Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

Yog · Jul 24, 2023

@DragonParadox could we get a clarification? In regards to Arcana Merits and Flaws, how are flaws handled?
1) Sum of Merit points + sum of Flaw points <=7
2) Sum of Merit points - sum of Flaw points <=7
?
I.e. do flaws count as negative points, or positive points? The first interpretation does not have incentives to pick up flaws, but the second one can be minmaxed quite a bit (like how I admit to doing, basically).

BronzeTongue · Jul 24, 2023

Yog said:
@DragonParadox could we get a clarification? In regards to Arcana Merits and Flaws, how are flaws handled?
1) Sum of Merit points + sum of Flaw points <=7
2) Sum of Merit points - sum of Flaw points <=7
?
I.e. do flaws count as negative points, or positive points? The first interpretation does not have incentives to pick up flaws, but the second one can be minmaxed quite a bit (like how I admit to doing, basically).

The benefit of flaws is that you get points back in your pool to use on other things.

its not like you can do this on regular char gen either; there's a cap on the merits you can get for exalts at the start too.

Your interpretation clearly completely defeats the balancing restriction because you can have an arbitrary number of freebie point merits by stacking low tier flaws you don't care about.

It's the ExWoD equivalent of building Pun-Pun Kobold God.

If you want more you're supposed to work out a justification and buy it during play.

Edit:

Just to reinforce my point here, if your read was correct there would be nothing stopping you from taking any character at char gem, Arcana or not, and adding all of these merits to them (or literally all of the merits for that matter):

6 points:
Clear Sighted You can see through all levels of Kindred Obfuscate, Chimerstry, and other related Disciplines or Gifts with a Perception + Alerness roll (difficulty of the opposing power's level + 3). (INQ)

Guardian Angel Someone or something watches over you and protects you from harm. You have no idea who or what it is, but you have an idea that someone is looking out for you. In times of great need you may be supernaturally protected. However, one can never count upon a guardian angel. The Storyteller must decide why you are being watched over, and by what (not necessarily an angel, despite the name).

Nine Lives Fate has granted you the opportunity to come as close to Final Death as anyone can get and still survive. You basically have nine lives. If a situation arises in which you should be killed, you actually survive, though you may be worse for wear. What happens is that if a roll is made that would kill the character, the roll is made a second time. If that roll fails another can be made, and so on, until the roll succeeds or the Merit is used up. You get nine opportunities to make rerolls, and these opportunities are never replaced after they have been used - once they are gone, they are gone. A list should be kept somewhere on the character shee to record how many rerolls have been made. (PGS)

5 points:
Innate Magical Ability You have some sort of magical ability that makes you unique. The ability is different from any normal vampiric power or Discipline. The exact nature of the ability should remain somewhat mysterious to you, though you have some say in what the ability is. The ability has an estimated power level similar to a Level Three Discipline. (PGS)

Charmed Existence Your unlife is somehow protected, and you do not face the perils that others must. It could be that you are simply lucky. Whatever the reason, you may ignore any "one" on every roll you make. This makes it far less likely that you will ever botch, and grants you more successes than others obtain.

3 dot
Oracular Ability (3-pt. Merit)
No, your mage is not one of the mystic Master mages living in an ivory tower in the Deep Umbra. Neither is she a software company. What she is, is an ordinary mage with a flair for divination and glimpses into the past, present and future. Whenever the Storyteller feels you are in the position to see a sign or portent, you may make a Perception + Awareness roll, with the difficulty relative to how well the omen is concealed. If successful, you may then roll Intelligence + Occult to interpret what you have seen, the difficulty is relative to the complexity of what you have seen. Your difficulty for all divination with magic (generally with Time) reduces by two.

To make your starting character a nearly unkillable monster who no sells an entire school of magic, is blessed with mechanically significant luck, and has their own unique homebrew power.

Before you get into their actual kit at that.

Since we're building a character nobody actually wants to manifest, you could get all the flaws you want for what's basically punishing it for not doing exactly what we want out of it:

Geasa (1 to 5-pt. Flaw; must be attached to another Flaw or Merit)
There is something your character must or must not do, and his life, his luck, his magic (and perhaps his very soul) depends on it. It may be something that has always been upon him, a Geas prophesied by druids at bis birth, or a curse laid on him by faeries at his christening. It may also be a sacred oath or vow he swore, or a promise or bargain he made, and Someone (with a capital S) witnessed it and is going to hold him to it. If he disobeys, the consequences are dire, if not deadly.

The value of a Geas depends on how easily it is broken and the penalty for violating it. If the penalty is the loss of some Merit or Background, deduct the Geas' rating from the value of the Merit or Background and make that number the value of the Flaw. For example, your character's sword may be a five-point Artifact, but you have been told, "If you ever raise this blade in anger, the angels who gave it to you will take it away."
Never raising one's sword in anger is a small sacrifice, so it's worth four points, making a four point Flaw.

When you take a Geas, choose the Flaw(s), Background (s), and/or Merit(s) to which the Geas is attached. Then either lessen the final value of the Flaw(s) or decrease the cost of the Merit(s) and/or Background (s). In the case of Merits that may be taken multiple times, you may take the Geas the same number of times to decrease the cost. However, your Geas should be at least one point less than the total value of the Merits,
Backgrounds and/or Flaws to which it's linked. In other words, you cannot get a Merit or Background for free just by piling on strictures and limitations. Storytellers should examine each Geas to make sure it makes sense in terms of story, rather than just being a pile of bizarre restrictions and commandments that could only be explained by faeries dropping acid at a christening. Storytellers should also blackball any Geas that does not cause actual problems. Losing your soul if you die is a problem, and so is losing an legendary Attribute if you lose your virginity. However, it's to be expected that you'll lose all of your Attributes, enhanced or otherwise, when you die, so this is not a legitimate problem unless your character also has some way to come back from the dead.

The point value of the Geasa suggested here is only approximate, and it will vary depending on character and circumstances.

Value Geas
1 point Inevitable circumstance or incredible sacrifice: When you die, if you ever let the sun touch your skin, if you ever allow your feet to touch the earth, if you ever speak another word

2 points Almost unavoidable circumstance or significant sacrifice: Remain a virgin, never harm a living creature, never tell a lie

3 points Everyday circumstance or common sacrifice: Never back down from a fight, never tell a secret, never refuse hospitality, never marry, never have children

4 points Unlikely circumstance or a small sacrifice: Stop and pet every cat you see, never eat any animal product, never harm a certain type of animal or a certain type of person, never raise your sword in anger

5 points Easily avoided circumstance or trivial sacrifice: Never break bread with a red-haired man, say your prayers every night, take your vitamins, never harm the king, don't eat ham, keep one small secret Classic penalties for violating a Geas include suffering a dark fate, losing one's Avatar, having luck turn from good to bad (losing the Lucky Merit), being deserted by one's familiar (especially if the Geas was a pact you made with the beast), losing a totem, losing all one's friends and losing one's worldly possessions.

Characters may have several Geasa that may come into conflict. Cuchulainn had the Geasa to "Never refuse hospitality" and to "Never harm a dog" (his namesake). Three hags then offered him roast dog for dinner and Cuchulainn died soon after. Consequently, most mages try to keep their Geasa secret, lest they be used against them by enemy mages. Unfortunately, Geasa can be divined by a simple Entropy 1 Effect mixed with a little skill in fortune-telling as can one's destiny. Elaborate traps have been devised to force mages to violate all their Geasa in succession, leading to their flamboyant destruction. Perversely, Geasa, curses, holy vows and binding oaths are also marks of great status among certain Traditions, particularly the Akashic Brotherhood, Verbena, and Celestial Chorus, who accord status to mages with such Flaws. Simply put, unimportant people don't have Geasa or family curses, and someone who takes a binding oath or makes a sacred vow (and keeps it) is worthy of respect. Most Technomancers, on the other hand, aren't impressed by people who take vows of chastity or silence, and they are similarly blase about those who break them.

