Just because we have money doesn't mean we should immediately leap to buying Daniel a new car. That kind of relatively frivolous expenditure doesn't really seem IC for Molly, IMO, especially when you consider that it was less than two months ago we were worrying about how we would feed and care for our Ghoul minions.
There are also Michael and Charity's opinions to consider. They probably wouldn't appreciate us going behind their backs like this. If anything, they would probably rather the money we could spend on a car instead be set aside in a college find for Daniel.
From what we've seen of the Carpenter family, it also just seems like it would be natural for the Beige Wagon to be passed down when Molly no longer needs it.
Of course, the calculus changes dramatically once we win the lottery, but we aren't at that point yet.
If you need 6 dots 54 xp total to make a philosopher stone you should need 6 dots to make an your a mage potion. Compered to taking splinter gale 20, and VEE 20 and having clones train/wish to develop the Path's it very xp inefficient.
Again, where are you getting 54 xp from? 6+6 + 4 + 12 + 15 = 43, not 54. And that gives many more options than VEE + splintered gale, which is 40 xp total. 3 point difference for many, many more effects and higher versatility
They do temp willpower damage at first, then once they really get going they start doing permanent willpower damage and when that hits zero you are dead. They also cannot feed from Molly because her Essence is made of endless darkness and radioactive hate. Not in the least compatible with the phage. It would be like a human trying to eat a radioactive core for the energy inside.
To be entirely fair, the Willpower economy is supposed to be more dynamic than we are playing it.
Nature and Demeanor mechanics are supposed to proc a lot more regularly for WP recovery, if I understand the workings of WoD mechanics correctly.
But yes, Whampire feeding an be dangerous. At least as dangerous as overuse of Soulfire.
The obvious answer that comes to my mind is to borrow from Dark Ages/Medieval Christian mythology.
Make a Grail.
Something that allows Whampires to feed from animal life force.
Sacrifice a rabbit, or a chicken, and the lifeforce converts into something usable by the supernatural.
If Jade Court elders can feed off environmental chi, if sacrifices to gods used to work, this seems pretty straightforward.
Of course, for something like that, you'd need Exalted Crafting charm, and probably Craft 5.
Just to start.
Then deal with the assholes who will try to corner the market on them for their own purposes.
Though it does raise the prospect of simply setting up a water fountain in a Dragons Nest that will allow any supernatural with special needs to take a drink for daily or weekly refreshment.
Gossamer should be able to become something that would feed her yes, though it should also be noted that since she has control of her hunger right now thanks to MiS Isabela can feed non-lethally from sources of despair. funeral homes and burials common. Of course non-lethally doe not mean without harm, but is is better than actually killing someone, or more likely several someones since most Whites do not get the control down on the first go.
To be fair, funeral homes and burials are more strongly associated with grief and sorrow than despair.
Despair is the sort of thing you find in longterm prisons, terminal care wards, some nursing homes. Casinos.
Its not the kind of emotion people are generally designed to come back from.
There's a reason I said despair is probably the most corrosive emotion on the White Court spectrum.
*Is European*
*Has absolutely no idea what you mean by cars being a luxury there*
No, really, I don't come from a rich family at all, and my parents, my sister, and me all have a car each, and my sister and me had one from the moment we could drive.
Chicago has pretty good public transport for a US city; it has the L train, and buses both, as well as facilities for pedestrian and bike use. And yet it has sufficent deficiencies that a personal automobile is a net improvement, even with the costs of ownership.
Most US cities I've been to, even for a day or two, do not even begin to compete.
And the US is fucking huge compared to most of Europe.
The average daily commute appears to be around 40 miles a day roundtrip.
Just because we have money doesn't mean we should immediately leap to buying Daniel a new car. That kind of relatively frivolous expenditure doesn't really seem IC for Molly, IMO, especially when you consider that it was less than two months ago we were worrying about how we would feed and care for our Ghoul minions.
