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Green Sun, Black Shadows (CG/Exalted)

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Speaking of xp, after our current training schedule completes, we will have a quite good selection of Charms to defend ourself and fight with. But I don't remember any surprise negator in it. I think the Ebon Dragon's version would be quite good and that we should train it next, mainly because with it we won't have to worry Akio accidentally maiming or killing us anymore.

Though the Charm text assumes intentional attacks. I'm not sure if that is just a fluff flavor thing, or can the Charm be used against even natural disasters with no-one behind them. But then again, everything has least gods in it, so... Eh, maybe I'm thinking about this too much.
The Shadow Knows
Cost: 2m (or 0m); Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Witness to Darkness
Nobody knows the ways of the knife in the dark better than the Ebon Dragon. What darkness lurks in the hearts of men was created by the Shadow Of All Things, and he proudly recognizes his work even as it attempts to undo him. After all, if circumstances were reversed, he'd be doing the same thing. This Charm is activated reflexively in response to an unexpected attack, removing the unexpected quality of the attack. The Infernal experiences this as a last-second foreknowledge of the attack, granting him awareness of the identity of his attacker and the rough knowledge of the manner of the attack (weapon used, direction of approach, etc.). Activating the Charm costs two motes in the presence of light bright enough to read by, or zero motes otherwise. It counts as a Charm use either way.
An additional purchase at Essence 3 allows this Charm to apply to Unexpected Social Attacks, removing the Unexpected quality from them. If used in this way, the Charm costs 3m to defend from Charisma-based attacks and 1m to defend from Manipulation-based attacks, as he knows his opponents' arguments before they make them.
A third purchase at Essence 4 allows the Infernal to truly understand the threat he faces, allowing him to spend 1wp to make everything about the attack Obvious to his senses, including any Charms enhancing the attack. The Infernal may explicitly spend a willpower on this Charm even if the attack was not originally Unexpected. This applies to Social attacks as well as it does to physical attacks.
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From the name, you'd think it would be preceded by a charm called 'Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men'
Or maybe an entire tree of charms built from the quote.
 
Just a head up. After completing the new plan Enjou proposed this new Xp Plan:
Enjou said:
[X] XP Plan Enjou

Finish current training with highest priority.

Further training...

Willpower: Add 3 to total of 10 (9 XP, Immediate)

Attributes
Intelligence (7 XP, 1 Month)

Abilities
Performance - Add 1 dot, maxed to 5 (3 XP, Immediate)
Archery/Firearms - Add 1 dot, go to 3 total (4 XP, 6 days)
Dodge - Add 1 dot, go to 2 total (4 XP, 6 days)

Charms (in order to train)

Eldritch Secrets Mastery (Ebon Dragon - 8 XP, 3 Days)
Seeing Is Blindness (Ebon Dragon - 8 XP, 3 Days)
Nemesis Self Imagined Anew (Ebon Dragon - 8 XP, 2 Days)
Impossible Dragon Constitution (Oramus, 8 XP, 2 Days)
Flesh of Horrible Hallucinations (Oramus, 8 XP, 2 Days)
Living Paradox (Oramus, 8 XP, 3 Days)
By Pain Reforged (Malfeas, 10 XP, 4 Days)
Scar-Writ Saga Shield (Malfeas, 10 XP, 4 Days)
Preposterous Molding of Zero (Oramus - 8 XP, 2 Days)

Cost: 103 XP


Ok, as always this is subject to change through discussion. Things may be removed or added.

Reasoning:
1. Reason for Willpower is obvious - we can always use more of it.
2. Intelligence is one of the things we use most often. Buffing it will help on War and Lore rolls. Starting to build it up seems like a good idea.
3. Performance we want to up for future speeches. Firearms and Dodge for combat.
4. Ok, now the important thing where the bulk of the XP is going - Charms.
- Eldritch Secrets Mastery is a really important Charm for us, as it lets us disguise what kind of Exalt we are. We can't just keep disguising ourself as a random goon. There will be situations where we'll need to be a Dragonblooded or something else.
- Seeing Is Blindness is a really good Charm, as it lets us blind our opponents. That could be really good in combat, especially if we're supporting someone else.
- For the Oramus Charms, I'd like to start going down the Wyld tree. Of particular interest is Living Paradox, which makes us immune to all magical diseases and magical poisons. Given Abyssal Bonesaw is apparently running around somewhere, I want immunity to the Great Contagion.
- By Pain Reforged to make Lelouch harder to take down in combat, and Countless Cities Clotting so Lelouch has a method of healing quickly. (Kaguya can supplement healing as well, but she can't have Lelouch up in a day in the event of really bad wounds - though with her healing boost the natural recovery rate is phenomenal even without spending motes) EDIT - have to get Scar-Writ Saga Shield before getting Countless Cities Clotting, so switched to that. We'll get CCC later.
- Preposterous Molding of Zero so we have a Shaping defense against the more powerful Geass users out there, and to stop Shaping attacks in general.