Traditionally, there is very little that may be done about Geasa, which are simply facets of one's destiny, and curses are devilishly hard to lift (and the Flaw must be bought off if they are). However, with binding oaths, sacred vows, and bans imposed by totem spirits, characters who violate them accidentally may attempt to atone for their crime. A witch who has vowed to never eat any red meat, then suddenly finds ham in her pea soup, might be able to atone for the trespass by fasting and sending checks to PETA. However, if a mage violates an oath willingly and with full knowledge — and survives — he becomes an oath-breaker, one of the most foul epithets among the Traditions. The destiny of an oath-breaker is scarred permanently, and the marks show clearly to the same Entropy 1 magic that reveals a mage's destiny. As such, it is virtually impossible for an oathbreaker to find a tutor or any sort of aid among those Traditions that value one's sworn word. Some Traditions, notably the Order of Hermes
and the Verbena, kill oathbreakers on sight, numbering them among the Nephandi, whose dark paths of power are the only ones left open to them.

Ironically, many oathbreakers are young internalists who foreswore their allegiance to the Dark Masters — and the binding oath they had been given — after realizing the price of that power. Destiny, however, does not play favorites, and those who break their word to Hell are just as stigmatized as those who lie to Heaven.

Characters who wish to begin as oathbreakers should take Dark Fate or some other curse. Occasionally there are good and noble characters who have sworn foolish oaths in the past, then have broken them rather than allow some greater evil to occur. It is impossible to erase the stain from the soul once one is foresworn, but some have friends who will still stand by them, even though most mages will spit when they say their names.

Geasa may be taken at the same time as the Compulsion Flaw, assuming that the Compulsion does not make the Geas impossible. For example, a witch could be both under a Geas and supernaturally (or just psychologically) compelled to stop and pet every cat she saw, lest she suffer a dark fate.

Paraplegic (6-pt. Flaw)
Your magician is confined to a wheelchair, completely unable to stand and move about without the aid of crutches, the chair itself or some other difficult and painful system. Your mage generally moves a single yard per turn, and doing even that much is torturous. Perhaps the wizard's body is broken by accident, or he may not have been born with any functioning limbs. This Flaw makes life very difficult, and you should consider carefully before taking it!

Monstrous (3-pt. Flaw)
Your mage has an Appearance rating of zero. He may be the stereotypical pock-marked leper, or he may have the face and body of a demon or bug-eyed monster. Otherwise, someone just beat him with the ugly stick.

Geas it separately for obeying the wielder, Molly, and only using it's magic for the wielder's benefit and you just milked 15 points of merits from it.

Add monstrous and paraplegic , because the thing already looks like a demon and shouldn't be manifesting most of the time anyway and you're running 31 points in merits that completely overshadow the rest of your kit in exchange for flaws that don't matter or are actually flat benefits for our purposes. The restriction might as well not exist.

This is clearly the exact behavior it was put into the base char gen rules and ported to this expansion to stop.

If that is how this works the system would be actively incentivizing doing this with everyone instead. I'd need to revise my plan again, and dump another 7-10 points into giving the sword emanation the equivalent of a pair of constant excellencies and some better divination.

DragonParadox · Jul 25, 2023

Acolyte said:
I mean we are getting a literal country. So low level mass production of magical goods is solved or will be once we figure out how to import it. So thats one aspect of balance shot. The only way i see that bit of blance surviving is saying that stuff disolve in reality like fairy stuff.

So all that is really left is bespoke high level items. Which should require expenditures of AP, the only resources that is truly limited. That is what will prevent us from breaking the game, if any major item cost AP to source and AP to craft with many required successes like the the last station.

Also you can force us to spread out our skills if you rule different type of wonders requires different skills to make, like medicine for cyborgs, technology for robots and expression for a spirit of music. Further forcing us to spend xp

Yes you are, getting a literal country, which means if I just make your constraints in crafting any single item material I end up with the Everything Wand. No one likes the Everything Wand believe me, the players think they like it but much like the cake it is a lie.

As for forcing you to spend XP, that is generally how things are meant to work, forcing you to specialize so we can have some kind of theme and focus on your stuff.

DragonParadox · Jul 25, 2023

Yog said:
@DragonParadox could we get a clarification? In regards to Arcana Merits and Flaws, how are flaws handled?
1) Sum of Merit points + sum of Flaw points <=7
2) Sum of Merit points - sum of Flaw points <=7
?
I.e. do flaws count as negative points, or positive points? The first interpretation does not have incentives to pick up flaws, but the second one can be minmaxed quite a bit (like how I admit to doing, basically).

You can only take up to 7 points of Flaw which then gives you 7 extra point of merit to play around with just like with a regular character.

Yog · Jul 25, 2023

DragonParadox said:
You can only take up to 7 points of Flaw which then gives you 7 extra point of merit to play around with just like with a regular character.

So, to clarify, you start with 0 points, then take 7 points of flaw in order to get 7 points of merit, correct? Or do you start with 7 points for merits, and can get up to 14 points of merits by taking 7 points of flaws?

BronzeTongue · Jul 25, 2023

DragonParadox said:
You can only take up to 7 points of Flaw which then gives you 7 extra point of merit to play around with just like with a regular character.

If those are the rules are those are the rules.

Need another version of my item though.

Form of Imminent Violence (1 pt. Form Element)
The Splendor takes the form of a weapon. It has the traits of a Melee weapon such as a sword or mace, or an archaic ranged weapon such as a bow. The Splendor must also have a one-point Form Element with some sort of character to it.
If the Splendor is aligned with the elemental power of air, this weapon produces a great thunderclap and burst of air when swung. Anyone struck by it who suffers more levels of damage than their Dexterity rating is knocked prone.
If the Splendor is aligned with the elemental power of Earth, this weapon is one which inflicts bashing damage. It inflicts one die of bashing damage more than would be normal for a weapon of its type.
If the Splendor is aligned with the elemental power of fire, this weapon burns red-hot when swung and its damage is considered to be fire damage.
If the Splendor is aligned with the elemental power of water, this weapon is always something flexible and graceful, like a whip or thin-bladed sword. The difficulty to parry or dodge its attacks increases by one.
If the Splendor is aligned with the elemental power of wood, this weapon is always something with a substantial amount of wood in its construction. The difficulty to parry attacks with it decreases by one.
If the Splendor is aligned with the feral, primitive, and bestial, this increases the difficulty of rolls to attack with it by one, but lowers the difficulty of damage rolls made with it by one.
If the Splendor is aligned with the power of death, this weapon inflicts aggravated damage to ghosts.
If the Splendor is aligned with the power of the Dreaming, this weapon may, at its user's discretion, inflict chimerical rather than real damage (see C20).
If the Splendor is aligned with the power of the Spirit World, this weapon inflicts aggravated damage to spirits.

Form of Dreams and Nightmares (1 pt. Form Element)
The Splendor takes the form of something that is evocative of the fantastic. It might be a child's toy, a brightly-decorated banner, a monster or carnival mask, or a treasure chest. It might be a kaleidoscope, or a bundle of bright balloons. This Element defines the Splendor's physical form and gives it a character, and that character is aligned with the power of the Dreaming. Other Elements may draw upon this fact.
The Splendor stands out as a powerful work of magic when seen with chimerical eyes or mystic scrutiny, but it seems nigh-impossible to credit it with any specific significance if observed with purely mundane senses. Even when presented with compelling evidence that there's something weird about the object, anyone who hasn't made a magical survey of the Splendor must make a Willpower roll against difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating) to accept such a conclusion.
As an Adornment, it raises the difficulty to affect the user with hostile works of Glamour by one. As the basis for a Fascination, it may have one minor impossible feature such as floating in defiance of gravity, reflecting people's true selves when looked into, or aging backwards in time.

Invincible Assertion (3 pt. Root Element)
This Splendor defines a rigid certainty and imposes it upon existence.
When used in an Adornment, define a specific roll of (Attribute) + (Ability) and a specialty that it falls under. When the user makes such a roll, she cannot botch and cannot fail regardless of the difficulty. No matter what, she always generates at least one success. If this roll is opposed by another character, Invincible Assertion instead adds two bonus successes.
When used in a Fascination, define a specific roll of (Attribute) + (Ability) and a specialty that it falls under. Under circumstances defined by the Splendor, such rolls cannot fail in its presence, and always generate at least one success. If such a roll is opposed, it adds two bonus successes.
This Element may be incorporated into a Splendor more than once.

