms aren't as good at doing that, so the return on investment is smaller.
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The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
So, three thoughts I had about Kerisgame.
First, what will the reactions be like if (or when) it turns out that Keris actually needs Solar-Circle Sorcery to summon her component souls?
Second, what are the chances that Keris uses her Gales to retain perspective once she becomes an elder Exalt? By which I mean, she creates Gales, has them live full mortal lives from birth to death, and then incorporates their memories when they return to her.
Third, I'm going to guess that one of her sacrifices for the remaining circles of Sorcery (probably her sacrifice for access to the Celestial Circle, because it seems like a development that would naturally come sooner rather than later) will be her tendency to think of herself as stupid and incapable of long-term planning, along with the resulting immediate unthinking deference to people she thinks of as smarter than herself.
First, what will the reactions be like if (or when) it turns out that Keris actually needs Solar-Circle Sorcery to summon her component souls?
Second, what are the chances that Keris uses her Gales to retain perspective once she becomes an elder Exalt? By which I mean, she creates Gales, has them live full mortal lives from birth to death, and then incorporates their memories when they return to her.
Third, I'm going to guess that one of her sacrifices for the remaining circles of Sorcery (probably her sacrifice for access to the Celestial Circle, because it seems like a development that would naturally come sooner rather than later) will be her tendency to think of herself as stupid and incapable of long-term planning, along with the resulting immediate unthinking deference to people she thinks of as smarter than herself.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
They can, yes, and such things are intended to be balanced against each other. They will probably go in the Sorcery section as an example of our Working system.
Well, the Charm lets her summon them, so the thing that makes it click will be when they start developing souls of their own, holy shit wtf. I believe we're having the po automatically get lifted to 3CD tier as soon as she learns the Charm (since it will already be E10 at that point), so unless she learns it exactly at Calibration she'll probably find out she can do that when its Defining Soul walks out of the Fog Wall.
There will then be a titanic pissing match between her children over who gets to be uplifted to 3CD tier first.
High. Very high. Her Gales don't have her Kimmy Principle-altering Charms, nor do they have the feeling of AWESOME POWER, so it's likely that she will make heavy use of them to get a human perspective on things, and FLG lingering hatreds and obsessions that pull her away from more-or-less baseline. Rathan and Haneyl will not appreciate this, but they'll have to suck it up and deal.
: 3
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Which Charm? I don't think we've seen text for one yet, just the name "Titanic Soul Invincible" for what I assume is the relevant one.
And I'd have thought the pissing match between her children would be ended very simply: Dulmea gets uplifted first.
Now, for a crazier thought, is there any way she can spread the idea of using them this way among the other Infernals as part of a general "maybe we could try not being humongous assholes to everyone weaker than us and thus break the cycle of everything going to shit that's been happening since the end of the Time of Glory" movement?
Or, for that matter, influencing the Yozis themselves? My headcanon is that, while releasing the Yozis from the Oaths is impossible (not least because it forms an essential part of who they are and thus you'd have to fetich-death them all in the process), it might be possible to alter the terms so that it's less nightmarish. In particular, to change the Oaths such that each Yozi can maintain a jouten that can enter Creation and that is immune to any sort of permanent death or damage, but that contains and can contain no power beyond that of an enlightened mortal (with similar terms applying to their 3rd and 2nd Circle Souls, freedom to move in Creation and protection from harm in exchange for the sealing of their power). The rest of their greater selves would be freed from the current bondage, with their sentence (as it were) being changed from "imprisonment" to "exile".
Because while the Yozis are currently terrible, terrible 'people', they don't necessarily have to be that way forever.
I'll take that as a "Read and Find Out". :lol
Oh, as long as I'm on the subject of the Yozis, a question: aside from Adorjan's yandere infatuation with Keris and Deveh (I think that was his name) trying to get SWLiHN-senpai to notice him, have any of the other Infernals interacted in any meaningful way with the Yozis themselves? If nothing else, I find it amusing to picture a bunch of 3CDs sitting around complaining to each other about how their overselves keep mucking about with the GSPs and by doing so make it a pain in the ass to get anything accomplished.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Well yes, obviously. But who next, and in what order?And I'd have thought the pissing match between her children would be ended very simply: Dulmea gets uplifted first.
*war breaks out*
Thing is, that's like giving a human a live feed through an ant. With the brains of an ant. It's so far below the Yozi that they wouldn't, at least in Kerisgame, be able to get anything out of it - if they could access it at all. Remember, Adorjan can't even recognise Keris by her physical traits, it's only her essence flavour (and the high Adorjani percentage thereof) that lets her tell her apart from the other Green Sun Princes.
The best way to make things easier on the Yozi, honestly, is to pump a fuckload of Wyld-stuff into their prison so they're not all jammed up against each other and can amuse themselves by Shaping distractions from their eternal imprisonment. Admittedly they'll immediately use this to Shape up a load of humans to torture forever, but they won't have souls so it's not like they're real people, right?
... I guess it's kind of a bummer for the raksha you're throwing in there along with all the chaos essence, I guess. But nobody cares about raksha, so that's fine.
Deveh may love SWLIHN, but he's dealing with the Unquestionable - Iasestus in particular. I suspect that if Keris isn't the only one to have had that kind of direct contact with a Yozi that's paying attention to her, she's probably one of only two or three. And I suspect she is, in fact, the only one to have had more than one such encounter (especially directly, rather than through Lilunu).
Sasi did see the Brass Dancer once, though, and got laid up in bed for a week with a fever.
- Location
- Virginia
Why wouldn't they have souls?
Extras forged from the Wyld (like with Wyld-Shaping Technique) do not have souls and are not "real".
Then again, the Primordials created human souls at some point, so who knows if the Yozis can still make souls or not just so they can torture actual people...
Given that obtaining slaves from Creation for prayer mills is a thing, I believe they can't make souls. They're certainly cut off from the normal source of souls at the moment.