There are also Michael and Charity's opinions to consider. They probably wouldn't appreciate us going behind their backs like this. If anything, they would probably rather the money we could spend on a car instead be set aside in a college find for Daniel.
From what we've seen of the Carpenter family, it also just seems like it would be natural for the Beige Wagon to be passed down when Molly no longer needs it.
Of course, the calculus changes dramatically once we win the lottery, but we aren't at that point yet.
1)Absolutely no reason why she wouldnt. She has cash flow and reserves; she isnt materially impeded by the cost.
Its no more frivolous than when her parents chose to sustain the monthly fuel, maintenance and insurance costs for operating the Beige Wagon, instead of having her take public transport like everyone else.
2)This month we dropped a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars on Jade Dog welfare.
We pressed Dresden to accept several thousand dollars even when he was willing to do the work for free.
We spent thirty grand on a sports car.
We havent been playing Molly as a frugal person. Not with regards to her assumed responsibilities or loved ones.
Its not a financial issue.
The fact we were worrying about feeding ghouls two months ago didnt prevent us attempting to give Dresden four thousand dollars in September.
3) We paid for Black Rider without consulting either of our parents. We gave Leech a cellphone.
We'll tell them because they are people we love, but ultimately, its an "this is what Im doing as a soon to be legal adult" not "Im asking permission to do this". Gifts between siblings isnt really their decision, any more than us making diamonds is.
Nor is either parent the type of person to attempt to stop an act of generosity, or to mandate the forms that a gift must take, or we'd have been worried about Rosie. Daniel doesnt worry about college for two years anyway.
And we have plans for that.
4)No, I strongly disagree.
Hand me downs for the sake of hand me downs is very much not a feature of the Carpenter household.
There is no evidence either Michael or Charity is frugal for frugality's sake.
Nor is Molly the sort of person to insist that people should not get better conditions than she did when the resources exist to do better.
===
5) And like I've previously stated?
Putting one of our squishy siblings in a car that was previously known to be Molly's is just asking for someone to shoot it up with them inside under the impression they are attacking us.
[X] Offer to buy him a car as soon as he gets his license, you have the money and you can make more
-[X]Empathy Excellency
-[X]STUNT: You hiss melodramatically at him, clawed hands outstretched. "Its my precious. Mine! Nasty hobbitses cant have it. Gollum, Gollum." You hold the pose and a straight face for almost five seconds, then Olivia bounces an empty beer can off your head, and all of you simultaneously crack up. In a more normal voice, you continue. "Yeah well, I can drive, and according to the Illnois Secretary of State's office, you can't. Yet." Daniel makes a face at you, and you stick your tongue back out at him before continuing. "Get your license, and I'll see about buying you wheels."
To be entirely fair, the Willpower economy is supposed to be more dynamic than we are playing it.
Nature and Demeanor mechanics are supposed to proc a lot more regularly for WP recovery, if I understand the workings of WoD mechanics correctly.
But yes, Whampire feeding an be dangerous. At least as dangerous as overuse of Soulfire
Your forgetting mortal stats, willpower of 5 is already huge for a random person off the street. Thou that does lead to some interesting ideas of having Whampire minions drain people's temp willpower, then hit them exalted Social. Without temp willpower most people auto lose.
To be entirely fair, the Willpower economy is supposed to be more dynamic than we are playing it.
Nature and Demeanor mechanics are supposed to proc a lot more regularly for WP recovery, if I understand the workings of WoD mechanics correctly.
But yes, Whampire feeding an be dangerous. At least as dangerous as overuse of Soulfire.
The obvious answer that comes to my mind is to borrow from Dark Ages/Medieval Christian mythology.
Make a Grail.
Something that allows Whampires to feed from animal life force.
Sacrifice a rabbit, or a chicken, and the lifeforce converts into something usable by the supernatural.
If Jade Court elders can feed off environmental chi, if sacrifices to gods used to work, this seems pretty straightforward.
Of course, for something like that, you'd need Exalted Crafting charm, and probably Craft 5.
Just to start.