Sacred Protection (3 pt. Root Element)
This Splendor defines that which cannot threaten those within its influence, according to the Splendor's character as defined by appropriate Form Elements.
It provides immunity to damage from wind, cold, and electricity (air); being crushed, cut, or pierced by stone or metal (earth); being burned (fire); being drowned (water); being poisoned or struck by wooden objects (wood); disease (death); possession (spirit); or the twisting of the mind by supernatural powers (dreams). If its protection is bestowed by a Fascination, it lasts for a number of hours equal to the Splendor's rating, and may be set to persist indefinitely while within the Splendor's influence in the case of Forms such as Form of the Hearth.
If more than one characteristic is drawn upon when this Element grants its Protection, then instead of invincibility, damage is simply downgraded from aggravated to lethal, lethal to bashing, and bashing damage cut in half after soak (round down), while immunity to possession and thought alteration become the ability to make a Willpower roll at difficulty (10 – Splendor's rating) to immediately shake the effect off, and immunity to disease becomes the ability to make a Stamina roll at difficulty (10 – Splendor's rating) to immediately shake the infection off.

Mystic Fortification (1 pt. Mystic Element)
One of the Splendor's snares or benefits is particularly wicked or potent. Modify one roll associated with the Splendor by increasing or decreasing its difficulty by two, or modify one value associated with activating or resisting its effects (such as the number of points of Willpower that must be spent to shake off a Beautiful Lie) by two

5 dot upgrade:

Soul Snare (3 pt. Root Element)
The Splendor captures souls. It may hold a number of souls equal to its rating. Captured soul of potent supernatural beings may later be fashioned into Prodigies or used in Splendor-crafting. Lesser souls might be bartered to beings interested in them, or used as display pieces.
To use Soul Snare as an Adornment, the Splendor must also have Form of Imminent Violence. The soul of anyone slain by the Splendor is drawn into it.
As a Fascination, Soul Snare either indiscriminately absorbs the soul of anyone who dies in its vicinity, or may be designed to exercise discretion and only capture certain departing souls. If combined with the Form of Dust and Ash, anyone who dies while interacting with the Splendor whose soul is not trapped by it is guaranteed to linger in the Underworld as a wraith. Coupled with Form of Dust and Ash and a location-type Form such as Form of the Hearth, this fate befalls anyone who dies in the Splendor's area of effect

Phantasm (Emanation): Emanations can soak lethal damage, but not aggravated.
Select either the Umbra or the Underworld. This is the emanation's native home. It may roam freely in its native realm, where it enjoys the natural ability to converse with the other native denizens and to navigate without undue difficulty (in the Umbra, this amounts to having the Charm Airt Sense, while in the Underworld it amounts to having several dots of Argos). The phantasm may manifest in the physical world only while within one hundred yards of its keystone, or within ten yards of its master. It must pay one Willpower to remain manifest for a scene. It may pay one Willpower to immediately teleport to its master's or keystone's location.
If the phantasm's master the emanation's name, the Arcana hears her words wherever it may be. If she commands the ephemera to attend her, it may teleport to her master's location and manifest without paying any Willpower. If the keystone is destroyed, the phantasm is also destroyed. If the emanation is slain, it may reform one hundred years later within its keystone. Each point of Essence fed into the keystone by its master quickens this recovery by 10 years.
If the emanation's master has learned The King and the Kingdom: The Thousand and First Hell, the phantasm may treat its master's Hell as a keystone.
Ephemera are always otherworldly, disturbing beings with demonic features of some sort that cannot be mistaken for as human

The Arcana can project its thoughts into the minds of other nearby people to communicate with them. It can communicate with its master across up to (Arcana rating x 100 miles) of distance. By spending a point of Willpower, it can also receive communications from someone… or, to put it another way, it actively reads their surface thoughts for the rest of the scene. The target can always sense this, and can shut the Arcana out by spending a point of Willpower.

Expertise: The Arcana gains seven additional dots of Abilities, which may be used to raise them above three dots. Taking this Feature additional times provides only five bonus dots

Superior Mind: The Arcana gains three additional dots of Mental Attributes, which may increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises the permitted cap to 7.

X2

Divine Favor: The Arcana gains a Favored Ability, which may be raised as high as 6 dots. Increasing the Arcana's Favored Ability only costs one freebie point per dot.

Assigned such that in combination with the base dots the sword-emanation has Perception 7, Intelligence 7, Occult 6, Awareness 5, Brawl 5.

Add divination path at the highest level available with freebies.

Flaws:

Conditional Magic (1 to 6-pt. Merit or Flaw)
There is one thing in the world that is a great boon, or bane, to your character's magic. Perhaps her spells work particularly well against men, or on Tuesdays, or just after a storm, or on people dressed all in black. Maybe she's powerless to affect those who are or who bear that certain thing, such as her magic being unable to affect Christians or those who carry a piece of rowan and red thread. It may be that a certain individual gave her power over them, or perhaps it is utterly proof against her magic due to an oath she swore or spells that were placed on her.

The conditions that affect your magic may be common, uncommon or rare, and the value of this Merit or Flaw depends on the rarity of the condition. The base costs listed here assume that you have a difficulty modifier of three on all Arete rolls under the given conditions. You may adjust the difficulty by one for every point more or less you devote to the Trait.

Points Condition

1 point Unique: The Sword of Roland, the Matriarch of the MECHA construct, Leap Year.

2 points Scarce as hen's teeth: Current or former members of the Council of Nine, your former Mentors, once in a blue moon.

3 points Rare, but not unheard of: loadstones, Swedish royalty, werewolves, rowan and red thread, the holy days of the archangels.

4 points Special order: virgins, middle eastern eye-bead charms, any member of Iteration X, during a thunderstorm.

5 points Available without much trouble: cold iron, silver, Christians, any member of the Traditions, a windy day, holy ground.

6 points Common as dirt: men, anyone who's ever been baptized, the color purple, under cloud cover, Tuesdays.

6 dots, all magical abilities are limited to being used in ways that connect to the wielder of the sword.

Short (1-pt. Flaw)
A character with this Flaw is four and a half feet tall or less. The character may have trouble reaching objects on shelves, and he is certainly noticeable. Such a character runs at half the normal speed

Speed doesn't matter for our purposes here, and this doesn't debuff anything else.

Merits:

1 dot:

Ability Aptitude (1-pt. Merit)
For every human ability, there are those who have a natural flair for it. Within your character's specific Aptitude, reduce all difficulties by two. A natural linguist picks up languages easily, speaking without any trace of accent, and a crack driver can perform phenomenal car tricks with ease.

This Aptitude functions for one Ability, but it can be taken multiple times for a character who's a natural with, say, computers and technology.

Special or combat Abilities, such as Do, should never have an Ability Aptitude associated with them.

X2 - Awareness and Occult

Common Sense You have a significant amount of practical, everyday wisdom. Whenever the character is about to act in a way contrary to common sense, the Storyteller can make suggestions or warnings about the implications of said action. This is a very useful Merit to give to beginning players unfamiliar with the game.

Magic Sensitivity You have a supernatural gift that allows you to know if any magic is in use or has been used recently within a 10-footradius of yourself. This includes all supernatural Disciplines as well. How much you know about the magic depends upon the number of successes you roll using your Perception + Occult (difficulty 8).

Lightning Calculator (1-pt. Merit)
Your character can perform complex mathematical equations in her head instantly with little error at the speed of a computer. You as a player can use a calculator during play at any time, even when your character is fleeing for her life.

2 dots:

Mystic Ability For some reason, you have visions. The visions are not necessarily precognitive, but like precognition, the visions occur outside your control. You may make yourself more sensitive to them through ascetic practice, but you can never consciously induce a vision. Then again, you may have a visions as you are walking down the street minding your own business. Unlike Precognition, the visions are always steeped in symbolism, and they apply only to your own unlife. The particulars of how and when this Merit works are left to the Storyteller. (PGS)

3 dots:

Oracular Ability (3-pt. Merit)
No, your mage is not one of the mystic Master mages living in an ivory tower in the Deep Umbra. Neither is she a software company. What she is, is an ordinary mage with a flair for divination and glimpses into the past, present and future. Whenever the Storyteller feels you are in the position to see a sign or portent, you may make a Perception + Awareness roll, with the difficulty relative to how well the omen is concealed. If successful, you may then roll Intelligence + Occult to interpret what you have seen, the difficulty is relative to the complexity of what you have seen. Your difficulty for all divination with magic (generally with Time) reduces by two.

