#Exalted

1 messages · Page 10 of 1

fierce star
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Lunars, textually, have 'leftist infighting' and 'killing dbs' as their things

tulip folio
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That's right. We need to go fight Fascist City at some point. XD

velvet raft
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Yeah Autochthon is 100% leftist infighting by volume

fierce star
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(also additionaklly the Caul just didn't hook me)

bleak hazel
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apparently his defining politics have come to be "we are here to stop physics breaking in half, please stop squabbling over who administers the salt board"

fierce star
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(like it's neat but as a Main Defining Thing I just bounced off it)

dense verge
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Lunars also have "punch fae and rest ghosts" under their wheelhouse iirc

bleak hazel
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to be fair, so does everyone

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apart from solaroids, anyway

dense verge
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this is true

bleak hazel
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"Prince Of The Earth, go deal with the spirit nonsense" is deeb 101

fierce star
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yeah that's not really a Lunars Thing that's an Exalted Who Have Institutional Memory Thing

bleak hazel
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if Exalts have a common core purpose post-Primordial War it's "the fae/demons/ghosts are fucking stuff up, send the Big Humans to handle it"

velvet raft
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Which is sort of the actual arrangement in Autochthon

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Something I find very pleasing

dense verge
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i think i remember lunars having more necromantic juice than usual as a side thing they have

upper stratus
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Headline: Local God Who Bullies Mortals Gets Bullied by Supermortals

fierce star
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but yeah, I think maybe the solaroid stuff etc was me trying to find a textual excuse for not liking lunars in ex3 when I hadn't realized the actual reason becuase I hadn't self-examined about it enough

velvet raft
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Alchemicals are good stuff

tulip folio
fierce star
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oh, yeah, lunars like are traditionally the most flexible exalts when it comes to non-charm-powers

upper stratus
prisma sun
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Lunars have EAT ghosts and fae under their belt

fierce star
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being able to learn terrestrial and celestial MAs, terrestrial and celestial sorcery, and shadowlands and labyrinth necromancy

velvet raft
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Lunars are also just as good at necromancy as sorcery, so they're not strongly incentivized to do one or the other

tulip folio
bleak hazel
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all of this reminds me of the silly Cosmic Exalted homebrew that someone made that is just a long series of Exalted fandom in-jokes

fierce star
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(not that TMAs/CMAs are a thing but I am ex2brained)

bleak hazel
upper stratus
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lmao

velvet raft
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XD

fierce star
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god I remember that

bleak hazel
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the two charms they have for Lunars and Sids are the jokes you'd expect

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I do quite like "twofold sign of the pillar"

upper stratus
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do they have one that just says 'deebs are fodder now'

bleak hazel
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oh yeah, but you get the general idea

upper stratus
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lmfao

bleak hazel
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actually one more for the oldheads

dense verge
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lunars are flexible to me in that they have a strong lean to a "default" campaign, but theres things like iscomay around, so there's room for like, kingdom building if they have room on the fringe

bleak hazel
tulip folio
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Hahahah

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That silver pact bit

bleak hazel
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this is a very silly splat but it's quite a well-executed series of jokes

fierce star
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lmao

upper stratus
bleak hazel
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one more, because I like it

fierce star
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oh shit that works on Infernals

next delta
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I like the banishing of themselves

upper stratus
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using this on a heart-eater to inform my ST made a mistake by adding them to their canon

fierce star
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RIP heart-eaters

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(I'm using them as primary antagonists in a campaign, but in my defense the campaign is 'so what if you could bring an incarnae back from the dead somehow' becuase the story of aurora has hooked me right in the brain)

bleak hazel
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I still think they would work better as a kind of giant scary gribbly monster rather than an Exalt, but that's just vibes

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and also me wanting more monsters that aren't pushovers

fierce star
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I would hoenstly never use them as a player facing option

upper stratus
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yea they're fine as antagonists

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"i don't die when im killed" makes for a type of puzzle guy to deal with

velvet raft
upper stratus
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there is one. two. ?

fierce star
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just one, I think? Hundred devils night parade?

velvet raft
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But good monster books are phenomenal amounts of work and art expenses, even in simpler systems

bleak hazel
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There are quite a few books of monsters, but a lot of the monsters are kind of pushovers

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Adversaries of the Righteous + HDNP

fierce star
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oh I forgot about adversaries

bleak hazel
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A lot of the earlier monsters had the issue of being cool giant stompy things with dice pools too low to threaten a starting Deeb if said deeb was even remotely combat specced

upper stratus
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i like HDNP more for adding a bunch of "generic" guys rather than "guy with a whole backstory"

velvet raft
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More of that is needed, yeah

bleak hazel
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the anglerfish Dune sandworm with legendary size would be fun if it could roll more than 8 dice to hit

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no excellency problems

fierce star
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I miss Craft (Genesis)

upper stratus
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ideally i want a book with QC charms sorted per broad category and exalt type

tulip folio
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Craft(Genesis) was great.

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I loved it

# 
Shattering Void Mirror
Cost: 15nm, 1wp
Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Throwing his arm out toward her victim in an imperious gesture, the caster speaks words of dark power  The target’s colors appear to invert for a moment as her Essence is juxtaposed with an exact opposite drawn from the Void.

The caster rolls (Wits + Occult) as a decisive attack against an enemy at up to long range, then shakes her target with Oblivion's Grim Cold. The void's strength is at its greatest when opposing strong life, with a base lethal damage equal to (her Initiative + half of her target's current health levels, rounded up), and resets her to base Initiative on a successful attack. As long as the spell deals 3+ levels of damage to its target, the target loses Motes equal to 1+ the caster's Essence, the Caster gaining them as Necromantic Motes.

Control: A necromancer with Shattering Void Mirror as their control spell casts no reflection in mundane or mystical mirrors. She cannot be scried on with a magic mirror or pool of water (Though she could with such magic that do not make use of reflections), she cannot have her reflection manipulated and she often requires assistance with her makeup.

Soul-Binding Mark
Cost: Ritual, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
The necromancer speaks words of passage and paints the the forehead of a willing or incapacitated person in a ritual that takes the course of an hour and imbues the target with one of the following effects, which will trigger when they die:

Rune of Sweet Passing: The target is bound to become a ghost, no matter how gentle the death or how fulfilled with their life they feel. This does not bind the ghost to the caster, nor compel them to act in any way when they become a ghost save from preventing them from accepting the call of Lethe unaided.

Gentle Call of Lethe: The target is bound to pass immediately and safely into Lethe, unless killed by such an effect that would permanently destroy a spirit. The target cannot become a ghost, nor can his corpse be raised as a zombie or other animated corpse.

Control: A Necromancer with Soul-Binding Mark as their control spell can perform this ritual for entire groups, allowing them to perform it on an additional number of characters equal to (2x Essence).

In addition, they may always choose to rise as a ghost or pass peacefully into Lethe when they die, as the effects of the spell.

Distortion (Goal Number: 5): The necromancer corrupts the mark, inverting its effects. Runes of Sweet Passage become Gentle Calls of Lethe and vice-versa. This lasts until the end of the scene.

Oh, I also took a shot at updating 2 2e spells to 3e.

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Void Mirror less hard than Flight of the Raptor (You need to be targeting an unharmed 20+ health levels lunar to hit as well as high WP swing with raptor, which is a lot less common than 'The sorcerer built with high willpower and hasn't been taunted by Mean Girl Social Exalts today') but it Drains Motes if it hurts them badly. Went kinda conservative with 'how much it drains' as the only comparison I could find was a High Essence Solar Charm that steals 'Net Successes on attack' and adds them to your personal/peripheral instead of the less lasting necromantic motes.

tulip folio
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Sorry for wall of text.

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In funnier things: 'Help me, my bane is murderhbobo dawns'

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velvet raft
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ehehehehe

tulip folio
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...I kinda wish all this 'New Merit' in Adversaries of the Righteous came with dot values for them

fierce star
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.... Sidereals are not required to be literate at character creation

tulip folio
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They might as well just be passive charms.

prisma sun
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Just tell your secretary what to write

next delta
fierce star
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H+H.

tulip folio
fierce star
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wauit no

tulip folio
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'I learned to craft from a forging goddess'

fierce star
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adversaries was post hnh

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uhhh

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competency.

next delta
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Adversaries was stapling together a bunch of releases that were made over quite a long time

bleak hazel
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trying to figure out whether this is "roll Charisma + Occult for the attack roll, then initiative against diff whatever" or "roll Charisma + Occult against diff 7"

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upper stratus
bleak hazel
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I'm going to assume that it's the former because it does say gambit

next delta
bleak hazel
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God Ways is one of my favourite fight enders, though

upper stratus
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it's just how gambits work as a general rule

tulip folio
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Or this one, where it's like 'We have mutation rules, this guy is just a scorpion beastfolk, that's Entirely Something A PC could be'

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upper stratus
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it does say gambit

next delta
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Calling those out as merits instead of just a random rule on the character is weird. Is it reused across characters?

bleak hazel
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three turns minimum is long enough to have someone burn all their motes and crash themselves spamming Withdraw and then running back in, which is very funny

tulip folio
next delta
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... I forget how gambits in 3E work

bleak hazel
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"I possess you and then force you to run laps"

tulip folio
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And honestly, some of them don't look like they're really merits either. XD

upper stratus
prisma sun
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I think calling them Merits is just short hand for "these are not charms but you should feel free to give these to other npcs if appropriate"

upper stratus
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correct

bleak hazel
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the funniest thing I've ever seen God Ways do is a Sid using it to possess the enemy exalt's sword before they can draw it and then running away

upper stratus
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things like legendary size are also merits

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it's like "traits"

tulip folio
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Like, these are not merits. These are just Rules of Being A Hungry Ghost but this particular one has a name and you didn't want people to have to reference the hungry ghost rules.

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next delta
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Ok, that makes more sense then

bleak hazel
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gambits are really fun

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unless your opponent knows Solar Melee

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(Heavenly Guardian Defence is a perfect counter)

upper stratus
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i have a lunar in my circle who specializes jn grapples so i have gambit rules permanently etched onto my brain

bleak hazel
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as with many things, we simply leave those guys out of the combat system and enjoy our fun multifaceted duels

tulip folio
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...snrk

The one on the Ifrit NPC is fun, as a solar gunslinger who doesn't know how it works could end up stalling out pretty badly on her.

