This would be much less bad in some senses, but still retains all the problems of being able to make Solar-grade automata.
Well, the Doombot doesn't have to be as powerful as you, it just has to be capable of faking being as powerful as you.
(or just faking being you, thus making others think that you are weaker than you actually are)
Lots of bluffing and smoke'n'mirrors, maybe a small Panoply of weak-ish and/or general charms to give it some bite, and some integrated Artifacts to give it flexibility.

Or maybe it just channels your power and you have to go into a meditative coma to use it properly, thus making you really vulnerable.
 
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Depends on what your goal is. Your character's already got 7 dice + and excellency to throw at the problem, which means you can do it pretty much 100% consistently. Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit isn't a bad charm in the same theme. Or another Melee charm.

Kay. Any other tips for ways I can make Hope's character better?
 
Kay. Any other tips for ways I can make Hope's character better?
Rest, relax and enjoy the story.

It doesn't need to be perfectly crafted, just enjoyable to play.
Kind of this. It depends on what playstyle you enjoy, what powers you'll find fun to use in game, etc.

I'm also hardly an expert on 3E. I've played all of two session before deciding that I wasn't interested in playing more (so take all my advice with a grain of salt).
 
You know, now I kind of want to play Ex3. I want to grab 3 Tyrant Lizard familiars and just win all the combats, especially with the new Survival charms.
 
You know, now I kind of want to play Ex3. I want to grab 3 Tyrant Lizard familiars and just win all the combats, especially with the new Survival charms.

I shall destroy you with my army of 15 Squirrel familiars!


(Are any of the survival charms designed with the understanding of how easy it is to get multiple familiars?)
 
I shall destroy you with my army of 15 Squirrel familiars!


(Are any of the survival charms designed with the understanding of how easy it is to get multiple familiars?)
Given that familiars training charms cost XP...all of them?
 
Given that familiars training charms cost XP...all of them?

I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about how the charms always refer to familiar in the singular.

No real hunting pack charms, or charms that take advantage of having multiple familiars.

Hell look at What Light Reveals from the document.

Its acting like you can only have one spirit familiar, and ignoring the twilight anima.
 
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I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about how the charms always refer to familiar in the singular.

No real hunting pack charms, or charms that take advantage of having multiple familiars.

Hell look at What Light Reveals from the document.

Its acting like you can only have one spirit familiar, and ignoring the twilight anima.
Methinks the design space for charms that affect multiple familiars at once is a bit narrow.
 
Its acting like you can only have one spirit familiar, and ignoring the twilight anima.
Its almost like they wrote too many things without planning for them to be there, that they are forgetting the specifics of their own 900 page tome.

But certainly that wouldn't happen with a top-class editing and playtesting team like they have, right?
 
Methinks the design space for charms that affect multiple familiars at once is a bit narrow.

Me thinks your imagination is a bit narrow, especially since its the tree of surviving in the wild.

Charms that affect multiple familiars have no more narrow of a design space then charms that affect small unit tactics or fellow members of your party.
 
Also, people here thing the Retroactive Doombot charm is dumb, right?
But what if it wasn't retroactive? You have to maintain your Doombot and keep track of it, and if you screw up it basically acts like an actual Doombot(read; out-of-character and causing people to blame you for stuff).

From my rewrite:

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.
 
I'd be more tempted to go another way. Lose the part where you can send these things.out as expendable, with no real cost to yourself.


Sure, you can have a copy of yourself that's almost as good as you are. But it will be weaker, and it's dangerous. Say, making copies lowers your permanent essence while they exist, and they're always below you in terms of essence. Plus, if one is killed, the rest all take damage including the real. So yes you can be in multiple places at once with nearly your full capabilities. But only by introducing a new weakness to yourself.
 
I prefer my "And if you screw up too badly it can start acting on its own", it introduces more possible plot-lines instead of limiting your options.
The main issue is how powerful they are. If they're middling spirits with a few panalopy charms based off of you, seperate doombot is fine. It's honestly no different from making an powerful automata or something.

If it's at the same level as an exalted, you need more stringent limitations, ones that actually limit your options. Because otherwise it's simply anhilates the setting.
 
The main issue is how powerful they are. If they're middling spirits with a few panalopy charms based off of you, seperate doombot is fine. It's honestly no different from making an powerful automata or something.