EDIT - I know some people asked about sorcery, but I don't see it as a priority at the moment. Rakshata has it, and she can summon demons if we ask her to.
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Are you still okay with this?
 
It's all terrible and everything needs to be changed! :p

Nah, it's fine.
 
I'm fine with it. But about what earlier said, what do you guys think we should take next on the Charm training? On combat Charms, like I said I see The Shadow Knows as pretty mandatory, and for example Escape From Dawn is a pretty good survival-enhancer fitting Lelouch's current combat style that is focused on keeping away from the melee (and the claws and teeth of giant mutant poodles).
 
meianmaru said:
I'm fine with it. But about what earlier said, what do you guys think we should take next on the Charm training? On combat Charms, like I said I see The Shadow Knows as pretty mandatory, and for example Escape From Dawn is a pretty good survival-enhancer fitting Lelouch's current combat style that is focused on keeping away from the melee (and the claws and teeth of giant mutant poodles).
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We should probably start looking into some combat Charms. Also, getting our next soul is another priority.
 
Enjou said:
Actually, I meant to put SOCIAL Charms, not combat. We could use more social stuff, since we are specced for social.
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Well, yeah. But like Akio demonstrated, sometimes the opponent just takes the Renegade Interrupt -option, and there is nothing we can do to prevent them from doing that. Assassins could also be a problem, which is why I suggested those two Charms. With them and the other Charms we will have at that point, we should be able to survive in combat for long enough that our goons or actual allies can finish our opponents for us (or that we can at least escape alive).

But with those purchased, I would too support getting more social enhancers.
 
We have our Anhule bodyguards to watch for assassins, though a surprise negator is always helpful. I'd still like to invest in some leadership and training charms though; as the Marshal (and as Zero), our job isn't to be a frontline fighter. Heck, the canon Marshal of the Althing doesn't ever leave Malfeas, he spends all his time managing things Hell-side.
 
Enjou said:
Actually, I meant to put SOCIAL Charms, not combat. We could use more social stuff, since we are specced for social.

Anyways, we have a ghost killer - Reality Raking Claws does that.
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Do we have anything that helps us recover willpower because Victory In Defeat while work for that and it adds on to limit track which seems useful it is gated behind Brooding Resentment Defense but that seems useful as well.
Here are the descriptions:
Brooding Resentment Defense
Cost: 5m (+1-5wp); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Cracked Cell Circumvention
The Ebon Dragon cannot help but understand the hateful terms of his imprisonment any more than he can choose to accept that imprisonment. For five motes, this Charm makes all unnatural mental influence currently affecting the Infernal Obvious to her senses. She may choose one of them to resist by paying Willpower points equal to the minimum Essence required for the Charm, spell or other power causing the influence (maximum five Willpower). If this value is not provided, the Storyteller should assign a cost from one to five Willpower based on the effect's relative power. The Infernal may not use this Charm to resist effects with a Willpower cost exceeding her Integrity rating. Upon successful payment, this Charm immediately terminates the offending influence. No force can prevent a character from using this Charm.
Victory In Defeat
Cost: 2m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Brooding Resentment Defense
Although the Ebon Dragon loathes his confinement above all else, he also understands the necessity of biding his time. An Infernal may use this Charm whenever a hostile mental influence overcomes his defenses and he may pay Willpower to resist/mitigate the effects (i.e. he has the required points available). By activating this Charm, the character refuses to pay the Willpower cost and accepts the influence's hold over him. However, he regains one Willpower from his voluntarily submission while his attacker loses one Willpower (and gains one Limit if she has a Limit track). The Infernal may even acquiesce to social attacks that violate his Motivation or Urge.
Victory in Defeat does not provide a constant stream of Willpower for acquiescing to harmless or mildly inconveniencing requests, such as a merchant hawking his wares. Hostility means actual harm to the Infernal or something he values, especially influence that makes him act against his own interests.
Are these good? not really an Exalted expert.
 