# 
New Merit: Born of Flame
A character with this Merit is immune to fire- and heat-based environmental hazards. Automatically reduce withering attacks from such sources to minimum damage. Decisive attacks from such sources only deal bashing damage and can’t fill Za-Ishat’s Incapacitated health level.
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'Help me, I keep shooting the red haired woman in the face and she keeps getting back up again'

next delta
bleak hazel
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at least, I assume that HGD works on grapples, because it works on goddamn sorcery

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not even fireball sorcery, either, the one that forces you to keep secrets

prisma sun
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What is minimum damage

bleak hazel
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Overwhelming

upper stratus
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yoir overwhelming

fierce star
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Overwhelming value, inninit

tulip folio
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So non-magic fire weapons do approximately 'fuck all'

upper stratus
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you can get your OVH pretty high

bleak hazel
upper stratus
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my sid's is at like 11

tulip folio
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Which to be fair: Yeah, seems legit. You are trying to burn a fire elemental, you should go think about the choices that have led to this.

bleak hazel
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cannot stress enough that this is just a Solar Melee thing + one athletics + one brawl charm

upper stratus
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soak this jackass

bleak hazel
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which are both compatible with melee for no apparent reason

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(well, Solar Brawler will punt you into the sun before you can do stuff to him but that's fair enough, he is King of Punching not King of Getting Punched)

next delta
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I do think "I cut the sorcerous effect with my sword" is a cool idea. But, I'm very willing to accept that the implementation was bad

bleak hazel
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HGD is the perfect block, so it solves all problems

tulip folio
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btw: Does anyone have any thoughts on those attempts to translate 2e spells to 3e I put up above? Gentle Call of Lethe is likely Rather Mean against Abyssal War but 'stop that, no undead for you' has always been Its Thing.

bleak hazel
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pay 1i to remove a success on a damage roll, pay 4m 1wp to cancel "uncountable damage", which is broadly defined enough that it includes damn near anything that isn't being punched in the face

next delta
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Yeah, I guess it needs to just be non-perfect (except against uncountable damage, I want perfects against those to stay)

bleak hazel
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Sids have a good one of those

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(I cut some rules cruft about costing, but you get the idea)

next delta
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Ok, but I want perfects against uncountable damage that is like, mountains falling in you

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And not magic by a sorcerer (which should be opposed)

tulip folio
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Oh, that's a really nice counter. Where does the 0-3 WP come into it though?

next delta
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Yeah, the sid version is a lot better

bleak hazel
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it's technically not perfect against swords, but it's a trivial cost to turn decisive attacks into much worse withering attacks that also drain all your opponent's initiative (because they technically hit you, and then didn't do anything)

bleak hazel
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I cut that out because it was not important for Vibes but here

tulip folio
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Ah, I see. So it's best if you're also a sorcerer.

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As you get them free

velvet raft
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Ugh, I like that Divine Heritage exists, but I'm somewhat frustrated to see yet another cool option in Ex3 that doesn't provide you with resources for figuring out what it does

tulip folio
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Unless they're a solar doing solar magic

next delta
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Do sids have "parry the ground" style charms?

bleak hazel
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it's very affordable, there's a form that reduces the cost of all your counterspells by 1wp each

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so a Celestial Circle sid can clash Solar Circle for 0wp using Soulfire Shaper Form

velvet raft
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"You get an Eclipse charm, I guess? And maybe some other merits for free? I dunno man"

upper stratus
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society if spell-shattering palm let me use my palm punchy raa stats rather than my thinky thougts stats (im stupid)

bleak hazel
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they have better

tulip folio
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Like Ghostblooded, Faeblooded etc

velvet raft
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Yeah

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Agree 100%

bleak hazel
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the melee one is less sexy but still pretty decent

tulip folio
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Stuff where you've got an odd heritage but one common enough in exalted to have some basic 'Yeah, this is how they generally work'

velvet raft
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I have the same issue with that one Occult charm

bleak hazel
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5 motes

velvet raft
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I broadly agree with everything that has been said about Lego bricks

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And the need for them

next delta
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I kind of get it because Exalted is a very bespoke-rules style setting-system, and that's part of the reason some stuff can be really cool. But yeah, it makes it awful to GM or take advantage of certain things (like custom artifacts)

tulip folio
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I should also go through sorceries and find what fun 2e ones haven't arrived in 3e yet.

upper stratus
# bleak hazel

oh they have serpendipity sidestep from dodged baked into their block the unblockable charm

tulip folio
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My attempt to do it with necromancy came up a bit lean due to 2e iron necromancy being kinda naff

fierce star
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There's also the fact that words are expensive

bleak hazel
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My Sid is going to be sweating a bit when E3 comes around because all the regular XP needs to go into the great melee charms and the sid XP needs to go into Sidereal Martial Arts

fierce star
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I'd love to see more examples and actual examples-of-writing-things, but those don't really sell books very much compared to LOOK AT THIS COOL ARTIFACT

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most players/gms are not homebrewres busting out custom artifacts/exalt types/charms

bleak hazel
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not entirely sure how to rate this one honestly

image.png
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I would assume this is for when your enemy takes a half-hearted swing at you while totally tapped and you can do a huge clash decisive to blow them up

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but when you win clashes you get a free attack anyway, because you're Sid Melee, Clash Enjoyer Supreme

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so big withering clash if you can and then Harmony of Blows to decisive, I suppose

fierce star
# tulip folio ``` Shattering Void Mirror Cost: 15nm, 1wp Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous Dur...

Also as far as these go: Shattering Void Mirror looks good and balanced compared to equivalent combat sorceries I think, with the niche use case of 'fuck up that lunar's day' and I love that control effect, quite honestly, it's the right spot of 'mechanically useful and flavorwise unique'. Soul-Binding Mark is also great, good bit of utility for either side of the necromancer spectrum, and again with a fun control effect, and the distortion could allow for some nice drama to happen with an NPC who's been gentle call of lethed getting caught by a necromancer with less scruples, as an example.

velvet raft
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Hm, building a character for my amusement for the first time in ages

bleak hazel
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does having this as your control spell make you immune to about half that style's moves

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I suppose being immune to Splintered Ego Nemesis is a pretty cool niche benefit

fierce star
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Hmm. Lytek's no longer responsible for 'cleaning' exaltations between lives in ex3, right?

bleak hazel
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not according to the book

next delta
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Makes sense that the lethe would do that

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🤔 I wonder if the deathlords are cooking up plans to intercept dead Exalted's exaltations

fierce star
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That was part of ex2, at least, trying to grab free Solar sparks to shove into Monstrances

next delta
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Huh, it's interesting that Lytek is so well aligned with his job despite having to have that role well after the primordials made gods

spring lynx
next delta
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Does it talk about any of his previous offices?

spring lynx
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she does give him the interesting memories though

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he was Supreme Minister of Abstract Matters

next delta
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What is Taru-Han's purview?

spring lynx
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souls and death (the act)

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and head of Abstract Matters, to her chagrin

tulip folio
next delta
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Interesting that a god is in charge of refurbishing exaltations. I would have expected it to use other existing reincarnation mechanisms

spring lynx
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well, she doesn't actually

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lethe still does all the work

next delta
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Ah. Ok

fierce star
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yeah, seems 'exaltations getting scrubbed down by lytek' is an ex1/2 thing these days

spring lynx
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but it is ostensibly her job to make sure it goes smoothly

next delta
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<puts silly character concept back on the shelf>

spring lynx
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she mostly uses her position to do the opposite of reincarnation, though. she's a soul thief. this is, of course, highly illegal.

fierce star
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Oh boy a department head using the powers of their position to do the opposite of what they're supposed to, plus it's illegal?

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that's surely a rarity in heaven's streets

spring lynx
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oh she doesn't use her position to do it, she just uses her position to get out of censure for it

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she's the goddess of souls, she could already do it before she got to sit in the Big Chair

bleak hazel
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Lytek is fun because he's also the big Gold Faction supporter

spring lynx
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you'd probably be too if the bronze faction assaulted you and got you fired from your cushy managerial position

tulip folio
bleak hazel
# 

Kejak’s rage upon hearing this report only worsened when he investigated the assignment of Lytek’s new security detail. The powerful guards protecting the Right Hand of Power were each assigned by different deities, ranging from the three Syndics to Ahlat to Wun Ja, the Director of Humanity. Even deities who were not particularly opposed to the Bronze Faction or the Dragon-Blooded still remembered how rudely Lytek was manhandled during the Usurpation, and the blunt show of force served to show that it would not be tolerated again.```
fierce star
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Hell yeah that's still canon

upper stratus
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hands up lytek. put the solar sparks in the bag

bleak hazel
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my current Siddy has Backing 4 (Lytek)

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this gets him into many player-character-esque situations

spring lynx
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i feel like lytek is a bit more than backing 4

fierce star
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backing is normally an entire organization

bleak hazel
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he's a big deal, he's not part of the Bureau of Destiny

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so it mostly manifests as "hang out with the gold faction boys, get into less trouble than you perhaps should"

upper stratus
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wouldn't it be more appropriate as allies dots

next delta
bleak hazel
#

Ally (Lytek) is considerably out of the scope of the Allies merit and he doesn't show up to help personally

spring lynx
bleak hazel
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so Backing/political cover was close enough

fierce star
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she uses a big wall of souls moving randomly to generate random numbers for her celestial bitcoin mine

next delta
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lmao

spring lynx
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(her mother being Saturn)

fierce star
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(That's a shitpost but it hit me like a ton of bricks so I had to share it)

bleak hazel
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Four-dot Backing at character creation can represent being a favorite or protégé of a prominent elder Sidereal or high-ranking god or a position secured through bribery, blackmail, or similar means.

next delta
bleak hazel
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the fun part is that he's not even Gold Faction per se

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studiously independent

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but his Endings purview is "ghost cop" and as such he ends up running into enough Abyssals to feed Lytek fun war stories

spring lynx
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ah, a student of Nazri

prisma sun
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The world's most powerful R

bleak hazel
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very possible to make a Sid who is Chejop's latest favourite at chargen

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3 dot mentor + 4 dot backing

next delta
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Does Lytek know when Abyssal and Infernal exaltations happen?

spring lynx
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i think those are outside Fate, so probably not?

prisma sun
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I'm considering actually making Drifts have either Chejop or Ayns as his mentor

bleak hazel
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unspecified

next delta
bleak hazel
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this is in fact why he likes Vigil so much

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"hey, I found an abyssal, there was a cool swordfight"

prisma sun
bleak hazel
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the fact Vigil hates Abyssals with major-intimacy fury does not really get in the way

upper stratus
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lytek isn't a fate guy though. he could have methods unconnected to fate

spring lynx
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wow, your character really is just "nazri if he was pissed about ghosts instead of fae"

bleak hazel
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kinda, yeah

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except with more Columbo energy

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grudgingly caucuses with the Golds because of personal affiliation rather than political, but he ends up working with Lunars often enough it's basically the same thing

next delta
spring lynx
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that's how he gets the stories to write, so yeah, i guess that could be

upper stratus
spring lynx
next delta
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It's funny, but getting put in charge of knowing about exaltations is kind of a demotion over being a head of a bureau. But I guess gods love getting out of responsibilities

spring lynx
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he still does most of his old job's work anyway because taru-han is a layabout

upper stratus
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if you're not ambitious and all your basic needs are met either way a simpler job's probably gonna make you happier

next delta
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Is the stipend a god gets based on rank in the bureaucracy? Or is part of the corruption problem that there isn't much financial incentive to a promotion so many gods ladder climb for the grift?

upper stratus
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of the top of my head income is based on how 'important' their position is yea

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all gods get like universal basic income even if they're unemployed but it sucks ass to be unemployed anyway

spring lynx
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yeah the thing about money in heaven is that it's literally prayer made physical. the more prayers sent your way, the higher your salary. and a pretty good way to get more prayers is to hold a higher office.

next delta
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Does the Immaculate Faith change prayer orders based on who is in office?

spring lynx
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i think they direct prayer to offices rather than individuals

velvet raft
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... past me had some decent ideas sometimes, huh. I had this as a limit break for one of my characters:

  • Subtlety when directness is possible.
next delta
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Slash how do normal people find out who's now in charge of what to pray to... Oh I guess that would do that

spring lynx
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i could be completely wrong, mind. but it does seem like a pretty efficient way to do things, even if the important offices only change hands every few millennia at most.

fierce star
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at least in ex2 heaven's UBI was like, enough to subsist on with a shitty apartment and was done by collecting up all the prayer that wasn't to a specific deity, shaking it a bit, tithing most of it to the incarnae then passing out what was left to the unemployed deities

spring lynx
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that's kinda how the dole works in 3e too, except it's the taxes levied that get distributed

upper stratus
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ex3 celestial gods are taxed and taxed prayer money (ambrosia) is then partially redistributed to unemployed gods as UBI

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ablative faster

spring lynx
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technically it's redistributed to every god but no one with a job would willingly be caught taking it

bleak hazel
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it is mentioned that humans in heaven, not getting a UBI, will form these little mutual aid associations with local gods where they pray to the gods and take their cut of the proceeds

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which sounds very funny

upper stratus
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clocking in at my prayer job in the prayer factory

bleak hazel
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I suppose "O God of Street 10 Houses 10-52, bring me riches" is a very easy prayer when you know you get a direct slice of the ambrosia

upper stratus
bleak hazel
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spinning the big prayer wheel

next delta
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... It's kind of like working at a gold mine in a country that has the gold standard

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Though I guess Ambrosia is like... An everything mundane material?

upper stratus
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yea

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it's very Shapeable

bleak hazel
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yeah, they're on the Commodity Standard

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which commodity? meh, pick one

upper stratus
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'economy based on coins that can also be every commodity' would probably pan out wildly differently with unexpected sideffects but im not gonna think about it too much

bleak hazel
#

local Int 5 Bureaucracy 5 sidereal is handling it, don't worry

#

how are they handling it when they're not meant to be in charge of heaven? don't worry about that either

upper stratus
#

hm

fierce star
#

'how are they handling it' does using duck fate count

bleak hazel
#

you can use it against taxes

velvet raft
#

Can you use it against ducks

upper stratus
#

it dodges problems but it doesn't solve them

fierce star
#

only if they're fated ducks

velvet raft
#

All ducks are fated

fierce star
#

note to self: duckfolk abyssal

bleak hazel
#

OK, Lunars

#

I will give you this, and it's "this is way more balanced than Heaven Thunder Hammer"

upper stratus
#

i don't really want to imagine muscles rippling like water

#

just the normal ripple is fine

bleak hazel
#

oh god damn it

#

they were so close to not weaponizing falling damage in annoying ways

spring lynx
bleak hazel
#

🤷‍♂️ 🤷 🤷‍♀️

upper stratus
#

don't see why not

bleak hazel
#

(I don't have a green shrug or a yellow shrug, mercury and jupiter are out)

spring lynx
upper stratus
#

right but it has an adjacent normal coins economy cause sids can get normal coins for their creation trips

spring lynx
#

yeah, and those coins are minted with the ambrosia taken as tax

wise ocean
#

east germany currency controls send tweet

spring lynx
#

oh wait i misread that

upper stratus
#

no, im talking like. mundane creation currency.

spring lynx
#

sorry when i said celestial tax i meant the tax levied on ambrosia

upper stratus
#

ohhh

spring lynx
#

i don't think heaven has a normal coinage tax because gods don't give a fuck about mortal currencies

upper stratus
#

i mean sids aren't usually prayed too so i don't thinkt hey generate any ambrosia to be taxed

spring lynx
#

actually i think sids get their mortal currency either the old-fashioned way (doing stuff in creation) or by getting a prayerwright to make it out of ambrosia

bleak hazel
#

they still get absurd stacks because ambrosia -> jade apparently has a very favourable conversion rate

upper stratus
#

the former doesn't really make sense cause it doesn't say anywhere a sid's resource merit is suppressed when they enter creation

next delta
bleak hazel
#

that's a Lunar charm, funnily enough

next delta
bleak hazel
#

except it has an upgrade that takes it right back to imbalanced knockback device

upper stratus
#

idk 💀

bleak hazel
#

supposedly you can stunt to reduce fall damage

#

the game does not specify by how much

upper stratus
#

i'd simply dodge the ground

bleak hazel
#

I would assume one range band per level of stunt but that's just me

next delta
next delta
bleak hazel
#

Heaven Thunder Hammer is relatively annoying here because it's not "take fall damage", it's "take damage as if you had fallen X distance" so it's up to the GM whether you can stunt it

bleak hazel
upper stratus
bleak hazel
#

Heaven Thunder Hammer is generally considered "bad touch" - community speak for an attack that just one taps you or otherwise ends the fight if it lands so you have to stop it in the To-Hit stage rather than the damage mitigation stage

#

you take both the levels and the dice, so HTH medium fall damage is about six or seven levels of damage

#

for an non-OxBody exalt, that's -4 wound or dead

#

plus the actual decisive attack dealing at least 4-5 levels of damage

next delta
#

Ah, so it's falling damage scaling not being good for combat effects plus it also evades a lot of defenses right?

#

I think falling in Essence is much tamer

bleak hazel
#

it's also activated after you make your brawl attack so the Solar doesn't need to spend 7 motes on it until after they know it's going to land

#

incredibly annoying

next delta
#

Oh, that's a bit silly

bleak hazel
#

this is a shame because it's also the single most iconic and hype Solar Brawl charm

#

is it sick as hell? yes

next delta
#

It seems salvageable at least

bleak hazel
#

oh yeah, you just go "taking damage by being slammed into walls is like falling damage, so everyone's going to stunt to take the edge off that"

lunar magnet
#

It's in many ways the Most Exalted charm in both positive and negative ways

tulip folio
#

Do any charms just outright negate falling damage?

bleak hazel
#

whether that was writer intent... meh

next delta
#

And not when thrown

bleak hazel
#

which I find very funny

#

but they rarely negate "impact as if you fell a medium distance" and the game is unclear as to whether they apply

next delta
#

Do you literally see the wires threads of fate holding them up when they do that?

bleak hazel
#

only if it would be really cool

spring lynx
#

with the right kind of eyes, probably

bleak hazel
#

or yeah, if you have Magivision

wise ocean
bleak hazel
#

the true bullshit HTH use is "punch someone one range band up into the ceiling, dealing medium fall damage from the impact and light fall damage on the way down"

prisma sun
next delta
bleak hazel
#

adding it up, that's 3+ damage (attack) + 7 damage (fall) + 12 dice of damage (also falling)

prisma sun
bleak hazel
#

so 10 levels + 12 dice = 14.8 levels of damage on average, which kills the vast majority of exalts or puts them on -2 wound penalty if they have a billion ox-bodies

prisma sun
#

He also had Deadly Beastman Transformation

#

Which I think added another 5 damage on average

upper stratus
#

nobody's ever doing a harmless beastman transformation

next delta
#

To better match the media, it should have used different scaling. Everyone knows being picked up to a high height and then slammed into the ground, though a significant hit, is less damaging than falling off a similarly high cliff

prisma sun
#

King Hu COULD 1v1 Octavian in good circumstances I did check that

bleak hazel
#

beastman transformation is Withering attacks, but Lunars have other decisive boosters

#

HTH + Thunderclap Rush Attack are basically the two truly nonsense solar brawl charms

#

they have many other ways to delete things but the combo there is an essence 1 dirt cheap instagib

#

pay 3 motes to ignore initiative

#

at high essence, get a free withering hit

#

note: doesn't have to be a brawl attack, this works with Solar Melee

#

using this and all the melee "hit 5000 times in a turn" charms to blow their whole mote pool before anyone can even get a chance to do anything is how a good Dawn can solo basically anything in one round, including a circle of other Solars who aren't themselves Solar Melee dawns

next delta
#

Oh, HTH was not rebalanced in Golden Calibration

bleak hazel
#

very little was

#

this is my one and only complaint with it, really

#

even Solars can't fight Solars, so god help the GM

next delta
#

I guess they had a more specific purpose (plus rebalancing would be a lot more work and what they did is already a lot)

bleak hazel
#

Hmm

#

Is "big expensive gambit, seal someone's essence pool so that all their spent motes count as committed until you end the charm" suitable for a 5 dot E4 evocation, do we think

#

Making a big evil needle used to restrain Exalts/Spirits etc.

fierce star
#

I'd give them a method to end the charm themselves in case you tag them with it and they get away

#

but it should be suitably lengthy and a pain in the ass to do

bleak hazel
#

Good point, yes

#

Ideally this does let you stick them in a cell and only worry about normal peak human escape attempts, maybe you break it with a Sorcerous Working or similar

#

(or that lunar charm that lets you discover ways to break curses)

fierce star
#

something like 'This effect can be broken with sorcerous workings or other magic capable of breaking curses', just to cover other potential splats with similar effects

bleak hazel
#

yeah, I have to get slightly more esoteric than the usual "spend lots of willpower" break clause because otherwise they just sit around for a week or two and then heroic willpower their way through the problem

#

but that seems doable

tulip folio
# 
Master Puppeteer's Knife
Cost: 8nm, 1wp
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
Spreading her fingers wide and slashing a sharp object beneath it, the caster undoes the work of lesser necromancers easily.

The necromancer caster cuts the threads that bind necrotic energy into lifeless corpses, rolling an unblockable (Wits + Occult) decisive attack against all undead enemies within a 90 degree arc out to medium range, ignoring cover. Each hit enemy suffers (Intelligence + extra successes) dice of damage, or (Intelligence + Essence + extra successes) for battle groups.

Corpses in the affected area, including undead destroyed by this effect, are purged of residual deathly energy and cannot be raised as undead for the rest of the scene.

Control: The necromancer understands not just the weaknesses of lesser works of undeath but of necromancy itself. She suffers no penalty for Distorting necromantic spells she does not know. In addition, she decreases the difficulty of such actions and sorcerous workings to undo necromantic effects by 1, to a minimum of 1.

Zombies, hungry ghosts, and other mindless or near-mindless undead are treated as having a minor tie of Fear towards the necromancer, and will not willingly approach her unless commanded by another necromancer.

And another old spell.

#

'Hey Iki, this looks like a really bad blasting spell. It doesn't do much that obsidian butterflies doesn't do, except stop further zombies being made'
gestures to 8nm instead of 15sm for butterflies

#

It's efficient and fast

#

This one was kinda tricky as its thing was that it was an Instant-Cast Anti-Zombie spell but it was basicly just anti-zombie.

#

But it was also a pretty iconic one

fierce star
#

yeah, eight sorcerous motes is basically turn-of tier without even needing any previous banked motes. The control effect is also nice, though purely mechanical.

tulip folio
velvet raft
#

Hm. What are good Hearthstone candidates for a lunar manse, now lost miles out into the bordermarches?

fierce star
#

'Zombies, hungry ghosts, and other mindless or near-mindless undead are treated as having a minor tie of Fear towards the necromancer, and will not willingly approach her unless commanded by another necromancer'

tulip folio
fierce star
#

it's where my head first went anyway

#

Gkatheller: do you want canon out of the book ones or custom ideas?

tulip folio
#

...honestly with Iron Necromancy having so few good spells I am dangerously tempted to just translate some of the Abhorson's bells as necromantic spells.

fierce star
#

lol

#

I mean, there is also 'everything sorcery that isn't directly related to things antithetical to necromancy'

#

like, explicilty by the book

velvet raft
#

2-star or 4-star are both cool

fierce star
#

lesse here, we want lunar... beast gem out of core, key to the dream palace out of arms of the chosen

#

man there's not many books with hearthstones in them, huh

velvet raft
#

FWIW if anyone has any ideas that are not technically Lunar hearthstones I'll allow it >_>

#

Just looking for a vibe

tulip folio
# fierce star lol 
Astarael's Call (Void Circle)
Cost: 20nm, 2wp
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
The necromancer calls upon a large bell, Astareal the Weeper, the symbol that even immortality must one day end. Those who hear her cry are drawn deep into death, unable to escape.