4 dots:

Precognition You have the ability to perceive events before they happen. This ability is not under your control. The premonitions come to you when you least expect them. The focus of the premonitions is not under your control either. This ability can greatly impact the story, and the exact nature of the effects is left up to the Storyteller. This merit should not be used ot cause problems in the game, but to intensify the experience through additional drama. (PGS)

source

Once a night black blade of imperfection sharpened to a lethal point, under the hand of the first Green Sun Princess of the new age Certiorari has become something more.

Shot through the blade in what appears to be cracks of impossibly bright silver, runes lay down a new order of the world.

Rather than making whole what was broken, the sword exalts its flaws and raises them up as the true way of things; a monopole forcing its way into existence and asserting supremacy over all alternatives.

Within the alien constellations of the blade a living emanation of the order to come stirs to wakefulness, watching the world that is in an echo of the sovereignty that formed it.

In the hands of a chosen wielder Certiorari empowers, protects, and guides in accordance with its true nature - Surety from an age yet to be infringing on the one yet to pass.
With the blade of conviction at hand, the wielder is sheltered under its unyielding purpose. No magic may touch their mind, for it simply lacks the authority to change their purpose regardless of power.

When acting on opposition to the world the sword cannot guarantee success against all opposition, but it can ward off any true failure regardless of difficulty.

These are just the most obvious and least important of its powers however.

In the image of its creator, Certiorari's greatest strength is in its eyes.

Using its privileged position partially outside of time and the laws of the current age, the spirit in the blade may peer out at the world and trace the connections of its wielder through it.

With inhuman precision it constantly monitors the present moment, and tries to guide its wielder to the best place they can be to accomplish their goals, collecting whatever information it can to inform its decision.

Due to its position, the spirit also has the ability to see glimpses of the future and the context of the world at large, though only ever as their related to the wielder and their interests.

With its inhuman intellect all of this information is used to support the goals of the wielder. Avoiding what they cannot fight, fighting what they cannot avoid, and striving to find the exact right spot to make the greatest possible impact.

I've changed things around here a bit.
Actually manifesting and doing stuff is the last thing the emanation should be doing, so I dropped natural weapons for telepathy so it could remain in the blade but still use its various powers and communicate with Daniel. I also shuffled the others around per the prior discussion in the thread to optimize for its core role.

In the styling of the swords of the cross, Certiorari is the Blade of Conviction. Something that can be a great virtue or terrible vice depending on the purpose to which it is put.

The inspiration isn't just the literal translation, but a legal phrase used for a type of writ where a superior court compels an inferior one to turn over a case for review.

"To be made certain" isn't a request, it's a declaration.

Which is on one level exactly what the sword is for. It reaches down from a lofty position and provides surety in their purpose and results in a variety of variably material ways.

In use the biggest advantage is the spirit whispering in the background. The immunity, guaranteed melee success, and melee difficulty reduction make him dangerous in a fight, but regardless of the item in use he's still mortal.

An supernatural information officer with inhuman intelligence, high levels of local situational awareness, and atemporal knowledge actively crunching the numbers to give him an advantage is a critical part of taking any lever we give him and making sure he can stand in the right spot to use it.

It's basically the closest we can get to granting him Mysterious Ways functionality.

The soul eating upgrade path also provides a way to actually manage this issue long term. Per DP's ruling it can be used to generate bonus exp for Daniel.

It'd be good if that gets expanded to optionally going to the sword emanation, but even without that it lets him boost his progress in a way that will help compensate for his disadvantages without unbalancing everything since it requires noteworthy battles.

There are some issues with binding it, but if we want to play the rules straight Daniel could manage learning just enough chi control to do the job.

Considering that the alternative @Yog wrote actively redefines how several abilities work for maximum advantage without changing the point buy involved on the basis of Gossamer I think it's reasonable to flex this requirement a little here since it otherwise follows RaW.

Give him an exemption as the one the blade was made for at the start and let him pay in willpower to toggle it on or off.

A few changes here, the first being that I swapped prophetic visions for precognition. They're similar cost and do similar things, but I've actively brings the white god or something similar into things. The fluff on seeing the future directly fits better. I already had 6 points in flaws for the magic restrictions, so I only needed to add short to get to the cap on bonus merit points. It doesn't really cause us much trouble since it should be unmanifested and working remote through the sword most of the time.

I also added mystic ability, which adds in the more abstract portent and visions as "secular" magic, but as a distinct ability that should proc separately and therefore give the god more bites at the apple of future knowledge.

The balance of the points went into single dot utility enhancers that synergize well.

2 buys of ability aptitude for awareness and occult, because they're a flat -2 diff to all uses of those abilities.

Common sense because this person is supposed to be an advisor, and having backed in storyteller backed common sense is basically cheating for that.

Magic sensitivity for the cheapest magic detector merit. Which just so happens to heavily rely on occult rolls, making determining what magic is or was used recently within 10 feet of Daniel and getting specific details a 13 dice dc 6 roll.

Last point in lightning calculator, which is admittedly kind of weird. But we want the genius spirit to be able to track and manipulate information across a large area. A computer brain for tracking hard numbers is pretty useful for that.

End result is 3 different synergistic ways to look into the future, a higher capacity to understand what they mean, and some nice support powers for turning that information into plans of action without failing to handle a detail without doing something stupid. Along with a nice magic warning and investigation tool to help notice and respond to casters playing stupid games.

Yog · Jul 25, 2023

BronzeTongue said:
Last point in lightning calculator, which is admittedly kind of weird. But we want the genius spirit to be able to track and manipulate information across a large area. A computer brain for tracking hard numbers is pretty useful for that.

Why not swap it and probably common sense for danger sense? If the goal is a synergetic future viewing, it seems logical to add that to the mix.

DragonParadox · Jul 25, 2023

Yog said:
So, to clarify, you start with 0 points, then take 7 points of flaw in order to get 7 points of merit, correct? Or do you start with 7 points for merits, and can get up to 14 points of merits by taking 7 points of flaws?

You need to buy the merits with something, be it flaws or freebies.

Yog · Jul 25, 2023

DragonParadox said:
You need to buy the merits with something, be it flaws or freebies.

I am very sorry, I am still unsure what you mean. The arcana creation rules in the document say

Spend Freebie Points (15), and, optionally, purchase Merits and Flaws (max. 7 points).

The use of freebie points is defined as such:

Trait Cost (per dot)
Attribute 5
Ability 2
Backgrounds 2
Willpower 1
Arcana Feature 7

There are no costs listed for merits in freebie point use. You can buy Arcana Features, but not merits or flaws with them.

So, the question remains. Assuming we don't buy any flaws, how many points, if any, do we get to spend on merits? I interpreted the first quote to mean that you get 7 points of merits to start with. @BronzeTongue interpreted it to mean that you get 0 points to start with, and can obtain up to 7 by buying flaws. The more I think about it, the more I believe that to be correct.

Artemis1992 · Jul 25, 2023

Yog said:
I am very sorry, I am still unsure what you mean. The arcana creation rules in the document say

The use of freebie points is defined as such:

There are no costs listed for merits in freebie point use. You can buy Arcana Features, but not merits or flaws with them.

So, the question remains. Assuming we don't buy any flaws, how many points, if any, do we get to spend on merits? I interpreted the first quote to mean that you get 7 points of merits to start with. @BronzeTongue interpreted it to mean that you get 0 points to start with, and can obtain up to 7 by buying flaws. The more I think about it, the more I believe that to be correct.

You can spend Freebies to buy Merits, the Merits cost their point's worth.
And Flaws bring their point's worth in Freebies.

So you could for example take a Flaw, no Merit at all and have extra-points to buy stats.
Or you buy less stats, and use the freebies on Merits.

Anaja · Jul 25, 2023

If we're getting officially mentored by a Knight of the Cross, and we've somewhat spoken to the Sword, then could that mentorship extend to our sword being mentored by Amoracchius? Usum learning from the Sword of Love?

I'm not entirely sure how that would be done, but I am sure that those involved could make it happen.

DragonParadox · Jul 25, 2023

Artemis1992 said:
You can spend Freebies to buy Merits, the Merits cost their point's worth.
And Flaws bring their point's worth in Freebies.

So you could for example take a Flaw, no Merit at all and have extra-points to buy stats.
Or you buy less stats, and use the freebies on Merits.

This yes, Freebies are the currency for that stage of Character development.