Then deal with the assholes who will try to corner the market on them for their own purposes.
Though it does raise the prospect of simply setting up a water fountain in a Dragons Nest that will allow any supernatural with special needs to take a drink for daily or weekly refreshment.
We're probably trading it to Winter.
To be fair, funeral homes and burials are more strongly associated with grief and sorrow than despair.
Despair is the sort of thing you find in longterm prisons, terminal care wards, some nursing homes. Casinos.
Its not the kind of emotion people are generally designed to come back from.
There's a reason I said despair is probably the most corrosive emotion on the White Court spectrum.
Deep sorrow is despair enough for a sufficiently well composed Skavis, it does not have to be an inescapable spiral anymore than fear has to be an incurable phobia. It does have to feel hopeless in the moment, but a lot of times especially around death often feel hopeless without being so in the long run.
This would come down to a vote and while I am going to vote against dealing with Mab in most ways, ironically, I agree with trading it to write off debts or in place of whatever she will ask for the info on exaltation that she is going to tempt us with.
ironically, I agree with trading it to write off debts or in place of whatever she will ask for the info on exaltation that she is going to tempt us with.
Trading anything for the information is wasteful, I feel. We should use Lydia's library, or, falling that, a copy of Romeo and Juliet, or, falling that, the summoning circle after meeting with Mab as a focus for the crown to get everything she knows or thinks she knows about our power. We should also check as many "low value" Mab foci (so probably not the Unseelie accords, but that's arguable) as possible, and ask a number of questions before meeting her. I would certainly vote for this in the planning of this month. Specifically, we want to know ahead of time:
0) What does she know (or thinks she know) about our power
1) What does she want out of the meeting
2) What is the service, object or knowledge Mab would be willing to pay the most for
3) What is her greatest self-perceived weakness
4) What knowledge she would attack others for having
Adhoc vote count started by Yzarc on Feb 17, 2023 at 10:33 AM, finished with 148 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Offer to buy him a car as soon as he gets his license, you have the money and you can make more -[X]Empathy Excellency -[X]STUNT: You hiss melodramatically at him, clawed hands outstretched. "Its my precious. Mine! Nasty hobbitses cant have it. Gollum, Gollum." You hold the pose and a straight face for almost five seconds, then Olivia bounces an empty beer can off your head, and all of you simultaneously crack up. In a more normal voice, you continue. "Yeah well, I can drive, and according to the Illnois Secretary of State's office, you can't. Yet." Daniel makes a face at you, and you stick your tongue back out at him before continuing. "Get your license, and I'll see about buying you wheels."
[X] In the time honored tradition of younger siblings getting the hand me downs of their elders, once Daniel gets his driver's license you will give him the Beige Wagon, with the understanding that he will care for it properly and eventually pass it down to a younger sibling himself once he has the means to acquire his own vehicle.
[X] Offer to buy him a car as soon as he gets his license, you have the money and you can make more -[X] Empathy excellency to prevent him from feeling insecure or resentful -[X] It won't be something luxury, but your parents got you Beige Wagon, so it's only fair that now that you have the means, you even the field and get him something equivalent
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Feb 17, 2023 at 10:51 AM, finished with 149 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Offer to buy him a car as soon as he gets his license, you have the money and you can make more -[X]Empathy Excellency -[X]STUNT: You hiss melodramatically at him, clawed hands outstretched. "Its my precious. Mine! Nasty hobbitses cant have it. Gollum, Gollum." You hold the pose and a straight face for almost five seconds, then Olivia bounces an empty beer can off your head, and all of you simultaneously crack up. In a more normal voice, you continue. "Yeah well, I can drive, and according to the Illnois Secretary of State's office, you can't. Yet." Daniel makes a face at you, and you stick your tongue back out at him before continuing. "Get your license, and I'll see about buying you wheels."
[X] In the time honored tradition of younger siblings getting the hand me downs of their elders, once Daniel gets his driver's license you will give him the Beige Wagon, with the understanding that he will care for it properly and eventually pass it down to a younger sibling himself once he has the means to acquire his own vehicle.