The Necromancer rolls a rolling an undodgable (Charisma + Occult) decisive attack against all non-automaton characters within short range, ignoring cover. The caster is automatically hit by this, suffering (Intelligence) dice of lethal damage that ignores Hardness. Each other hit character suffers (Intelligence + extra successes) dice of lethal damage that ignores Hardness, or (Intelligence + Extra Successes + 2x Essence, if the caster was Incapacitated or Killed by this spell). Any enemy that takes 3+ levels of damage from Astareal's call loses a point of temporary willpower. Making this attack does not immediately reset the Necromancer base Initiative. 

While the bell is being rung, the Necromancer may not move herself to a different range band without ending the spell, though she may be conveyed to another range band by other means (atop the deck of a ship, for example).

On the Necromancer's next turn, she may continue casting this spell by rolling another shape sorcery action—maintaining
the spell for another round costs 5 necromantic motes. Each additional round of casting extends the range of the spell by one band, out to a maximum of six. She keeps the successes of her original attack roll, ignoring wound penalties, but rolls damage separately for each new round. If the sorcerer lacks the necromantic motes needed to continue casting this spell or chooses not to continue it, then she immediately resets to base Initiative (if not already lower).

While this spell lasts, characters cannot recover lost health levels within the range of the bell. Any creature killed or destroyed by this spell is immediately returned to lethe.

Control: A necromancer who knows Astarael's Call has a peaceful aura about them, of one that is truly content with the endless flow of life into death and back again. Within short range of her, ghosts feel the spark of life, allowing them to manifest freely even if they lack manifestation. While they remain with her, these ghosts have the sensations they once had in life, allowing them to feel a loved one's embrace or to enjoy food just as they once had. This can be leveraged as if it was a Major Tie on most ghosts.
fierce star
#

Gem of luck fits the 'wyld' vibe some I think?

next delta
#

This is the lunar Hearthstone in essence

Screenshot_20250226-190744.png
fierce star
#

oooh

next delta
#

The funniest one in Essence is the one that makes a weapon too heavy for anyone else to lift

tulip folio
#

There we go. Cheaper and wider area than Death Ray...but you're eating (Intelligence) dice of lethal damage yourself when you cast it so it's a very 'Hey guess what? Everyone's dying, including me!' spell. Gave it a very beefy control effect to make up for the fact you are unlikely to actually cast it often.

velvet raft
#

If it matters, the idea is that this is the hearthstone created by the manse of the Lunar that created Unison from Arms of the Chosen

fierce star
#

Hmm

#

That absolutely feels like it should be greater, and I don't think anything quite fits in the canon set of stones. Empty palace, simhata legions, fortress manse.... Something war related, something about defense feels appropriate for this hearthstone. Something out on the edge of creation, it probably was risen to keep that border safe from Raksha incursions.

tulip folio
#

Anys Syn is very damn funny. She's a founder of the Bronze Faction but is 100% okay with training a solar or lunar just to see if they'd be interesting to train.

fierce star
#

Almost something like the Iron Soul Stone but like, bigger

#

and not wyld-born obviously

tulip folio
# 
Politics play little role in whom Syn chooses as her students, save to the extent her fellow elders request that she mentor their protégés. She has no qualms with training Gold Faction radicals, Immaculate heretics, criminal gods, or demons. While mentoring a Solar or Lunar would be politically problematic, she can’t say she wouldn’t relish the opportunity.
fierce star
#

makes sense

#

her whole thing in ex2 was 'I'm going to teach this immaculate how to do SMAs!' until they exploded

#

well, 'whole thing', there was more to her character than that but

tulip folio
#

She'd be a very funny mentor to have for a solar.

#

"She turned up for a Wyld hunt, realized I sucked at combat and went 'Well, This Isn't Any Fun. We should at least get you to a level where you can put up a decent fight first'."

#

Also: You are an Essence 7 Sid Anys.

#

How do you only have six dice for Bureaucracy?

fierce star
#

she has other people to do the bureaucracy for her?

tulip folio
#

'We need to get Anys to do her paperwork, quickly, someone invent an ink-based martial art so she'll pay attention to it'

velvet raft
#

She's got this great trick called Paperwork-Repelling Glance

#

Where she looks at you in such a way that you know you had better take care of it, or she's going to beat you up

tulip folio
# 
If a client faces legal or bureaucratic obstacles to striking a blow against Perfidious Entities from the Beyond, Daram clears their schedule and works pro bono.

"Now I might just be a simple Lesser Elemental Dragon..."

#

I love just how wholesome Daram is about most things.

# 
Defining Principle: Perfidy from the Beyond must not be allowed to trouble Heaven or Creation.
Defining Principle: Righteousness demands protecting the weak and punishing those who prey upon them.
Major Principle: The law matters, but doing what’s right matters more.
bleak hazel
#

she doesn't actually have Bureaucracy as Caste

fierce star
#

wait

#

wait

#

I just read Anys Syn's elder charm

#

she literally gets a benefit from explaining how she is going to kick your ass lol

bleak hazel
#

she doesn't look like much until you realise that the vast majority of her charms are custom murder machines that fold two or three sidereal charms into themselves and her Elder Move prereqs mean that you can have her use literally any SMA charm you think might be slightly neat

#

big fan of the grandma with a nuclear first strike capability in her right hand and a second strike in her left

bleak escarp
fierce star
#

Oh, hey

#

I remembered that Essence Fever exists and another complaint I have with ex3 lunars, am I a broken record at this point

coral wraith
#

what's that

prisma sun
#

I don't see anything wrong with "You can't just sit there and be normal as a demigod"

fierce star
#

oh no

#

I love essence fever

#

I don't like that essence fever, which is expressed as the inherent drive of the exalt type to do things, for lunars, is defined solely on rage.

#

What do lunars do, as exalted: They get mad. That's what action they are defined by. Getting angry. Not even getting even. Getting mad and doing something about it, but the 'doing something about it' is secondary to the mad being there in the first place.

prisma sun
#

So...?

fierce star
#

This... may be a reaction to ex1 lunars and the shift from them to ex2 lunars? It feels regressive to me, going back to the 'lunars are ultimately all ragebeasts who, deep down, only care about destroying their enemies', which is something ex2 did a lot to get away from

#

I would hav epreferred something riffing on ex2's themes of 'lunars are survivors'; lunars exalt when they survive the worst creatin has to throw at them, and their fever is about survival-at-any-cost. For htem or the people/things they care about, there's a lot you can do with that interpretation I feel like.

prisma sun
#

They do do that though

#

Their whole thing is that Lunars said fuck it and literally forged themselves a new without their incarnae

#

They don't even have castes naturally, they invented it

fierce star
#

They did have castes naturally? Just it was five instead of three. BUt that's not the point; the point is that essence fever is supposed to be, like, the core of what drives an exalted onward. And if it is always rage for every lunar, an unstoppable drive to be mad in the same way solars are driven to act, dragonblooded to become a force of nature, sidereals to fix, alchemicals to help, etc. It paints a negatively one dimensional aspect to what it means to be a lunar compared to the exalted type I fell in love with in ex2.

#

I'm sorry; I guess I am a broken record

#

I'll try not to bring this up in the future, but I also think I've about kvetched all my issues at this point too

prisma sun
#

I'm just not sure how

#

Survival is an active drive

#

Like damn I'm sitting in my house I better

Live

fierce star
#

You also don't tend to attract an exaltation when you're sitting in your house. And like, I'm sitting in my house right now and I'm... I can think of a dozen things I could do right now to make my survival and the surivval of people I care about more likely

#

I could start a garden, I could get in better shape, I could fix some issues around here, I could get more skills, I could teach them first aid, I could run for political office to fix local problems, I could this, I could that

prisma sun
#

Yes but none of that is an adventure where you need to do kung fu

fierce star
#

It could be in exalted!

#

political office especially

prisma sun
#

Essence Fever is sending you on an adventure to do kung fu

tulip folio
#

I think the idea is that rage is a much more narrow area than 'Survival Instincts'

fierce star
#

and, like, additionally, again

tulip folio
#

Fight vs Fight Or Flight.

fierce star
#

sitting in your house is not generallly where you find an exaltation

prisma sun
#

Yes but players can be very boring if you let them

#

Especially when they're god-kings

fierce star
#

and essence fever is hardest at the moment of exaltation and the weeks and months immediately after, where you WILL have pressing survical concerns. And in creation, when you are one of the less than one thousand god-kings that the whole world wants to kill more or less, there are a lot of things that are a threat to your survival that are a kung fu adventure away from trying to solve.

tulip folio
#

It doesn't give a lot for less 'I eat people' Lunars, like the Br'er Rabbit tricksters are harder to work with 'Your exaltation thing is Rage'

#

As I understand the grumbling

fierce star
#

yeah

tulip folio
#

(Also to be frank, like 80-90% of PC exaltations are Angry Time situations regardless of exalt type. XD)

fierce star
#

also not wrong

prisma sun
#

The specific vibe is "you have enemies, now gettem"

#

It's not capital R werewolf the apocalypse Rage

tulip folio
#

Sure but it's...narrow...compared to a lot of other exalts. Like Abyssal Essence Fever cares a lot more about What Your Character Is About, as it's Indulging In Your Worst Impulses, doing great and terrible deeds.