If it's at the same level as an exalted, you need more stringent limitations, ones that actually limit your options. Because otherwise it's simply anhilates the setting.
I suspect fear of players trying to repurpose the magnus dupes to doing something setting-shattering is one of the major reasons why the original DMP was designed as a narrative interruption device and not as something more directly tinkerable. It was a Crafty variation of Immortal Malevolence Enslavement / Final Ray of Light, a Charm meant for a Solar variant of "Nobody could survive that!" with a more 'invention worthy of a First-Ager' justification, not a combat drone Charm.
 
I suspect fear of players trying to repurpose the magnus dupes to doing something setting-shattering is one of the major reasons why the original DMP was designed as a narrative interruption device and not as something more directly tinkerable. It was a Crafty variation of Immortal Malevolence Enslavement / Final Ray of Light, a Charm meant for a Solar variant of "Nobody could survive that!" with a more 'invention worthy of a First-Ager' justification, not a combat drone Charm.
Yes, but the fact that this can only be done narratively as an interruption device makes the setting abruptly incoherent. Why can't you do it at any other time? Why can't you use this remote you-bot for any of the obvious things you'd use the capability for?
 
Looking, it's actually Vile Anathema Shroud. Which has Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise as a prereq, which Hope can totally get if I spend my remaining bp on upping Larceny to 4. However back in 2e Vile Anathema Shroud was Essence 3.
Vile Anathema Shroud was essentially just the Solar Mirror of an Abyssal charm that was itself just a pale reflection of Perfect Mirror. It was essentially inferior in every way—it could even be bypassed with an expenditure of willpower—save that it exerted a mental effect convincing people that your were a Solar/Abyssal. Not quite as bad as 1e's Gender-Concealing Meditation, which was defeated by a physical examination, but still...

If you want the effect, it would be easy enough to justify lowering it from E2 to E1 in your case. You could also make a custom Stealth/Larceny charm. The simplest approach is to just use a bit of disguise(or FID) and avoid flaring your anima(vastly easier in 3e).

I'm not really sure why you bought a Hearthstone Bracer, as your chain shirt should have a socket or two.

Its a charm so superfluous Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit, found at the same essence level almost does its job with the same effectiveness with one line of text, plus all its other effects. Plus unlike Food Gathering, Hardship is required by many other charms in the tree if you want to be a Noble Savage.
HSMS is good enough in relatively hospitable environments, or in harsher environments with a large dice pool, but you'll be shit out of luck in the Labyrinth.

It's a niche charm, but if you need it you'll be very glad it exists. Still, as you can literally train it in a day of failing to find food, there's generally not much reason to get it ahead of time.
 
@Aranfan
If you just want to look like an Abyssal - Black Anima and "death-essence" instead of "solar fire" and so on, how about the following:
Get either an Soulsteel&Moonsilver-Artifact or an Abyssal Hearthstone that does that.
It definitely shouldn't be out of the reach for a three-dot artifact or a Greater Hearthstone, and since it's mostly a cosmetic effect it's easy to just have it do it's cosmetic effect and maybe throw an evocation or two onto it at a later date if you want to.
 
Yes, but the fact that this can only be done narratively as an interruption device makes the setting abruptly incoherent. Why can't you do it at any other time? Why can't you use this remote you-bot for any of the obvious things you'd use the capability for?
Why didn't YHWH just make the truth known to all humans using all those omnipotent powers instead of sending [semi-]mortal preachers to try explaining it less effectively? Why didn't Gilgamesh go for another attempt to get immortality, given that he had a chance? Why didn't the eagles of unusual size play a larger role in delivering the Ring to Mount Doom? Why doesn't Carjack kick PC butt on day one?
Some applications of powers don't fit into the vision of the genre/setting/etc. of an author; in such cases, an author may try to fill in a justification for why this happens, or s/he can just assume that the audience will share the author's vision of genre conventions/etc., and sometimes the author says "this is how it's meant to be; you can think up of your own justification if the need arises" (e.g. Moran). I'm guessing the authors of 3e fall somewhere on the spectrum between the latter and the expectation that the audience will just follow the conventions.
 