Yog · Jul 25, 2023

Ok, so, updated version with correct (hopefully) point spread, and Arcane Features. The changes are bolded and highlighted, and concern abilities, Arcane Features (I added technopathic integration) basic description section of the AI, and possible variations. I also added a further splendor that the AI could be later equipped with, as possible upgrade path.

The Splendor takes the form of something that is evocative of the fantastic. It might be a child's
toy, a brightly-decorated banner, a monster or carnival mask, or a treasure chest. It might be a
kaleidoscope, or a bundle of bright balloons. This Element defines the Splendor's physical form
and gives it a character, and that character is aligned with the power of the Dreaming. Other
Elements may draw upon this fact.
The Splendor stands out as a powerful work of magic when seen with chimerical eyes or mystic
scrutiny, but it seems nigh-impossible to credit it with any specific significance if observed with
purely mundane senses. Even when presented with compelling evidence that there's something
weird about the object, anyone who hasn't made a magical survey of the Splendor must make a
Willpower roll against difficulty (4 + Splendor's rating) to accept such a conclusion.
As an Adornment, it raises the difficulty to affect the user with hostile works of Glamour by one.
As the basis for a Fascination, it may have one minor impossible feature such as floating in
defiance of gravity, reflecting people's true selves when looked into, or aging backwards in time

The Splendor manifests in the world as an enchantment embedded in a specific person present at
the time of its summoning, chosen by its owner. If it has no other Form Element, then it appears
as a mark like a tattoo somewhere on the infected individual's body. Wherever they go, so too
goes the Splendor. If it has a physical Form Element, then it appears in the infected individual's
possession, and will always return to them at the beginning of each scene even if thrown away,
left behind, or given away. If its physical Form is something immobile like a tree, then the
targeted individual is going to find that tree wherever they go for the duration of the Splendor's
manifestation.
If the Splendor is an Adornment, then this Element allows its benefits to be enjoyed by the
person to whom the Splendor is attached, even if they're not its owner and not attuned to it. Even
if they're not Exalted at all.

This Splendor defines a rigid certainty and imposes it upon existence.
When used in an Adornment, define a specific roll of (Attribute) + (Ability) and a specialty that
it falls under. When the user makes such a roll, she cannot botch and cannot fail regardless of the
difficulty. No matter what, she always generates at least one success. If this roll is opposed by
another character, Invincible Assertion instead adds two bonus successes.
When used in a Fascination, define a specific roll of (Attribute) + (Ability) and a specialty that it
falls under. Under circumstances defined by the Splendor, such rolls cannot fail in its presence,
and always generate at least one success. If such a roll is opposed, it adds two bonus successes.
This Element may be incorporated into a Splendor more than once.

The Splendor creates a mundane object which resonates with one or more of its characters, as
defined by Form Elements such as Form of Crackling Fire or Form of Ash and Dust. Conjured
objects can have a Resources value no higher than the Splendor's rating.
Incorporated into an Adornment, this Element allows the Exalt to spend a turn and to make a
Wits + Craft roll against difficulty (4 + object's Resources value) to summon whatever object
she likes to hand, so long as it resonates with the Splendor's character in some way, such as a
shovel for an earth-affiliated (or death-affiliated…) Splendor. Objects can be created no more
than once per scene.
Incorporated into a Fascination, this Element allows the Splendor to create particular objects in
response to certain stimuli and conditions which are in accord with its character — often, this
trigger is "when someone is cursed by the Splendor's Root Element." No more than (Splendor's
rating) objects can be created per scene.

One of the Splendor's snares or benefits is particularly wicked or potent. Modify one roll
associated with the Splendor by increasing or decreasing its difficulty by two, or modify one
value associated with activating or resisting its effects (such as the number of points of
Willpower that must be spent to shake off a Beautiful Lie) by two.

The Splendor manipulates and reshapes that which resonates with its character, as defined by
Form Elements such as Form of Crackling Fire and Form of Ash and Dust. The benefits
provided depend on whether the Splendor is an Adornment or Fascination, and on which Form or
Forms it has incorporated.
Incorporated into an Adornment, this Element allows the Exalt to use Craft actions to sculpt
wind, water, and fire as though they were clay, creating impossible works of art or short-lived
elemental tools. Living wood can be induced to grow into patterns the Exalt desires in the same
fashion, while the difficulty to work with stone or metal is reduced by two. The difficulty to craft
dead flesh into Arcana may be reduced by two as well. The Exalt can raise or lower the Gauntlet
by one degree per success on a Crafts roll to modify it, and can rework the chimerical identity of
things.
Incorporated into a Fascination, this Element allows the Splendor to rewrite the details of
landscapes and objects, rerouting the paths of a graveyard, changing the appearance of a corpse,
repairing a rundown wooden shack, or making a barren landscape green and verdant.

This Splendor manifests the resources of a Background, chosen at the time of the Splendor's creation. The Background is either Arsenal or Library (see M20, p. 318). As an Adornment, the character may spend a turn and a point of Willpower to simply manifest whatever equipment or research materials they desire from their Arsenal or Library. They have an effective rating in the Background equal to the Splendor's rating while wearing it. As a Fascination, Panoply of Wonders requires that the Splendor also have a location-type Form Element such as Form of the Hearth. The chosen Background has a dot rating equal to the Splendor's rating, and manifests throughout the affected area.

Mystic Fortification (1 pt. Mystic Element): Willpower cost of Panoply of Wonders, so it either restores willpower on use or, if that's too broken, then Willpower and activation time

Taking a form of a heavy sigil ring, it is at once recognizable by any comic geek, and yet unlike any comic book paraphernalia out there. Semi-transparent, it looks as though it is carved from some manner of unearthly crystal, with a runic symbol on top. If seen against the light, or from the corner of an eye, shadows of movement can be glimpsed inside of its structure, impossible forms of dreams and nightmares ready to come forth upon its master's command.

Exactly what it says on the can, a green lantern ring. A ring that is capable of generating temporary constructs made out of solidified energy / stuff of dreams and nightmares. The constructs are physical, but not permanent. The ring is also capable of generating forcefields and operating them. In principle, this could be used to achieve flight.

(5 dot Emanation)

9 willpower (5 +4 freebie points)

Physical
Strength 1
Dexterity 3
Stamina 2

Social
Charisma 6 (4+2)
Manipulation 4 (3+1)
Appearance 1

Mental (2x purchases of Superior mind for 5 additional points, and raising max attribute to 7)
Intelligence: 6 (4+2)
Perception: 7 (5+2)
Wits: 5 (4+1)

Talents:
Alertness 4 (3 + 1 from freebie points)
Awareness 4 (3 +1 from freebie points)
Empathy 3

Skills:
Etiquette 3
Survival 2

Knowledges
Investigation 3
Occult 3
Computer 2
Medicine 2
Technology 2
Science 2

Emanations can soak lethal damage, but not aggravated. Select either the Umbra or the Underworld. This is the emanation's native home. It may roam freely in its native realm, where it enjoys the natural ability to converse with the other native denizens and to navigate without undue difficulty (in the Umbra, this amounts to having the Charm Airt Sense, while in the Underworld it amounts to having several dots of Argos). The phantasm may manifest in the physical world only while within one hundred yards of its keystone, or within ten yards of its master. It must pay one Willpower to remain manifest for a scene. It may pay one Willpower to immediately teleport to its master's or keystone's location. If the phantasm's master the emanation's name, the Arcana hears her words wherever it may be. If she commands the ephemera to attend her, it may teleport to her master's location and manifest without paying any Willpower. If the keystone is destroyed, the phantasm is also destroyed. If the emanation is slain, it may reform one hundred years later within its keystone. Each point of Essence fed into the keystone by its master quickens this recovery by 10 years. If the emanation's master has learned The King and the Kingdom: The Thousand and First Hell, the phantasm may treat its master's Hell as a keystone. Ephemera are always otherworldly, disturbing beings with demonic features of some sort that cannot be mistaken for as human.

The Arcana gains three additional dots of Mental Attributes, which may increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises the permitted cap to 7.

The Arcana gains three additional dots of Social Attributes, which may increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises the permitted cap to 7.

The Arcana can project its thoughts into the minds of other nearby people to communicate with them. It can communicate with its master across up to (Arcana rating x 100 miles) of distance. By spending a point of Willpower, it can also receive communications from someone… or, to put it another way, it actively reads their surface thoughts for the rest of the scene. The target can always sense this, and can shut the Arcana out by spending a point of Willpower.