#

(Though I do still think that should be the Infernal Essence Fever, not Abyssal)

fierce star
#

Solars are literally just driven to Go, Do Glorious Things, sidereals to Make Grand Plans, DBs to be a force of nature, alchemicals to help the people around them and their community, all of which are a lot more, like... there's more there than 'get mad and do something about it'

#

you're an exalted, 'doing something about it' is your default state.

prisma sun
#

Then the Solar Essence fever shouldn't exist

fierce star
#

I agree, it should also be something else becuase it's kind of boring but so is everything about solars

#

I'd focus on something involving leadership or glory with them, or maybe a drive to excel at their supernal ability above all else or osmething, there's options there that could make it more interesting

tulip folio
#

A Solar spending weeks working on the Perfect Sword Swing etc

fierce star
#

legit

tulip folio
tulip folio
prisma sun
#

I mean this kills your entire circle

#

If I'm reading it right

#

Which seems like a pretty big downside

tulip folio
#

Well, generally you'd hope your circle would be willing to go 'Oh, they're doing The Thing. We should Not Be There'

bleak hazel
prisma sun
#

You don't actually specify the initial range

bleak hazel
#

"Invincible Sword Princess, the fae are coming, please get on the boat"
"no, I must sowrd, or I would not complete my perfect streak of decapitating every Cataphract I've ever met"

prisma sun
#

So I'm unsure where They Go To Not Die

tulip folio
#

With it growing each time you sustain it

prisma sun
#

That's less bad but it also does limit its usefulness severely I think

#

Which is probably fine

#

Speaking of Necromancy
I realized something funny about Deathlords

tulip folio
prisma sun
#

You should make a spell that's just the thing the Hokage did to Orochimaru

#

That's prime necromancy material

tulip folio
#

I have not watched Naruto 😛

prisma sun
#

Damn

#

But yes also

#

Deathlords don't "count" as Exalted anymore right

tulip folio
#

Yeah, they're just Big-Ass Ghosts

prisma sun
#

Campaign concept

#

A Deathlord realizes that they are now legally able to enter the Jade Pleasure Dome and play the games of divinity

#

If they can snag an invite

fierce star
#

lol

prisma sun
#

Sidreal realizes this and sees that the Loom writing that fate just ends and begins having a non-stop panic attack

bleak escarp
dense verge
#

they are all exalted that died in the usurpation going off the abyssals draft

fierce star
#

they're just not all solars this time around, they're explicitly 'any exalted who died during the usurpation on either side'

#

(Deadcanon: Masky was a deeb)

velvet raft
#

Masky is a dweeb

#

I'mma push him in a locker

bleak hazel
#

Bishop was probably a Siddy because he has made his own SMA

fierce star
#

at least one was implied to be a lunar even back in ex2. I think the dowager?

tulip folio
# 
Astarael's Call (Void Circle)
Cost: 20nm, 2 lhl, 2wp
Keywords: Decisive-only
Duration: Instant
The necromancer calls upon a large bell, Astareal the Weeper, the symbol that even immortality must one day end. Those who hear her cry are drawn deep into death, unable to escape. Astarael begins softly, like a tuning fork lightly struck, but grows, like a pure note blown by a trumpeter of inexhaustible breath, until there is nothing but the sound of the bell in the minds of those who hear it.

The Necromancer rings the bell, rolling an undodgable (Charisma + Occult) decisive attack adding (Essence) successes against all non-automaton characters within short range, ignoring cover. Each other hit character suffers (Intelligence + extra successes) dice of lethal damage that ignores Hardness, or (Intelligence + Extra Successes + Essence) if they have no Positive Intimacies. Any enemy that takes 3+ levels of damage from Astareal's call loses a point of temporary willpower. Making this attack does not immediately reset the Necromancer base Initiative. 

While the bell is being rung, the Necromancer may not move herself to a different range band without ending the spell, though she may be conveyed to another range band by other means (atop the deck of a ship, for example).

On the Necromancer's next turn, she may continue casting this spell by rolling another shape sorcery action—maintaining the spell for another round costs 1 lhl and 5 necromantic motes. Each additional round of casting extends the range of the spell by one band, out to a maximum of six. She keeps the successes of her original attack roll, ignoring wound penalties, but rolls damage separately for each new round. If the sorcerer lacks the necromantic motes needed to continue casting this spell or chooses not to continue it, then she immediately resets to base Initiative (if not already lower).

While this spell lasts, characters cannot recover lost health levels within the range of the bell. Any creature killed or destroyed by this spell is immediately returned to lethe.

Control: A necromancer who knows Astarael's Call has a peaceful aura about them, of one that is truly content with the endless flow of life into death and back again. Within short range of her, ghosts feel the spark of life, allowing them to manifest freely even if they lack manifestation. While they remain with her, these ghosts have the sensations they once had in life, allowing them to feel a loved one's embrace or to enjoy food just as they once had. This can be leveraged as if it was a Major Tie on most ghosts.

Changed this from rolled damage to Paying Health Levels to make it a little less 'Bad roll, killed self' and also made the bonus damage less about 'Yep, I'm dead' and more 'It's extra effective if you have nothing to live for'.

fierce star
#

oh the no positive intimacies thing is SPICY

tulip folio
bleak hazel
#

I'll be honest it's kind of odd to see Big Necromancy returning stuff to lethe as a side effect of the big blasty spells

#

when "the necromancer is doing too much ghost stuff, go sort out reincarnation for all these poor bastards" is one of the standard issue exalt duties

fierce star
#

Just because necromancers don't have to be assholes doesn't mean they're not going to be

tulip folio
bleak hazel
#

sure, but on the big Void Circle rain-o-doom-esque super explosion?

#

pure vibes though, I like the actual idea

tulip folio
#

If that makes sense?

#

(But yeah, part of it comes from the fact it's inspired by a non-exalted necromancy thing, hence the name)

bleak hazel
#

Yeah, I can get behind that

tulip folio
#

...here's an odd one: Are there any spells or charms that make something Be Silent? Like a lot of stealth charms invoke the concept of being quiet but I'm pondering a sorta 'Shut up, no sound allowed' sorta effect. It's a classic of fiction but I can't find an effect that would cause it.

bleak hazel
#

it would be a useful artifact pickup

#

also, a good one for your autobot games

image.png
tulip folio
#

To help stealth or to Make Someone Shut Up.

bleak hazel
#

would learn

#

please make it necromancy, my abyssal needs things to help him with the White Veiling

tulip folio
#

Hahah, I was pondering necromancy because it's one of the bells that inspired the previous spell.

bleak hazel
#

although "everyone shut up" is an Essence 5 Sidereal charm, strangely enough

tulip folio
# 
Dyrim
Dyrim is the Speaker, a musical bell with a clear and pretty tone, which allows speech or makes things mute, and can silence someone if their tongue moves too freely
bleak hazel
#

this one is really long and I'm not actually sure where the E5 juice is

#

maybe I just haven't done enough 3e social

tulip folio
#

I think it's because it's not just 'shut up', it's 'FUCK IT, SCENE OVER'

bleak hazel
#

yeah, clearly not the same purpose as the anti-sound field

#

but it's not the coolest of the Sidereal E5s

tulip folio
#

I think I'd likely make the anti-sound field like 'Things in here can't be heard unless they or the person attempting to listen to them is essence enhanced...and even then they're at - (Higher of 3 or essence)'

#

So you can stop mundane talking

#

but Charm Talking can push a bit through

#

But not unhindered

#

Does that make sense?

bleak hazel
#

yeah, that sounds good

#

I would just do a flat penalty for simplicity though

#

-2 or -3

tulip folio
#

Fair. I guess it depends on what tier I put this.

#

This feels like...Iron tier.

#

It's nice but it's not earth shaking

bleak hazel
#

this sounds like Ivory Circle, yeah

tulip folio
#

...right, ti's Ivory, not Iron in 3e

bleak hazel
#

actually wait

tulip folio
#

I wonder why they made the change

bleak hazel
#

you do have this in Ivory Circle, it's just a little overeager

tulip folio
#

Right. I might try despite that as 'silence' is really not the main point of that spell, just a side effect.

bleak hazel
#

I think I'd make it do one other thing, though

#

so you don't have two buttons, Shut Up and Shut Up Really This Time

tulip folio
#

I was thinking I was going to let it do what the bell can and have 'Shut Up' and 'Give a Voice To Things That Can't Normally Speak'

bleak hazel
#

at last

#

my Sidereal can talk while possessing random household objects

tulip folio
#

So you can have a zombie report orders. It's still a dumbass zombie but you can question if it saw things. XD

bleak hazel
#

Sids can actually talk while turned into birds

#

I'm not sure if Lunars can

#

two transformed exalts
"hey how's it going"
sounds of frantic bird alarm

tulip folio
# 
When used to Wake The Tongue, it allows a creature to speak any language it can understand. This does not give a creature the capacity for great conversation if it lacks the intelligence but an animal or zombie that can understand basic orders can provide halting words and simple recountings of its experiences, while the mute intelligence of a manse or first age automaton would be capable of detailed and complex explanations.
bleak hazel
#

is the last clause there just to allow you to talk to Mew Cai?

tulip folio
#

Mew Cai?

bleak hazel
#

the AI of the manse from Keychain of Creation

tulip folio
#

Hahah, that is valid.

#

The intent was 'A lot of undead can't really talk, either due to degradation or just not having functional tongues'

#

Also notably there's an entire magical material made up of 'sapient souls, imprisoned and unable to talk' 😛

bleak hazel
#

oh yeah, plenty of applications

tulip folio
# 
The Necromancer invokes Dyrim, the Speaker, a musical bell with a clear tone that cuts like a knife.

When the Necromancer casts this spell, they can either Wake Dead Tongues or invoke the Silence of the Grave.

Wake Dead Tongues: A target within Medium Range is granted the power to talk, allowing it to speak any language it can understand until the end of the scene. This does not give a target the capacity for great conversation if it lacks the intelligence but an animal or zombie that can understand basic orders can provide halting words and simple recountings of its experiences, while the mute intelligence of a manse or first age automaton would be capable of detailed and complex explanations.

Silence of the Grave: A target within Medium Range is sentenced to silence until the end of the scene. All sound they would make is negated, unable to be detected by mundane means. However, if the target deliberately makes sound through magically enhanced means (Such as a social charm) or if the being attempting to detect them has magically enhanced senses, there is a chance they may be heard. In such a situation, all actions that rely on sound (Such as an Awareness to hear a sneaking character or a Performance roll to sing) are made with a penalty of -(Higher of 3 or Essence).
#

It's Basicly Two Spells but neither one of them is quite Full Spell on their own and they're thematically linked

velvet raft
# bleak hazel

This doesn't feel Essence 5 but I do love that you can roll to lastword

bleak hazel
#

I feel it has too many deliberate mitigating factors in it to be E5

#

E5 should be SHUT UP, DONE, maybe roll to contest with Defining

tulip folio
#

I think to make it properly E5 it should also do a variation of 'I wasn't here' for everyone in the meeting.

#

Where it Automatically Skips to After the Meeting

#

They're not just silent, they're 'nobody could say anything and everyone went ot where they were going after the meeting'

#

If that makes sense?

bleak hazel
#

the good thing about Sid Bureaucracy is that you absolutely do not need to max it anyway

#

the early charms are so good

tulip folio
#

I mostly just want it on my sid of Underling + Weasel Self Into Any Organization charms.

bleak hazel
#

you can summon a lesser elemental dragon with 4 dots and E2, you really don't need to go to 5/5

tulip folio
#

So I can combo them with the 'Be a Maid' charm and just walk into Literally Anywhere going 'Yep, I'm Just The Help'

bleak hazel
#

and yes, I think literally every sidereal should come out of the box with Terminal Sanction + Underling Invisibility Practice

tulip folio
#

Terminal Sanction looks interesting

bleak hazel
#

unless your charisma genuinely sucks and you could never use the former

#

it's really good, because even if you have zero occult it's a decent replacement for an entire spirit-fighting kit

tulip folio
#

My charisma is...okay. Not spectacular but 'acceptable'

bleak hazel
#

you can just yell GET IN HERE and then kick them to death

tulip folio
#

'Ima shove you in a spirit pokeball'

bleak hazel
#

my current sid is Charisma 5, so he loves it, never even going to need other spirit fighters

#

but I think even if you have like 2 you should still go bureaucracy 3 for UIP + TS

#

UIP is interesting because it doesn't actually need stealth

tulip folio
#

Yeah, it's full Social Infiltration

#

Not Being Solid Snake

bleak hazel
#

it has its own limits but the loudest Sid on the planet can still slap down a resplendent destiny of some poor wretch, mantle up, grab whatever the equivalent of a clipboard is and walk in to most places

#

3m, 1wp and five minutes' prep time tops

tulip folio
#

I'm kinda worried about how a Low Manipulation Sid would go. XD

bleak hazel
#

mine has manip 2

#

he's been doing fine

#

annoyingly if you want to craft you need big charisma, or I'd have a lot of manipulation instead

#

to fuel Lore charms

#

but instead I'm craft + occult + bureaucracy with Charisma

#

re: Underling Invisibility Practice, I've never said the sentence "thank god they have slavery here" before

#

but being literally invisible to anyone who thinks they're better than you solves a lot of the problems of disguising yourself as the most socially puny thing possible

tulip folio
# 
Dyrim's Voice (Ivory Circle)
Cost: 15sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Scene
The Necromancer invokes Dyrim, the Speaker, a musical bell with a clear tone that cuts like a knife.