[X] Offer to buy him a car as soon as he gets his license, you have the money and you can make more -[X] Empathy excellency to prevent him from feeling insecure or resentful -[X] It won't be something luxury, but your parents got you Beige Wagon, so it's only fair that now that you have the means, you even the field and get him something equivalent
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Feb 17, 2023 at 10:51 AM, finished with 149 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Offer to buy him a car as soon as he gets his license, you have the money and you can make more -[X]Empathy Excellency -[X]STUNT: You hiss melodramatically at him, clawed hands outstretched. "Its my precious. Mine! Nasty hobbitses cant have it. Gollum, Gollum." You hold the pose and a straight face for almost five seconds, then Olivia bounces an empty beer can off your head, and all of you simultaneously crack up. In a more normal voice, you continue. "Yeah well, I can drive, and according to the Illnois Secretary of State's office, you can't. Yet." Daniel makes a face at you, and you stick your tongue back out at him before continuing. "Get your license, and I'll see about buying you wheels."
[X] In the time honored tradition of younger siblings getting the hand me downs of their elders, once Daniel gets his driver's license you will give him the Beige Wagon, with the understanding that he will care for it properly and eventually pass it down to a younger sibling himself once he has the means to acquire his own vehicle.
[X] Offer to buy him a car as soon as he gets his license, you have the money and you can make more -[X] Empathy excellency to prevent him from feeling insecure or resentful -[X] It won't be something luxury, but your parents got you Beige Wagon, so it's only fair that now that you have the means, you even the field and get him something equivalent
You hiss melodramatically at him, clawed hands outstretched, maybe a little too melodramatically to judge from the worried looks you elicit from Olivia and Lydia. Daniel just laughs though, in no way deterred when you add in your best Smegol impression: "Its my precious. Mine! Nasty hobbitses cant have it. Gollum, Gollum."
Olivia bounces an empty can of beer off your head in response to worrying her which you ignore with an imperious smile undercut perhaps by the hollow thud of the can bouncing off the ground and going far too high in the air, the toy of much-amused spirits. "Yeah well, I can drive, and according to the Illinois Secretary of State's office, you can't. Yet." Daniel makes a face at you, and you stick your tongue back out at him before continuing. "Get your license, and I'll see about buying you wheels."
"Buying..." he tilts his head to the side in askance. "You can just do that?"
After considering your answer a moment you decide not to brag. "Yep."
As the dead start floating closer you do get to explain Chicago Synthetics to a fellow who had been the stepbrother of a lumber baron, very concerned that you not follow in his sibling's stingy footsteps, get very detailed and only half-century out of date advice on guns from a marines corporal with is wife Marry chinning in from time to time with such gems as 'if I didn't like hunting how do you think I'd have bagged him' and end off the night explaining the plot of Hobbit to Madeline.
Meanwhile Lydia looks to have grown into her appointed task quite well, organizing a 'defense' of the graveyard, by which she means mostly spooking idiots who dare each other into entering for some light vandalism, though she does make contingencies for what to do if something more serious is afoot, like a beating or a murder, of which there had been a few in this isolated patch of woodland over the years. Your friend is also very clear about what to do in case of a necromancer.
"Corporal George, you come right to me, follow the glint of the wedding band..." She looks a briefly uneasy at holding on to it, but both husband and wife are clearly at peace with her having it so she continues in a more businesslike manner. "everyone else grab hold of your anchors and hunker down. Don't try to beat them up, don't try to be heroes, wait for me and then we'll show them what's for."
"Have there been a lot of necromancers around here?" Olivia asks queasily.
"Yes and no," Lydia sighs. "Capital N for nasty necromancers are thankfully rare, but the living always have something they want from the dead, something to prove, it's good business, its power, prestige. Sometimes it gets to their head, it's a small step from haranguing the dead to compelling them and from compelling to binding. Not to say it goes well for the poor fools, but they can do plenty of damage before the dead have their due."