Unnatural Sense: The Arcana has some superhuman sense, such as the ability to see in infrared, to see in the dark, or to hear radio waves.

The Arcana has most likely has a machine-mind, though it might
also have some other quirk like a technological spirit having been bound into it during its
creation. Whatever the case, the difficulty of all the Arcana's Computer rolls are reduced by two.

The Arcana lacks the necessary anatomy for easy communication. It can still understand speech, and it could speak if it possessed the proper facilities to do so, but alas, it doesn't. It can still communicate effectively with its master through pantomime.

The Arcana doesn't really have proper hands, as such; or if it does, they're not really equipped with functional fingers. It also doesn't have anything to adequately substitute for the lack, like nimble tentacles or pseudopods. As such, it suffers a +2 difficulty penalty when engaging in tasks requiring fine manipulation.

A disfigurement makes your appearance disturbing and memorable. When in the presence of those who judge based on appearances, the difficulties of die rolls relating to social interaction are increased by two. You may not have an Appearance rating greater than 2. As a three-point Flaw your deformity also raises the difficulty by two for rolls of one chosen Physical Attribute, as your deformity afflicts your mobility.

You're especially devoted to a certain cause, group, creed or person. When someone tries to turn you against the object of your loyalty, you receive a two-die bonus to your dice pool when resisting that attempt with your Willpower. If the assault uses your Willpower Trait as the difficulty for the attack, then your attacker adds +2 to her difficulty while striving to undermine your loyalty. (See the feat Resisting on the Dramatic Feats chart in Mage 20, p. 403, and the Mind Sphere entry in the same book, p. 519.)
Naturally, you must define the source and reasons for your devotion when you select this Merit. Such loyalty will influence many of your roleplaying choices too – your friends, enemies, priorities, magickal focus, and other things besides. For extra fun (ha ha), you can complement this Merit with the Flaw: Conflicting Loyalties, described below.

You have a sixth sense warning you of danger. When in danger, the Storyteller will make a roll against your Perception + Alertness; the difficulty depends on the remoteness of the danger. If the roll succeeds, the Storyteller will say you have a sense of foreboding. Multiple successes may refine the feeling and give an indication of direction, distance, or nature.

Your physical senses are unusually sharp, capturing nuances that few people ever notice. In game terms, your character reduces the difficulty of her Perception-based rolls by -2. At the 1-point level, a single sense (vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell) is more acute than usual; at the 3-point level, all five physical senses are equally sharp.

Everything, to you, has a richer significance than it might otherwise appear. The flight of birds, the fall of cards, the patterns of sand after a wave, a spatter of sacrificial blood… in your eyes, they're all clues to the Universal Mystery. You're good at deciphering such clues, and so while many enigmas remain unanswered, you often spot insights that other people – even mages – fail to see.

In game terms, you can make a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 7) whenever the Storyteller feels you're in a position to perceive a hidden message in apparently random phenomena. If you do spot what appears to be a message, you can make a second roll of Perception + Esoterica (or Occult, whichever is higher) to see if you
can interpret the message you think you see. The difficulty of this interpretation roll depends on how random the phenomena is; a deck of cards, for instance, is less
random (difficulty 6 or 7) than a scatter of crow feathers (difficulty 8 or 9), and so is better suited for divination purposes. This doesn't mean you can't read that scatter of feathers, only that doing so is more challenging than interpreting a deck of cards!

Even without employing your Arts, you have a preternatural gift for seeing things as they are, not as they appear to be. Illusions, disguises, cloaking spells, and other forms of trickery rarely deceive your eyes.

In game terms, you can make a Perception + Awareness roll to see through metaphysical deception powers: vampiric Disciplines, faerie cantrips, werecreature Gifts, Sphere-based illusions, and other powers that are based on deceiving a witnesses' perceptions. This roll works only against powers that deceive the target's perceptions, not against any other form of Gift, Discipline, cantrip, and so forth. (Vampiric Obfuscate, for example, but not Presence or Dominate.)

The difficulty for that roll is generally 5 + the highest Sphere Rank or other level involved in that power; a Forces 2 /Prime 2 illusion, then, would be difficulty 7, while a vampire's Mask of a Thousand Faces (Obfuscate 3) would be difficulty 8. If a character could normally get a roll to see through the illusion (as shown in How Do You DO That?, pp. 129-132), then your character subtracts -3 from her difficulty when trying to do so.

Your clear sight also reduces your difficulty by -3 when you try to see through a disguise, a cloaking spell or device, or other attempts to conceal the truth from an onlooker. It does not, however, allow you to see through darkness, notice stealthing or invisible characters, or otherwise perceive something that you would not be able to see without this Merit; combining this Merit with the physical Merit: Acute Senses, however, could make you a formidably perceptive character.

The spirit of the ring takes a form of constantly shifting paradoxical geometric shapes, observable within the ring as a play of light and unnatural darkness. On the rare occasions it manifests outside, the substance of its body is brilliant emerald energy intervened with impossibly black darkness. Something in a lizard part of a human brain finds the constantly changing form unnatural, dangerous and disturbing. it would take a kind mind indeed to see hidden alien beauty and see past its appearance to connect to the deep and kind mind it houses.

Lacking perceivable mouth or equivalent, its ability to physically talk is limited to producing dazzling displays of music. It uses a form of telepathy to communicate, projecting a pleasant gender-neutral voice into the minds of those it talks to.

While it the surface of its body lacks lacks any recognizable sensory organs, its senses are beyond human, capable of perceving the world with perfect clarity. And what it sees, hears and senses, it translates to the master of the ring.

Its main function is to act as an assistant, advisor and an onboard AI, expanding the functionality of the power ring it is bound to.

So, this is basically ring's AI. It generates a heads up display, allows the user to see through disguises, etc. Basically, I wanted the user to be able to do fanfic-based "scan everything" thing. And since the user of the ring is the one with Hero's Shadow, the spirit can attune the ring to itself, so it can use it. Thus getting access to the ring's database (after 5 dot upgrade) and stuff like ability to connect to the internet (via Conjury Art: mobile phone). Oracular Ability is taken as a buff to Danger Sense to form one quasi-ability to perceive and predict danger, including in a fight. If it can connect to the internet / make phone calls, it would be able to act as an intermediary, allowing the user to communicate via these channels.

As it is also very smart, it should be capable of learning languages quickly, thus acting as a translator for the user.

The goal of making the AI is not to make an advisor, though it is also one, with intelligence 5, charisma 3, and a broad spread of knowledge abilities, such as medicine, etiquette, survival, etc. It's to make a lookout. The ring in its base version is a very versatile tool. The AI is made so it can be used in the best way possible, so Daniel knows where to apply said tool best. The AI basically generates an area of local omniscience around the ring, or close enough, with its transcendent senses, sees through glamours, finds secrets, investigates and catalogs clues, etc.

In combat, as a combination of melee ability, danger sense and oracular ability the AI generates probable attack patterns and transmits them to the user via telepathy.

Technopathic integration is because it's a techmind, basically, an AI, and one of its function is to connect to the networks.

Using Willpower 9 and Loyalty merit as a combination, the AI's willpower is hard enough that if it can resist with willpower, it will succeed, and any rolls where willpower is the defense stat just fail. Unless DC is capped at 9 for everyone, not just exalts.

Loyalty could be swapped for Lightning Calculator in order to buff combat prediction algorithms, and to buff hacking / computer aspect

2-5 dot splendor

Form of the Hero's Shadow (2 pt. Form Element)
Invincible Assertion (3 pt. Root Element): Perception + Alertness

Invincible Assertion (3 pt. Root Element): Perception + Awareness
Mystic Fortification (1 pt. Mystic Element): -2 DC to Perception + Alertness rolls
Mystic Fortification (1 pt. Mystic Element): -2 DC to Perception + Awareness rolls

Invincible Assertion (3 pt. Root Element): Perception + Occult

Taking a form of an intricate runic script, seemingly carved out of space and alien geometry, this "software upgrade" ensures that the Green Lantern Ring AI will never fail in its main function, expanding its already prodigious senses into the realm of perfection to rival the Exalted themselves.