When the Necromancer casts this spell, they can either Wake Dead Tongues or invoke the Silence of the Grave.

Wake Dead Tongues: A target within Medium Range is granted the power to talk, allowing it to speak any language it can understand until the end of the scene. This does not give a target the capacity for great conversation if it lacks the intelligence but an animal or zombie that can understand basic orders can provide halting words and simple recountings of its experiences, while the mute intelligence of a manse or first age automaton would be capable of detailed and complex explanations.

Silence of the Grave: A target within Medium Range is sentenced to silence until the end of the scene. All sound they would make is negated, unable to be detected by mundane means. However, if the target deliberately makes sound through magically enhanced means (Such as a social charm) or if the being attempting to detect them has magically enhanced senses, there is a chance they may be heard. In such a situation, all actions that rely on sound (Such as an Awareness to hear a sneaking character or a Performance roll to sing) are made with a penalty of -(Higher of 3 or Essence).

Control: A necromancer who knows Dyrim's Voice as a control spell can slice through all troubling sounds. They suffer no penalties from environmental sounds (Such as dry underbrush when trying to sneak, or a bustling market when trying to overhear another).

Distortion (Goal Number: 5): When Dyrim's voice is distorted, it rings against its master's intents. A loud tone echos through the area as the caster is struck mute until the end of their next turn, unable to speak or shape sorcery.
#

Now with control and distortion!

tulip folio
bleak hazel
#

conveniently, them punching through your Somebody Else's Problem field runs directly into the next layer of free sidereal social stealth, the Resplendent Destiny

#

and then you throw some regular charm on there

#

and then if all else fails you can just make a Stealth roll, like a pleb

tulip folio
#

snrk

#

Anyway, I hope the spell is okay. The distortion I'm not 100% sure on but it feels like the distortion is a general 'Urg, that sucks' for both modes without being a complete negation.

bleak hazel
#

I would perhaps make the silence thing also apply to you, or an AOE

#

because the number 1 thing you presumably want to use this for is sneaky fighting

#

and if everyone can hear you crashing around the place it slightly defeats the point of preventing your opponent from yelling

#

oh , I found my favourite E5 sidereal charm

tulip folio
bleak hazel
#

midfight "I must go my people need me"

#

conveniently, this is faster and more reliable as a combat escape than Avoidance Kata, although it takes a little bit of time to sort out afterwards

#

there are about two pages of qualifiers following the bit I posted but they're basically all useful

tulip folio
#

I like the one where you just Skyrim Teleport To Jail.

bleak hazel
#

oh yeah that one's fantastic

#

the issue with Sids is that unlike every other exalt type I can't just throw out half the trees and never look at them again because I don't need my Eclipse to be sneaky or whatever

#

they're all gold

#

so I want every stat

tulip folio
#

I like how so many of them are Weird Trick.

#

There's a lot less 'Double 9s, Double 8s if it's a tuesday and you're in the east'

#

I know the Dice Fuckery is useful and powerful but it's also not cool

bleak hazel
#

I have occasionally wished for more straightforward powers, but that's Sid life

#

and your excellency is god tier

#

so it covers a multitude of sins as long as you have a good number of 5s in your abilities

#

there's a cheap Craft charm that gives you a specialty, in which you waive the cost of reducing TN with your excellencies

#

once you have that you can throw out the equivalent of an 8 mote normal excellency for 3 motes when it's Your Deal, assuming dice pools of 10 each

tulip folio
# 
Dyrim's Voice (Ivory Circle)
Cost: 12sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Scene
The Necromancer invokes Dyrim, the Speaker, a musical bell with a clear tone that cuts like a knife.

When the Necromancer casts this spell, they can either Wake Dead Tongues or invoke the Silence of the Grave.

Wake Dead Tongues: A target within Medium Range is granted the power to talk, allowing it to speak any language it can understand until the end of the scene. This does not give a target the capacity for great conversation if it lacks the intelligence but an animal or zombie that can understand basic orders can provide halting words and simple recountings of its experiences, while the mute intelligence of a manse or first age automaton would be capable of detailed and complex explanations.

Silence of the Grave: An area within Medium Range is sentenced to silence until the end of the scene, affecting an area out to Short Range. All sound within that area is negated, unable to be detected by mundane means. However, if a character in the affected area deliberately makes sound through magically enhanced means (Such as a social charm) or if a being attempting to detect sounds has magically enhanced senses, there is a chance sounds may be heard. In such a situation, all actions that rely on sound (Such as an Awareness to hear a sneaking character or a Performance roll to sing) within the area are made with a penalty of -(Higher of 3 or Essence).

Control: A necromancer who knows Dyrim's Voice as a control spell can slice through all troubling sounds. They suffer no penalties from environmental sounds (Such as dry underbrush when trying to sneak, or a bustling market when trying to overhear another).

Distortion (Goal Number: 5): When Dyrim's voice is distorted, it rings against its master's intents. A loud tone echos through the area as the caster is struck mute until the end of their next turn, unable to speak or shape sorcery.

There we go. Updated.

bleak hazel
#

in combat where you have bigger non-charm dice pools you can actually hit the point where you're throwing Solar power around for half the cost

#

they will crush you with everything else if they're a Dawn carrying around a huge stack of combat charms, sure, but nobody can go "oh, that's just a Sid, I'll run 'em over with an avalanche of dice" like they could in 2e, for instance

bleak hazel
#

Skeletal Horde + this gets you actually functional zombie scouts, which is funny

tulip folio
#

Glad it looks fun. It's inspired by a book series about necromancy as I ran out of '2e Necromancy spells that are not really damn naff' 😛

bleak hazel
#

I have been watching Castlevania and it hasn't made me want to play Abyssals less

tulip folio
#

There is way too many 'Hey, you can Moderately Annoy A Ghost' ones in 2e Iron Circle.

bleak hazel
#

although I do kind of want to see a Sid crash through the window, since everything else in that show is basically 1:1 exalted

#

dedicated Soldier Vamp finishes talking to Dedicated Logistics Vamp and Dedicated Visionary Vamp, dresses up in a full suit of armour and picks up her sword the size of a surfboard, could be Abyssal book chapter fiction

tulip folio
#

Like I can see why this didn't make it to 3e. Unless you've managed to obtain a Deathlord's Feet (Piss off Lover, stay out of this), it's not really worth a full charm worth of exp. XD

image.png
bleak hazel
#

I see your point, although the lack of Essence restriction did immediately suggest sneaking around and shoving nails into First Age coffins

#

surely you can awareness charm your way into locating an achilles tendon through a coffin lid

tulip folio
#

Oh yeah, I think more...this is something that in 3e woudl be a Sorcerous Working.

#

As it's a Super Situational Ritual Effect

bleak hazel
#

yeah

#

this is interesting as one of those spells that exists to enable a very particular kind of Mortal Sorcerer Who Does X

#

rather than an Exalt who can just go "meh, I'm just going to eat the ghost"

tulip folio
#

Like this one that gives you Ghost Bribes.

image.png
#

I turned this one into the Passive Control Effect for Astariel

bleak hazel
#

Lara Croft the patrician tomb sorceror who makes a living stealing bits and pieces from various shadowlands is making great use of her one or two spells

#

her deeb equivalent probably doesn't bother

tulip folio
#

As like...Ghost Bribes are cool but they're likely not worth a full spell

#

When an exalt can just Use Real Social Charms

bleak hazel
#

hmm

#

lara croft tomb robber deeb

#

that sounds like a fun side character

#

not like there isn't a first age tomb every ten feet in Exalted

#

she is even less well liked than your average deeb sorceror but she keeps the Heptagram in odd bits and pieces

tulip folio
#

...god, you know what's kinda sad?

#

With how Naff 2e necromancy is, getting access to First Circle Demon Summoning as a Second Circle Necromancy spell is one of their better Labyrinth circle spells in 2e.

#

Becuase it's still summon demon

#

Lab circle in 2e had 3e Undead Horde.

#

As 3e just lets you Keep Casting to get what in 2e took an entire extra circle of necromancy

bleak hazel
#

my Abyssal had a brief character creation resource issue where he could afford either Skeletal Horde or Thousand Corpse Goliath but not both

#

but the second takes the former as input

#

ended up skipping both and resolving to make my goliaths out of krakens or whatever to use less zombies when I eventually pick it up

tulip folio
#

...yeah, okay. So Skeletal Horde in 3e is 3 different 2e necromancy spells put together.

#

Skeletal Horde, Arisen Legion (Lots of Zombies) and Call the Greater Servitor (Control Average Drill Zombies)

#

The latter 2 of which are Labyrinth tier, not Iron in 2e.

bleak hazel
#

Skeletal Horde is really begging to be made the control spell, to be fair

#

it's so much better when you can just generate a dozen zombies a day

tulip folio
#

Yeah, it really helps my Alch

#

As she doesn't have the Access To Corpses that a lot of necromancers would.

#

Autocthon Cities do not have graveyards.

#

...Skeletal Horde zombies don't keep any of the weapons they had in life, do they?

bleak hazel
#

my current Abyssal is probably going to struggle scraping together thousands of corpses

#

but we'll see how much rampaging Lunar Ghengis Khan ends up doing

bleak hazel
tulip folio
#

Fair. Pondering because the city RiRi is from has Iconic Troops with Iconic Gear.

bleak hazel
#

I would imagine they'd keep versions of that if it would be at all plausible that such weapons actually existed in the ground you're tearing skeletons out of

tulip folio
#

I also imagine there's an amount of 'it's a zombie, it's gunna beat people with whatever it had'

#

The city's main defenders are the Blast Cleaners, guys in heavy suits with high pressure steam guns (Mechanically, they're Firewands but they don't have issues with getting wet). Because the city she's from has a very rare resource in Autocthon - A surplus of water, because they're near the elemental pole of Steam.

# 
The White Petal District is unlike anything else in Ulos-Vos. Fountains and ornamental rivers flow by scenic paths, with false trees standing next to benches upon which bureaucrats and high priests can sit and talk, enjoying all the fruits that descend to them from above. To be sure, they work hard, administering and ministering, innovating and creating… But they live well doing it. Blocks of flats are built into the walls, while a scarce few high offices are afforded the luxury of private homes upon the chamber floor, some even with ponds and moss gardens.