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masterofmadness said:
Are these good? not really an Exalted expert.
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Brooding Resentment Defense is a good charm to resist UMI, though it can get pretty expensive, since it's not always possible to regain enough Willpower if you're being social-fu'd. Adorjan's (Broken Silence Laughter Defense) is probably the best considering how cheap it is. Malfeas' Impervious Primacy Mantle auto-blocks anything framed as a command, so I definitely think its worth it because that stops a huge chunk of social attacks without having to spend any resources.

Victory in Defeat... it's iffy IMO. You choose to obey another character's demands, but get bonuses and penalize them for it. It's situational; you're not going to want to submit to every attack, but sometimes you'll be low on Willpower and the attack might not be terrible (flee the battle vs. betray your Knights) so it might make more sense to do so.

BRD is willpower-intensive and ViD lets you regain Willpower quicker, so they're sorta linked. I'd honestly rather pick a different social defense, though. IPM and one other, probably Soothing Balm of Insanity since the derangement vanishes at the end of the scene and we can pick which one. .
 
Peanuckle said:
Malfeas' Impervious Primacy Mantle auto-blocks anything framed as a command, so I definitely think its worth it because that stops a huge chunk of social attacks without having to spend any resources.
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IPM is not going to be a good one for us. It blocks any social attack that is framed as a command, but that also means our bosses are going to have a lot more trouble with us.

Why?

Ligier: "Go get this item for me."

Lulu *Under IPM*: "No."

Ligier: "What did you say?"

Lulu: "I won't do that."

Ligier: *Cuts us off from Malfeas's resources until we see reason.*

Lulu: *Literally can never see reason.*

It's an exaggeration, but something that could fuck us over.

Or even just social faux pas when Milly in her role as Student Council President gives us an order to do something, and we just say no out of reflex.
 
Peanuckle said:
BRD is willpower-intensive and ViD lets you regain Willpower quicker, so they're sorta linked. I'd honestly rather pick a different social defense, though. IPM and one other, probably Soothing Balm of Insanity since the derangement vanishes at the end of the scene and we can pick which one. .
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I could get behind those. And while I think for combat EFD seems awesome and cheap addition, I think I can drop it so that we can get some social defenses. And if we are getting Soothing Balm of Insanity, it will combo quite nicely with Flesh of Horrible Hallucinations that we will be getting first.
Walker of the Yellow Path said:
IPM is not going to be a good one for us. It blocks any social attack that is framed as a command, but that also means our bosses are going to have a lot more trouble with us.
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I'm a bit unclear on the mechanics again, so could someone clear up for me that does Unacceptable Command mean "You can't obey/perform this action" or "You don't have to obey/perform this action"?
 
meianmaru said:
I'm a bit unclear on the mechanics again, so could someone clear up for me that does Unacceptable Command mean "You can't obey/perform this action" or "You don't have to obey/perform this action"?
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You can't. An example of an Unacceptable Order is ordering someone to commit suicide.

It is possible to order someone to kill themselves, but you have to break their mind so badly that it's no longer an unacceptable order. However, with a charm backing it up, there is no way to even convince someone under the effects of IPM to obey your orders.
 
I always thought that you could choose to allow influence to go through, because otherwise that charm would render every GSP who took it a rogue agent. So you'd have the opportunity to resist Ligier when he tells you to do something, but if you're smart you won't.

That's my own interpretation, but I think it makes more sense than being mentally unable to take orders, since that basically forces you out of working for anyone other than yourself.
 
Peanuckle said:
That's my own interpretation, but I think it makes more sense than being mentally unable to take orders, since that basically forces you out of working for anyone other than yourself.
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Hmm, now that I think about it, it would be even worse than what it would be in the other case (maybe). What about if someone challenges you to a duel, and and yells something like "Defend yourself!" or "Fight me!"? Does that force you to try get out of the fight, or make you unable to even defend yourself if you are attacked?
 
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Walker of the Yellow Path said:
You can't. An example of an Unacceptable Order is ordering someone to commit suicide.

It is possible to order someone to kill themselves, but you have to break their mind so badly that it's no longer an unacceptable order. However, with a charm backing it up, there is no way to even convince someone under the effects of IPM to obey your orders.
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You can't social fu someone into it, but they can still choose to go along with what you say.
Otherwise, if someone asks you "pass me the butter" at the breakfast table, well, now you can never give them butter, which is ridiculous.
 
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