Why didn't YHWH just make the truth known to all humans using all those omnipotent powers instead of sending [semi-]mortal preachers to try explaining it less effectively? Why didn't Gilgamesh go for another attempt to get immortality, given that he had a chance? Why didn't the eagles of unusual size play a larger role in delivering the Ring to Mount Doom? Why doesn't Carjack kick PC butt on day one?
The question is not why didn't, but why can't. "Cause narrative" does not actually answer this question, and trying to address PC powers in that way just makes for an incoherent setting.
 
Yes, but the fact that this can only be done narratively as an interruption device makes the setting abruptly incoherent. Why can't you do it at any other time? Why can't you use this remote you-bot for any of the obvious things you'd use the capability for?
Except you can? It's "just" a high-level artifact/sorcerous working. By the time you have enough craft charms to even consider buying DMP you'll have piles of those. If you want an impersonator to handle annoying trivialities or a high-powered combat bot, then build them. You can even build an extremely reliable escape plan without delving deep into the most tedious tree in Solar Craft. All the charm does is make the details narratively retroactive in an admission that the character is vastly more intelligent than the player.

If it's at the same level as an exalted, you need more stringent limitations, ones that actually limit your options. Because otherwise it's simply anhilates the setting.
Indeed, though sometimes it's best to keep things simple:

Expected operational lifespan of emergency decoy at full combat power: 10 seconds.
 
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Blade-Stilling Glare
Cost: 3m
Minimums: Melee 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 1 or Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Mirror
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: None

The Lawgivers bind the blades of their enemies with attention as uncompromising as the desert sun.

This charm affects sheathed or unreadied weapons The Solar can perceive within [Essence x10] yards. Weapons so affected roll Valor at Difficulty 2 or the Solar's [Essence/2, rounded up], whichever is higher.
If the weapon fails this roll, it cannot be readied until its owner makes a successful Miscellenous social attack against the weapon's MDV, soothing the weapon's terrified Least God.

This Charm has on effect on weapons forged of magic like Glorious Solar Saber, strapped-on weapons like Cestus, or ones she cannot perceive, such as a concealed knife or the dematerialized panoply of a spirit. When determining what traits to use, it is safe to assume that mundane weapons have the traits of Mortal Extras, while Artifact Weapons are heroic mortals. Truly storied or loyal weapons can have Valor 4 or 5 at the Storyteller's discretion.

New Abyssal Charm: Blades Grow Cold As Graves

This Charm is similar to its Solar Mirror, save that it has the Crippling keyword- if a weapon is successfully cowed, hoarfrost builds around spearhafts or hilts, sealing them shut or rendering them useless until the ice is knocked away with a Miscellaneous action. Characters with Wits 3 or less find their hands frozen to their weapons, ruining those limbs as a Crippling Effect that requires magical treatment to cure.

AN:

So you know what I love? Ownership mechanics and least-gods in weapons. I have this big personal thing, where I want to do a whole series of Solar Charms based on a mechanical niche they could have explored beyond 'perfection' and 'human mastery' which would be something like 'Loyalty in my people, my equipment and beyond'.

I want you to imagine being able to whisper to your arrows: "I order you to slay my foe."

and your arrow replies "Yes master!"

As for Blade-Stilling Glare, I wanted to experiment with more esoteric 'Melee' effects. This could more generally go in Presence as a kind of intimidation effect, but I left it in Melee because of how weapon-focused it was. It got a little longer, wordier and clause-ier than I liked, but at the same time, I felt like being specific added to the charm.

It's one of those little side-things, since this is essentially a pre-emptive Disarm Effect, that you can't actually disarm strapped-on weapons without extra effort. Smashfists, Cesti and the like don't 'fly out of your hand' as per 2e rules.

I also clearly wanted to push hard on the idea of Action Economy as a meaningful thing- a lot of the reason why whiteboxing happens the way it does, is becuase people aren't forced to push out of their preferred habits. They fall into routines of 'This works, so I'm going to keep doing it until it wins'.

So in this Charm, it basically demands that if you want to draw your weapon AND attack after being told 'No stay down', you have to flurry. This precludes Extra Action Charms, Simple Charms, and a whole bunch else.

The Abyssal Mirror's crippling effect is also an experiment- I did not want to emphasize additional rolling; my go-to would have been a reflexive wits+melee to avoid having your hand frozen to your weapon, but I decided that maybe making a 'Are you This high' check is more reasonable. It also puts this firmly in 'Fuck Extras' territory, which is by design.
 
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