The only Populat to ever see The White Petal District are a lucky few aides, chosen to descend into that paradise to assist one Tripartite or another in their duties. They are not told, upon their selection, that they will never return to the city above. Any request for reassignment will be refused, and an attempt to escape is punishable by death. Thus the luxury of their masters remains a distant question for those above.

Even more secret still, the records of its use hushed up and knowledge of it reserved only for the highest, is the All Purifying Steam Purge. Its control center is buried deep within the Autocrat’s residence, an ultimate security measure and sanction that has only been needed a handful of times. Even the Populat know that The Cap also functions as a shield wall, its great collection bowl able to fold inwards, securing the city below against invasion- But that is not always enough. 

Upon the Autocrat’s command, massive tanks of prepared water are heated far beyond boiling, kept at high pressure until the time is chosen to unleash them. Then, in a screaming, hissing fury, the superheated steam belches forth from hidden vents all throughout The Cap, drowning all within and without in scorching, purifying steam. Sometimes this has been used for good reason, after efforts to evacuate the Populat before annihilating whatever Gremlins or Tunnelfolk threatened the city. And other times, when Populat dissent has reached its own boiling point… It is thought easier to repopulate than negotiate. These purges have slowed the city’s growth over its history, but they are broadly considered necessary evils, and there’s little question that the Olgatory would do so again.
#

And they use this resource wealth for: Corruption!

#

||I'm also 90% sure the GM made the All Purifying Steam Purge as a Boatmurdered joke||

#

Important 3e question: Is the Mask of Winters still illiterate?

bleak hazel
#

no stats this edition

#

Quick Characters don't have ability ratings per se and every big boss is in QC format for ease of play, so it will likely remain unanswered

#

this leads to the slightly wonky outcome of QCs getting withering weapon accuracy on their Decisive attacks, which can be really brutal, but otherwise is very clean

tulip folio
#

I'm going to assume yes until told otherwise 😛

#

Hmmm...Shadow or Void tier for giving a non-sapient undead some brains, I wonder.

#

I'm thinking Shadow, as while it's nice it's hardly game shaking for a zombie or hungry ghost to be capable of Logical Planning.

bleak hazel
#

might finally make the Abyssal medicine capstone less odd

#

gets you a mega...zombie

#

so it swings with 12 dice, which is cute, but hardly Essence 5, and it's still largely an idiot

#

....wait, hang on a second

tulip folio
#

...oh...

bleak hazel
#

a hundred zombies stuck together into a golem counts as an undead, right?

#

I'm pretty sure it does

tulip folio
#

That's scary

lament owl
bleak hazel
#

that thing is way bigger

#

TCGs are legendary size, so they're T-rex or Warstrider tall

#

Juggernaut is a zombie Behemoth, yeah

tulip folio
#

But yeah my thoughts was a 'Make things smart and sane' spell. Awakening a hungry ghost back to the person they were before or making a void-maddended spectre able to be communicated with. Does that make sense?

The sane part was an old 2e spell but felt a bit limited.

bleak hazel
#

to make a Hungry Ghost their old self you need to find a different bit of soul and staple it on again

#

but resetting them to just-created hungry ghost that is rather smarter for a few days would probably do it

tulip folio
#

Not entirely their old self but like 'Not a mindless prisoner of the hunger' was then plan

bleak hazel
#

unsure whether the Thousand Corpse Goliath is an eligible "animated corpse" here or whether "construct" is a different thing

#

keywords please game

#

it does seem like the kind of thing the medicine capstone should do

wise ocean
#

does seem a bit odd that there's then the one obvious choice then

tulip folio
#

...I think I'll have it also turn off derangements for non-undead, for some versatility.

wise ocean
#

also, does a TCG even have a brow

bleak hazel
#

if you want it to

#

the thing is that the only other thing you've got is basic zombies or essence 1 animals

#

none of which would give a deeb or similar any kind of trouble even with the Champion buffs

#

I think you'd want an Ox-Dragon, which is at least fairly tough and can get up to 14 dice on stomps

#

maybe a River Dragon

#

never mind, Tyrant Lizards are Essence 1

#

that renders the Thousand-Corpse Goliath entirely ordinary in statline

wise ocean
#

champion: dinosaur

tulip folio
#

The dinosaur is always the best option

bleak hazel
#

zombie t-rex is I suppose in genre

#

grapple pool isn't amazing even with the champion buffs but it's not dreadful, especially if you can buff the dex with the prereqs

tulip folio
#

Zombie T-Rex vs God T-Rex vs Robot T-Rex pet showdown.

wise ocean
bleak hazel
#

solar familiar T-rex sweeps, it's immune to decisive damage

tulip folio
#

It's immune to...WHAT?

#

How do you even work with the damage system then?

bleak hazel
#

charm turns off when crashed, but it's got many other benefits

#

unlike zombie T-rex, it has a major accuracy boost too, since the zombie is capped at 14 dice

tulip folio
#

So much automatic successes

wise ocean
#

considering how often this comes up, we should really have a "solar moment" sticker on this server or something

tulip folio
#

It's also kinda frustratingly boring bonuses.

#

Nothing cool, just autosuccesses at everything

bleak hazel
#

the Abyssal survival tree does have a similar one, so you would need to have a zombie t-rex familiar to combine the two

#

The medicine one is only 5 charms in, might not be awful to make a mega Goliath at E3 with Apocalyptic

#

Zombie T-rex familiar can basically be your entire PC though, stick Supernal on Medicine and then max out as much of Ride and Survival as you can get

#

You can get all the Survival buffs since they end at E3, not sure about Ride

#

Ah, ride goes to 5 and ends at an E5 transformation sequence that gets you Legendary Size 2, even bigger edition

#

so in fact you can make an entire E5 solaroid based entirely around his cool dinosaur

#

I will have to add up all those potential buffs and see how big it can get

tulip folio
#

What are the 'Must Have' Sidereal charms?

upper stratus
#

uhh

#

that kinda depends on what you're trying to do tbh

#

like do you mean for being good at combat?

tulip folio
#

Sorry, just used to the Sidereal charmset being all over the place. Yeah, functionality for a combat-happy Sid.

upper stratus
#

you want one of the penalty negators for dodge, melee or brawl. if you're going melee or brawl you wanna pick up the 'block unblockables' charm

#

if you're going thrown or archery you want duck fate

tulip folio
#

I was sorta looking at:

Endings Abilities +

Favoured:

Brawl
Dodge
Socialise
Stealth
Performance

Not 100% set on stealth but that be a solid Sid option at all times I guess.

upper stratus
#

that's good

#

there's one really good charm in presence and also in craft for combat but they're not 'necessary'

#

presence gets you mote regen for free forever as long as your character ahs the right personality, + a decent soak charm depending on how charismatic your character is

#

craft 3 gets you this nonsense

image.png
tulip folio
tulip folio
upper stratus
#

yes

# 
Cost: —; Mins: Presence 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Sidereal draws power from triumph, shaping the
world through dominance and force.
The Sidereal gains motes equal to the 10s on persuade
and threaten rolls she makes with any Ability and attack
rolls against nontrivial enemies that align with a Major
or Defining Intimacy of courage, recklessness, audacity,
or anger. This can’t exceed the number of motes spent
enhancing the roll, and it doesn’t stack with similar
effects that grant motes.
When the Sidereal upholds such an Intimacy, she may
gain five motes in place of the Willpower she’d normally
receive (Exalted, p. 169).``` presence gets you this which is more of a gamble but can save you more motes overall
#

you know if im doing clashes with a 21 dice pool im gonna roll. some 10s

#

it's the reason why my sid has presence 3. now it can talk good

tulip folio
#

I'm not used to craft charms that do interesting things rather than just talking about making artifacts

upper stratus
#

sidereal craft charms are fun instead

tulip folio
#

Is that allowed?

upper stratus
#

and socialize is pretty closely tied to manipulation

#

for sidereal charms i mean

#

since you mention having low manip but socialize is on your favored lsit

tulip folio
#

Fair. I was looking at it for the charm that lets you just Become A Maid

#

To combo with Underling Invisibility.

upper stratus
#

you can just use a resplendent destiny for that

#

that's what i do at least. it's worked out

tulip folio
#

nods
I might work out a different favoured then. Or adjust from 'decent charisma' to 'decent manipualtion'

upper stratus
#

negative character arc

tulip folio
#

I'd been looking at Charisma because it's good for Beuro/Medicine

#

Terminal Sanction/Smooth Transition looks good

upper stratus
#

i'd nab peacable conclusion just for the flavor if it wasn't for the smooth transition prereq

tulip folio
#

...also, did Sids lose necromancy in 3e? I can't find the necromancy charm for them in their spellcasting charm list.

upper stratus
#

necromancy not introduced until after sid release

#

they can get first circle

#

from abyssals draft

image.png
tulip folio
#

Ah, there we go.

#

Sorry, used to the Alch book spelling out their access to Necromancy.

tulip folio
upper stratus
#

i have cha 2 med 1 i just wanna help people die peacefully

tulip folio
#

Makes sense

upper stratus
#

if i wanna kill an undead in medium range i will walk up to them and hit them with a stick

prisma sun
#

If I wanna kill an undead in medium range I will first go to extreme range

velvet raft
#

Hm, what is Sidereal Brawl about, btw?

upper stratus
#

sacrificing and accepting violence and making Tough Choices

spring lynx
#

also, punching people. a lot.

tulip folio
#

I'd be worried if sid brawl was not about punching people.

spring lynx
#

it's also about grappling, tbf

velvet raft
#

Aye, I figured the punching part; just given Sid trees tend to be very themed I figured there would be a core concept, as well. Thanks.

spring lynx
#

but yeah it's a lot of "i am punching you. would you rather take more damage or give me extra advantage in the fight?"

velvet raft
#

Aha

spring lynx
#

there's also one for punching through cover

velvet raft
#

oooh

spring lynx
#

one of the last ones is attacking everything in short range, and then they get to choose if they'd rather take the damage or give you (their essence) initiative. every enemy you hit makes this choice independently, and you start with the one taking the most.

upper stratus
#

quite fond of these

image.png
velvet raft
# spring lynx

I like this because you can imagine it in both an esoteric and in a very physical way

spring lynx
#

oh wait sorry, i misspoke

#

they don't get to decide if they take the damage

#

they get to decide if you get -2 tn to your damage roll on them

velvet raft
#

Unrelated: is there a good list of eclipse charms anywhere?

next delta
# bleak hazel

It does seem weird for E5. But the tie of obsession you get to the champion is cute

next delta
velvet raft
#

Ah, found that one already, was hoping for something more. Thanks though.

upper stratus
#

@tulip folio since you've been converting necromancy spells and presumably been reading through a bunch of them do you happen to know if there's any that create a shadowland

tulip folio
#

A very tiny one

upper stratus
#

👁️

#

im interested in this for narrative purposes

tulip folio
# 
Blessure of Bloody Respite
Cost: 13nm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: One week
In profane mockery of the gods, the necromancer rips open the flesh of reality, shaping this wound into a temporary shelter.