Smiling at the byplay between Olivia's intense look and Lydia seeming quite sure of herself teaching you get back to summarizing the book, a little wistful that you can't just get the ghost girl the books since she would never be able to find the focus to read page after page when its so easy to get unstuck in time. Maybe you'll get a projector and some popcorn, have a movie night... at some point.
"Fare thee well and to to all a goodnight," you say some two or three hours past midnight, one of the advantages of a party with ghosts being able to accurately say to one's parents that 'no you cannot do it earlier'. In truth you might have stayed up until later if it did not start to rain again.
Cold, refreshing droplets sneak their way though the leaves above and fall in unexpected streams right on the heads of all concerned. Poor Olivia is probably the least waterproof of you in the sweeping black dress meant to evoke the spirit of the Victorians without being as restrictive of limb and breath. But for you there's something different about the rain... no not the rain
You step into a puddle... "I'm going to try something." Then, before anyone can reply you step into the puddle, your essence like black thread around the molecules of water, in each one manifest. You can still feel the chill of autumn night on the air, you can still smell loam and fading flowers in the air, and for all you have no ears you can still hear the exclamations of surprise.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 6/12
Easy as breathing you slip right out.
"Did you just teleport?" Daniel asks, sounding so done with your shenanigans you have to giggle.
"Nope I was in the puddle," you reply pointing at the two inches of water under your heel..
"But can you though?" Olivia asks thoughtfully. "I mean there's clearly not enough room in there for you to fit which means you become one with the water so what if there was a lot more water?" One drive to the Chicago river proves she's entirely right to more good-natured cries of 'bullshit' this time even from Lydia.
I could do this with the Atlantic... The term 'world ocean' briefly floats to the surface of your mind, though it turns out your magic is not quite that all encompassing. Your awareness fades at both lake Michigan and the Sanitary and Ship Canal, the latter of which is probably for the best, though that brings up another question. Does it have to be water you are dipped in? Turns out no, one trip to Walmart and a bottle of soda later you have become one with the Coke. "Wait, wait, that did not come out right!"
A shiver of guilt goes through you joking about stuff like that, but you firmly dismiss it.
When at last you find your bed your dreams are not dark but strange, filled with all the permutations of water, the secrets of transmutation.
What Alchemical Formulas do you learn
Tier 1
• Painkiller: a drink that will reduce dice pool penalties from injury by one level
• Speed-Healing: a "potion" that halves healing time for bashing and lethal damage.
• Unbreakable Mirror: a mirror that cannot be smashed, chipped or otherwise broken by normal force.
• A powder that, when mixed with alcohol, induces slumber almost immediately. The target must roll Stamina (difficulty 8) or spend a point of Willpower to stay conscious; he must remake this attempt (at a -1 to Difficulty each time) every round until he succumbs or the drug no longer has a chance of success. Unconsciousness lasts for (10 - Stamina) hours, during which they cannot be roused. Vampires are almost immune to this drug (+2 to Stamina, add Fortitude, and effects, if they succumb, last 10 - (Stamina + Fortitude) minutes).
• A pill that removes all side effects from a minor cold or flu for 24 hours when taken and reduces the recovery time for the illness to one half. Tier 2
•• 160-Hour Energy Drink: A vial of liquid that allows the drinker to go a week with only a single hour of sleep per night without penalties.
•• Enhance Ability: an elixir that can enhance a specific ability in a person who drinks it. The drinker gains a specialty in that ability for the duration (or +2 dice when it is relevant if they already have one) for one hour per success on the creation.
•• Eternal Blade: a blade, whether knife, dagger or sword, that never needs to be sharpened.
•• Healing: In addition to the effects of Speed-Healing, this potion heals up to two bashing or lethal levels immediately.
•• Liquid Insight: A derivative of LSD, the user can see connections they otherwise couldn't and perhaps even a minor vision of the future or past. These connections and visions will be symbolic and work through analogy, but if properly deciphered they will be correct.