Basically, this is a "software patch" fascination that adds onto the ring AI as a splendor and makes it so it never fails its perception rolls. At 2 dot version it makes it so nothing mundane can sneak past the ring. At 4 dot version it expands the ring's perfected senses to magical ones, and further buffs all present senses to make it so almost all successes are rolled at DC3 basically (Acute Senses gives -2 to perception rolls, and Clear Sight gives further -3 to seeing through disguises and past concealment, so that's -4 to -7 DC total depending on the situation), and with 1 or 2 added bonus successes to boot. Meaning virtually constant legendary successes. At 5 dot final upgrade, it also gains occult percption perfection, meaning that its Oracular Ability always works correctly and is always interpreted correctly

@BronzeTongue what resources do you need for the sword? As I understand it, it's kakuri's sword as the basis, gossamer as a power boost, and a sacrifice of a powerful soul in order to make the spirit, correct? For me it's gossamer, a sample of Molly's crystallized anima when using TTC, possibly some magical jade, a sample of Daniel's dreams / willpower, and a sacrifice of a powerful soul to create AI (with maybe a cyberdevil volunteer to be reborn into the service). If we wanted to make both, we would need more gossamer at least. Unless you could substitute something else? Maybe if we raid the Dragon's Lair of the Dragon our father slain, we could use its blood / body / bone as the material for the sword making? I mean, the Dragon was a very high tier Incarna / low level Celestine, and there's a mystical connection to a Sword of the Cross in using its blood, since it was killed by one.

BronzeTongue · Jul 25, 2023

Yog said:
Why not swap it and probably common sense for danger sense? If the goal is a synergetic future viewing, it seems logical to add that to the mix.

That's a tempting change, danger sense is very useful. On the other hand common sense is so good it's surprising it's only 1 dot to buy.

Any time you're about to do something stupid the storyteller gives you a warning. Passive defenses against your own idiocy aren't available anywhere else.

I'll think about it a bit at least.

Yog said:
@BronzeTongue what resources do you need for the sword? As I understand it, it's kakuri's sword as the basis, gossamer as a power boost, and a sacrifice of a powerful soul in order to make the spirit, correct? For me it's gossamer, a sample of Molly's crystallized anima when using TTC, possibly some magical jade, a sample of Daniel's dreams / willpower, and a sacrifice of a powerful soul to create AI (with maybe a cyberdevil volunteer to be reborn into the service). If we wanted to make both, we would need more gossamer at least. Unless you could substitute something else? Maybe if we raid the Dragon's Lair of the Dragon our father slain, we could use its blood / body / bone as the material for the sword making? I mean, the Dragon was a very high tier Incarna / low level Celestine, and there's a mystical connection to a Sword of the Cross in using its blood, since it was killed by one.

Looking at the rules, there isn't actually a requirement for a sacrifice for an Arcana of less than 5 dots, and the material requirements say nothing about there being a relationship between the themes of the keystone and the themes of the target. Technically using high rank splendors as keystones means we're both satisfying the requirements for 5 dot Arcana already.

Phantasms have the simplest requirements, needing only a keystone to anchor them in the world. This can be nearly any small object of great emotional or financial value. If the keystone is of great emotional significance, that significance need not necessarily be to the Exalt making the phantasm. In the case of 5-dot Phantasms, the keystone needs to be a magical item of some kind, such as a Fetish or Prodigy, rated at 2 dots or above.

We both should probably rebuild a little to reflect that.

For the splendors things get tricky.

I thought that we could get up to 3 dots without a sacrifice and then push it past the cap with either of our top shelf reagents.

That doesn't seem to be the case. We both need a base sacrifice and a big monster to get over the line, though again there's no rule on thematic resonance.

Personally I think Yin has near enough dream/nightmare associations that it should work for the single element we're looking for out of it, though perhaps better for mine then yours thematically.

Fortunately for us, the first monster doesn't have to be hot shit, guys like the fomor wizard we took the shell of count.

If we get a by on the first round of crafting so that our reagents are worth anything then one of us can use the shell, then you can use the Gossamer and I can use the Will of Kakuri. If we have enough Gossamer for both I'd prefer that though.

Whoever doesn't take the shell needs a dragon nest we don't mind destroying.

Really we probably want 3 dragon nests. A reagent and 2 ritual sites so that we don't need to risk the one we have.

Leyline crossings are much easier to find and temporarily seize than new reagents. If we don't get a by on our current stock we'll both probably want to get our 3 dot splendor start point via dragon nest and then kill something new for the jump to 4.

Edit:

If we make both I think we should give Certiorari to Daniel and the ring to Olivia.

Independent of that, we should consider making some 1 dot splendors for Molly and Lydia.

Not every crafting project has to be a masterpiece after all, and splendors are upgradable anyway. The sort of monster we need to make the weakest splendor is a lot easier to come by; they just have to be good, not particularly notorious.

For our money we could get one form and one character element. There's a lot that we could do here, like making a tool to automate soul collection or something, but for exalts the most useful is probably this:

Essence-Stoking Spirit (3 pt. Root Element)
This Element can only be part of an Adornment.
The Splendor stokes the fires of the Exalt's Essence whenever she affirms her innermost self. When she regains Willpower from fulfilling her Nature, she also refills her Essence pool

Fulfilling your nature isn't always easy, but with the incentive of refilling your whole essence pool in addition to the willpower it's worth the time to engineer.

It's a decent substitute for a jade talisman, in that it trades ease of use for functionally infinite reserves. The only limit is how often you can fulfill the trigger condition.

For character I'd give Molly's this:

Form of Graceful Winds (1 pt. Form Element)
The Splendor takes the form of something that is graceful, or cold, or crackles with electricity, or is marked with decorations evocative of winds and clouds. It might be made of ice. This Element defines the Splendor's physical form and gives it a character, and that character is aligned with the elemental power of air. Other Elements may draw upon this fact.
The Splendor cannot be harmed by wind, cold, or electricity. As an Adornment, increases its user's basic movement speed, before any multiplication by Charms or other powers, by (Splendor's rating) yards per turn. As the basis for a Fascination, it may generate the creator's choice of: clear skies; specific constant (nonviolent) behavior of the wind (blowing north to south at a brisk but not dangerous speed, for example); or specific whimsical behaviors of the wind (whisking away people's hats, bookmark, or other loose items and depositing them next to the Splendor, for example).

Because that pre-charm and modifier boost actually makes the 1 yard speed
increase meaningful immediately, and whenever we upgrade the splendor it will increase automatically as a free benefit on top of whatever we explicitly add.

Lydia's still squishy and doesn't get as much out of the speed increase, so I'm thinking this:

Form of Steadfast Earth (1 pt. Form Element)
The Splendor takes the form of something that is solid and durable and sturdy. It might be made of stone, metal, or mineral deposits. It might be a crystal or gemstone. It might be dirty and roadworn. This Element defines the Splendor's physical form and gives it a character, and that character is aligned with the elemental power of earth. Other Elements may draw upon this fact.
The Splendor is extremely rugged, and the first attempt to damage or destroy it in any scene automatically fails. As an Adornment, it grants its user one extra die of soak. As the basis for a Fascination, it may generate the creator's choice of: useful tools for a certain kind of work; an aura of quiet and serenity; periodic foreboding tremors in the earth.

Set to the soak increase.

Kestrel21 · Jul 25, 2023

[X] Let Monoc have the designs, you already have your fingers in enough pies

DragonParadox said:
they cook the hand of a valkyrie

Yikes! How gruesome!

Yog · Jul 25, 2023

BronzeTongue said:
That's a tempting change, danger sense is very useful. On the other hand common sense is so good it's surprising it's only 1 dot to buy.

Any time you're about to do something stupid the storyteller gives you a warning. Passive defenses against your own idiocy aren't available anywhere else.

I'll think about it a bit at least.

On one hand, as a teenager, Daniel probably needs someone with common sense whispering in his ear. On the other, as a teenager he isn't actually likely to listen unless you equip the advisor with something that makes Daniel intrinsically trust them. Either superhuman social stats, or some supernatural social merits. Remember, it's not Daniel who gets common sense, it's the spirit of the sword.

BronzeTongue said:
Looking at the rules, there isn't actually a requirement for a sacrifice for an Arcana of less than 5 dots, and the material requirements say nothing about there being a relationship between the themes of the keystone and the themes of the target. Technically using high rank splendors as keystones means we're both satisfying the requirements for 5 dot Arcana already.