•• Ointment of Maedb: When rubbed into the eyes, this salve allows the subject to see supernatural beings. It only reveals that they are supernatural, not their nature.
•• Polymorph: a potion that allows the drinker to take on a different form, restricted to simple changes within a human framework, and they cannot perfectly duplicate another person.
•• Speed: Though it shares a name with a common drug, Speed is not chemically related to it. It is much safer, and just allows the user to run twice as fast for the duration of one scene. However, this is still exhausting, and after the scene, the user makes a Stamina check (difficulty 6) or else suffer -2 on all physical die rolls due to exhaustion for the next hour.
• • A form of prophecy-bearing super-LSD. When ingested, the user will be able to see things that were not previously obvious to him or will be granted a vision of the future. These messages will always be cloaked in symbolism and analogy, but will be correct... to the limits of the user's
understanding.
• • A potion that doubles the user's running speed for one scene. After using this potion, the user must make a Stamina check (difficulty 6) or be totally out of breath and shaky (-2 on all physical die rolls) for the next hour.
[] Three Tier 1 Formulas
[] Three tier 2 formulas
OOC: There was no way to cram in the alchemy and keep the tone consistent so Molly is going to dream up strange substances, literally.
You get 6 total and you can make up some of your own within the following limitations
Tier 1: With even the basics of the Path of Alchemy allows the alchemist to make substances that are more advanced than what exists, but not fundamentally beyond what mundane chemists can product. Most often, these are painkillers, sleep-aids, glues, solvents, and poisons that are just a bit more effective what anyone else can produce.
Tier 2: The materials produced with this rank are more potent versions of those of the first. Though many of the effects are similar, they can now have a degree that exceeds normal physical limits or even grants minor mystical senses through dreams and hallucinations. At this rank, the concoctions can raise any attribute by one dot for one scene, up to a maximum of five.
However, this is still exhausting, and after the scene, the user makes a Stamina check (difficulty 6) or else suffer -2 on all physical die rolls due to exhaustion for the next hour.
Just FYI; one sux is enough to make any check that doesn't specify exact number of sux. Therefore, you can always ace checks like these by spending 1WP.
No poison available for tier one? No superglue either. They are from Sorcerers Companion:
• An incredibly strong super glue, more potent than even the strongest commercial epoxies.
• A potent poison (one with a Toxin Rating of 7)
?
EDIT: No hangover cure either:
• A powder that, when combined with an alcoholic beverage, immediately recovers them from the effects of alcohol, both intoxication and hangovers alike.
No poison available for tier one? No superglue either. They are from Sorcerers Companion:
• An incredibly strong super glue, more potent than even the strongest commercial epoxies.
• A potent poison (one with a Toxin Rating of 7)
?
Hmm, could we make a free-floating aerosol substance, that applies any non-targeted poison or mystical effects into an area of effect? I wanna make a holy water smoke machine/humidifier, or at least a floating cloud of holyness, really mess up or flush out a nest of critters.
Hmm, could we make a free-floating aerosol substance, that applies any non-targeted poison or mystical effects into an area of effect? I wanna make a holy water smoke machine, or at least clouds of it, really mess up or flush out a nest of critters.
That is doable, but you would have to specify that it works on water based substances. The aerosol for something that is dissolved in fat or alcohol would be another recipe.
Shoot I didn't realize RVD enables a form of teleportation across single bodies of water, that's seriously overpowered. Pity it doesn't extend to the entire Atlantic Ocean from the Chicago river, but if she was actually in the Atlantic to begin with how far does her awareness extend? Could she slow-boat teleport across the Atlantic/Pacific?
Anyway, I think I want the potion of SPEEEEED, Level 2 Health Potion and IDK what else. No sleep would be nice, but idk how fiercely the thread would fight against it.
Level one... Reduced wound penalties would be pretty good. We are already at -1 thanks to that one charm, so further reduction means no wound penalties until Molly looks like a half-eaten zombie from a horror flick.