I'm not actually seeing any sacrifice requirements for any Arcane creation, so 5 dot should be the aim. Also I miscalculated the will values, and used the willpower numbers for 5 dot Arcana.

BronzeTongue said:
If we make both I think we should give Certiorari to Daniel and the ring to Olivia.

I think it's the other way around. Giving Daniel the sword locks him into being "his father's son" and "his sister's brother". On thenother hand, Olivia explicitely wants to fight. Give her the sword, and him the ring. We get a ninja assassin and a green lantern out of it.

uju32 · Jul 25, 2023

BronzeTongue said:
Yeah, it's flavorful on multiple levels and fits a lot of themes simultaneously.
I think it's the perfect way to balance having a fuller circle against the many issues with getting other exalts or wild power scaling.

Yeah; Crafting has always been one potential avenue for dealing with the power-scaling problem. For everyone, even Lydia.

Basically considering building a supersoldier package a while ago.
Literally an entire organization full of hitters out there in the Fellowship of St Giles who would be interested in dropping one set of enhancements for another. Crafting, or possibly Inner Devils Unleashed, might be useful there.

I am going to point out the obvious problem with artifacts for NPCs: they get no plot protection, and can be taken away, and the more powerful they are, the more people are motivated to try their luck. A lot like Gollum with the One Ring: he wasnt powerful enough to keep it, and the Ring was valuable enough to attract very powerful claimants.

If top tier artifacts like Balor's Eye, Gungnir and the Blackstaff, can be taken from their original wielders, you have to bear this in mind. This is especially true for things like swords and rings, as opposed to bioware.

BronzeTongue said:
For a significant part of exalted craftsmanship the sacrifice is just a sacrifice. If we use it for making a spirit or something we'd get a dragon themed one rather than a zombie unless we made a corpse monster on purpose.

I fully intend to advocate that we ignore anything in Holden's crafting writeup that says a requirement for sacrifice; this is supposed to be crafting, not black magic.

Rare reagents are one fine.
Sacrificing people to make shit, even evil people, is not. Not narratively in this setting. If we took that fluff at its face value, the Catholic girl with a Knight as Mentor 5 would straight up refuse to do any high end crafting.

firefrog600 said:
Plenty of christians forsake that and mess with the dead look at the one pope who put a dead guy on trial after all.
Anyways with the talk of god wars I hope thats not how the white god works here since their explicitly the creator in the dresden verse and did not kill gods to get there. At least in this quest that should probably be true for this reality iteration at least.

Molly's gotten secondhand communication from an archangel, and has literally felt the presence inside of Amoracchius.
I suspect she's motivated to be a lot more scrupulous than most about the spirit of those kind of rules.

DragonParadox said:
Of Crimson Marks and Green Bills

COMMENTARY
Apparently Monoc is in bed with the US military industrial complex. Thats a lot more overt involvement than I expected in this universe. If they're doing it, we have to consider that other factions may be as well. And its probably a good warning about our deploying cyberdevils willynilly, if elements of the MIC have access to supernatural consultants.

Blood ward?
If you have prep-time and multiple willing donors to drop a pint at a time, it should be feasible to do it without killing anyone.
It does speak to some of the old magics in play here.

Hmm.
Giving the cyberdevils network access translates to a lot of existing design specs, and a good estimation of where the mundane cutting edge is benched at in 2006. Thats useful on a narrative level for Molly, and turns us a profit on this entire affair.

IP rights? We dont need it.
The juice isnt worth the squeeze IMO

Yog said:
We are definitely spending Gossamer, and probably (if we can preserve it) naagloshii's soul. This is basically 2 4 dot wonders stacked one onto another. This is expensive stuff. We probably also want exotic materials like Daniel's own willpower (to bind him to the ring), and a crystallized sample of our anima while we manifest TTC.

EDIT: Before we use up gossamer, we should definitely use it as a focus and see where we can get more.

I have trouble seeing Molly C, daughter of Michael C in anything that involves sacrificing a sapient/mining a sapient for crafting materials.

While most of our recent encounters have been with entities that are either gray or towards the destro end of the scale?
Its worth remembering that Molly has met an angel; felt an angel when she crossed blades with Amoracchius
That leaves an impression.

uju32 · Jul 25, 2023

VOTE
[X] Let Monoc have the designs, you already have your fingers in enough pies

Yog · Jul 25, 2023

uju32 said:
I have trouble seeing Molly C, daughter of Michael C in anything that involves sacrificing a sapient/mining a sapient for crafting materials.

While most of our recent encounters have been with entities that are either gray or towards the destro end of the scale?
Its worth remembering that Molly has met an angel; felt an angel when she crossed blades with Amoracchius
That leaves an impression.

Molly had no trouble eating people's souls. This is pretty similar level of soul defilement. I don't expect much issue with this. If nothing else, it can be thought of as our adversary repaying some debt to society in death.

uju32 said:
I am going to point out the obvious problem with artifacts for NPCs: they get no plot protection, and can be taken away, and the more powerful they are, the more people are motivated to try their luck. A lot like Gollum with the One Ring: he wasnt powerful enough to keep it, and the Ring was valuable enough to attract very powerful claimants.

Form of Hero's Shadow makes it impossible, because the mortal user is actually part of the splendor.

Earth-Destroyer · Jul 25, 2023

DragonParadox said:
Yes you are, getting a literal country, which means if I just make your constraints in crafting any single item material I end up with the Everything Wand. No one likes the Everything Wand believe me, the players think they like it but much like the cake it is a lie.

I maintain that the kingdom charm is a poorly thought out, tacked on mess. It is completely out of line with even exaltEd proper power growth, ExWod it is even worse.

uju32 · Jul 25, 2023

Yog said:
Molly had no trouble eating people's souls. This is pretty similar level of soul defilement. I don't expect much issue with this. If nothing else, it can be thought of as our adversary repaying some debt to society in death.

There's a distinct level of difference between whats permissible in combat and whats permissible outside it.
See the difference between murder and combat.

Besides, if IIRC MiM is primarily a spiritkiller, to ensure that the immortal once killed cant get back up.
Not a souleater.

Yog said:
Form of Hero's Shadow makes it impossible, because the mortal user is actually part of the splendor.

This is a setting where we have seen the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny all get stolen.
Where the Blackstaff was apparently stolen from Mother Winter.
Where Balor's Eye was ripped out of Ethniu's head in canon.

I...have doubts, shall we say, about the idea that you can anchor something to a mortal(or immortal, for that matter) and it cant get taken by a supernatural who really wants it. It goes against every thematic or narrative convention of any of the settings here.
I mean, if Demonreach was told to contain it, do you think any binding would hold? Its not an Exaltation.

Not to mention that if you make it impossible to steal shit without killing you, guess what happens?

Lost Egos · Jul 25, 2023

uju32 said:
I have trouble seeing Molly C, daughter of Michael C in anything that involves sacrificing a sapient/mining a sapient for crafting materials.

While most of our recent encounters have been with entities that are either gray or towards the destro end of the scale?
Its worth remembering that Molly has met an angel; felt an angel when she crossed blades with Amoracchius
That leaves an impression.

Yeah, I could see her buying say hair from someone who was selling it already on the regular or like a intelligent fae sheep/spider selling wool/silk but I can't see her asking if they aren't already selling on the regular.

fictionfan · Jul 25, 2023

Earth-Destroyer said:
I maintain that the kingdom charm is a poorly thought out, tacked on mess. It is completely out of line with even exaltEd proper power growth, ExWod it is even worse.

I think that it was a very clever way to get players invested in the setting and to make them do their own world building.

Artemis1992 · Jul 25, 2023

uju32 said:
here's a distinct level of difference between whats permissible in combat and whats permissible outside it.
See the difference between murder and combat.

She did just execute Madrigal without any combat.
That's a step in the right direction.

DragonParadox · Jul 25, 2023

Vote closed, may take a while, it's a oven in here.

Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jul 25, 2023 at 10:31 AM, finished with 62 posts and 15 votes.

15 people have voted
[X] Let Monoc have the designs, you already have your fingers in enough pies
- Yzarc
- Azais
- Nemonowan
- BronzeTongue
- TheGrape
- Lost Egos
- 恐Drake
- Yog
- Goldfish
- sunrise
- Captainwolf
- gale
- Nyarky
- Kestrel21
- uju32

Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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