The necromancer opens a bleeding fissure in the air at a point within short range. Those with her permission may pass through into a sanctum like a god’s, but with walls of polished bone and fountains of spiritual gore. This space has room to hold (Essence x5) guests comfortably, though it has no amenities. Its interior count as a shadowland, protecting ghosts from the light of day and rendering them material, though it doesn’t open into the Underworld. It persists as long as the necromancer resides there, and for (Essence) days thereafter; beyond that, the wound in space knits itself closed. Characters and objects left within are deposited safely outside.

A necromancer who chooses her location carefully may roll (Wits + Occult) when casting the spell to establish the difficulty to notice it, but this suffers a −2 penalty from the blessure’s ever-weeping blood. 

Control: As a ritual, the necromancer may cast this spell upon a coffin, casket, or similar vessel meant for the dead, creating a blessure within that travels with her. If she stays in one place too long, such as when sleeping, the air begins to bleed, lightly scoured by her sheer presence.

Distortion (8): A rival necromancer may force open the portal to the hidden refuge for up to (his Essence) minutes.
#

You make a tiny extraplanar one

upper stratus
#

oh wait this is in 3e already? oops

tulip folio
#

Oh, I thought you meant 'in 3e'

next delta
#

I think Shadowland creation in 3E would be via a necromantic working. Or, uh, a high-effort manual method

prisma sun
#

manual input required

tulip folio
#

There's a 2e spell that makes Functionally A Shadowland

#

And it's actually pretty easy, being Iron circle

#

Gives you a One Week Temporary Shadowland

#

Though it's not technically a shadowland in that people can just Walk In And Out.

next delta
#

Given how Shadowlands form, I'd probably let a player do an occult roll to make one if they ritually sacrifice people, or not roll if they just kill a bunch of people. With necromancy maybe not requiring death?

tulip folio
#

Without the whole complex bullshit of 'how to get in and out'

next delta
#

You can just walk in and out of Shadowlands in 3e

#

Which side of Creation you show up in just depends on when you do it

tulip folio
next delta
#

Oh. Weird way to do it 2e lol

tulip folio
#

2e had an entire spell for just 'Look, getting in and out is Less Hassle'

image.png
#

...also, man, I forgot that 2e necromancy has one really powerful Iron spell, mostly in a 'Look, we're not telling you that you can't do it' way.

next delta
#

Essence x 5 minutes is actually pretty short if you want to move a lot of people through

next delta
tulip folio
# 
WALKING WAR MACHINE
Cost: Varies
Target: One undead creature or necromantic automaton 

Uncanny as ghosts and zombies are, they do not inspire as much sheer terror as the undead siege engines employed by the Deathlords. A necromancer can create these horrors with this spell… and a suitable supply of corpses. Necromancers also call this spell Iron Reanimation. The character must fi rst construct (or oversee the construction of) the monstrosity, with an extended (Intelligence + Medicine) roll to represent the labor of cutting and stitching together the bodies. 

The Storyteller may also ask for suitable (Intelligence + Craft [Varies]) rolls if the construction involves wood or metal bracing, built-in blades, alchemical treatments or other unusual construction techniques. The difficulty of the roll depends on the size and complexity of the weapon. For instance, a spine chain (see Exalted, p. 315) calls for one success per two segments of its body. Animating the monster then costs four motes per success required to create it. Walking war machines serve their creator to the best of their limited intelligence.

A skilled necromancer can craft a nigh-limitless range of war machines. Full descriptions of the options fall beyond the scope of The Black Treatise, but the spine chain is a good standard for their power. See The Compass of Celestial Directions, Vol. IV—The Underworld for descriptions of other horrors in the Deathlords’ arsenals.
#

'Make literally anything as long as it's a necrotech monster and the GM agrees'

#

Also: With 3e being really heavier on 'Look, deathlords are Big Ghosts but they're Ghosts, they don't have Every Solar Charm backing them up', some of these spells should likely avoid being translated. XD

#

'I pokeball faffle'

#

Now, there's a solid chance with his willpower 10 he'd pass...but...

wise ocean
#

ah yes, the c'tan

tulip folio
#

...can't Sids increase their Effective Essence and get Basic Tier Necromancy?

next delta
#

The fact it says "the ghost's player" for the Willpower roll makes me giggle. I assume it is standard templating for 2e, but it makes me think the GM goes "ok, what is my willpower stat?"

tulip folio
#

...I do like Crystal Ghost Shard as a spell.

#

It turns you into a ghost.

#

In the less permanent way than most people become a ghost

#

But it lets you send your soul on Ghost Adventures.

#

To spy on things or infiltrate ghost meetings

bleak hazel
#

Sids can reach effective E7 with a martial arts form, E8 with one particular greater hearthstone and an applicable big intimacy

tulip folio
bleak hazel
#

Using Soulfire Form to make a really big magma kraken sounds funny

#

for my next trick I summon Elden Beast

tulip folio
#

Denying the call is also an interesting on that really treads on the edge of the line of what exalted rules say is forbidden.

#

It's Resurrection of the Recently Dead...very briefly.

#

You get (Essence) turns and then you're Proper Ded

next delta
#

How long can you be dead for?

tulip folio
#

Up to 1 minute

#

So it's 'This guy just died, I'll give him enough time for a quick conversation'

next delta
#

Ah, I think that's far enough away from resurrection to be safe

tulip folio
#

It makes the guy a Creature of Darkness but not dead during those (Essence) turns.

#

As you're actively Fighting The Concept Of Death to keep him about a hair longer

next delta
#

Most of the time, you probably aren't in-universe medically dead when you hit death conditions in RPGs

tulip folio
#

Reaping the Fallen is just Flat Forbidden Due To Balance Reasons.

next delta
#

lol

tulip folio
#

From being converted to 3e

#

You gain 1 mote whenever someone within a mile of you dies.

next delta
#

lmao, that's a huge range

tulip folio
#

In mass combat, you gain motes each turn equal to the size of units involved in mass combat.

#

Which is just 'No, you're not allowed to liek Double Mote Regen during mass combat, that has balance issues'

#

It seems to exist like 99% for 'The abyssal's forces are butchering the town but we don't want the dawn to walk over him, so he gets Infinite Motes'

next delta
#

Getting motes when battlegroups lose magnitude or nontrivial characters die could be a reasonable adaptation

tulip folio
#

...fucking spiteful passing.

# 
SPITEFUL PASSING
Cost: 1m
Target: Area
This spell has special timing rules. The character can cast it as a reflexive Shape Labyrinth Circle Necromancy action that takes 0 ticks. After that, the Cast Necromancy action takes just a single tick. It is the last action the character ever takes.

When a necromancer with this spell knows he’s about to die anyway, he can invoke the Void and turn his Essence against itself. His body implodes into a vortex of darkness that swiftly expands again into a sucking whirlpool. Everyone and everything caught within a number of yards equal to the suicidal necromancer’s Essence is swept into the black vortex and disappears.

One can escape this fate with a perfect dodge. The whirlpool cannot be parried or soaked, however, even by other perfect effects. After three ticks, the vortex drains away, leaving nothing behind.
#

You're just being a sore loser

bleak hazel
#

A lot of mote regen moves in newer splats have a "this doesn't stack with other sources of mote regen" clause for obvious reasons

next delta
#

It just obliterates everyone without a perfect defence within Essence yards? That's a wild spell

#

Is Labyrinth tier 3 necromancy?

tulip folio
#

Tier 2

#

Tier 3 has 'THIS IS NOT EVEN MY FINAL FORM!'

next delta
#

I guess you have to die. Would be pretty lame for the GM to use it on you though lol

bleak hazel
#

There's actually a SMA form to get you up to 8 motes/round regen to go with your other Sid efficiency tools, but that triggers only when fighting in a greater demense that happens to be yours

#

7 motes in a normal greater demense, which is probably more applicable since evil dark lords like those

tulip folio
# 
BIRTH OF SANITY’S SORROW
Cost: 10m, 1 permanent wp
Target: Caster
Only the Neverborn themselves can tutor a necromancer in this spell. All other attempts to teach it result in failure, and committing it to paper results in gibberish.  The character must have the insanity, influence and raw power to approach the tombs of the Neverborn that drift within the Mouth of the Void in Stygia, constantly devoured by the Abyss but never diminishing. There, the necromancer communes with one of the chthonic entities, and together, they devise her personal expression of this spell. The result comes from the terrifying imagination of a brilliant necromancer and the unknown, potentially limitless powers of an insanely malefic dead god.

Birth of Sanity’s Sorrow has special timing rules. The character can cast it as three reflexive Shape Void Circle Necromancy actions that take 0 ticks, regardless of previous actions or Charms used. She may do so, however, only when she is reduced to the Incapacitated health level—not before. When she does, her body swells and becomes the monster she and her Neverborn master devised. That creature has these qualities:

• Adding (Essence) to Strength and Stamina.
• (Essence x 6) -0 health levels and a single Incapacitated level.
• The cost of any Charm she knows becomes 1m; she may also substitute 1m for 1wp when invoking Charms or Combos.
• Three great powers. These should cost between 5m and 10m and be vastly impressive. Imitating existing Labyrinth Circle and Void Circle spells are possibilities, as are unique powers devised between a player and Storyteller.

A necromancer destroyed while wearing her Birth of Sanity’s Sorrow form dies in a remarkable explosion (or series of explosions) of Essence and gore. Oblivion swallows her soul irrevocably and without exception. Should the character survive the battle, she returns to her original shape at the end of the scene, and the spell burns itself from her memory. She can never cast it again.
#

The 3rd circle version of the 'Wait, I'm not dead yet, I have a trick!'

#

Where you go 'Wait, I have a resident evil boss second phase!'

bleak hazel
#

Casting 3e BOSS is mandatory if you want to reach the legendary appearance 11 Abyssal

#

since one of the second phase modules you can pick is "+2 appearance"

tulip folio
#

Hahah

#

...right, I forgot that 2e Abyssals had a spell that could Defeat Authocthon's Barrier Into Autobot City.

#

Black Faith

next delta
tulip folio
#

But if you ever tried the GM would just kill your character.

#

Because fuck you

#

Black faith has you leap into oblivion and if you do a cool enough swan dive to please the neverborn they evaporate your death before the rest of you, making you retroactively not have died.

#

So you wrongwarp to anywhere, regardless of any protections it has against magic intrustion

#

If the GM thinks that letting you teleport there would be disruptive to his game though, the neverborn just let you complete the dive and you make a new character.

next delta
#

lmao

#

Though, now you have an excuse for why an abyssal is in autocthonia

tulip folio
#

'I wrongwarped'

next delta
#

I imagine it's pretty hard to even find out about its existence from the creation side though

bleak hazel
#

Stock Isekai plot where an Abyssal accidentally on purpose runs in front of truck-Cthulhu and wakes up in a new world

spring lynx
#

eh, they know autocthonia existed

next delta
#

I imagine even that's partially lost knowledge?

#

I get the impression he didn't really say goodbye either lol

bleak hazel
#

alternatively:

next delta
#

lmao

wise ocean
next delta
#

From everyone else in Creation's perspective, the two scenarios are indistinguishable

wise ocean
#

Necrolord Dril

tulip folio
#

A lot of 2e necromancy spels are either 'do minor shit with ghosts' or 'do shit for boss fights that are not super practical for player characters'

#

Like Void Circle Necromancy has no less than 3 'Let me assume a new phase boss fight mode' spells

#

Depending on if you want Meat, Fire or Mech

wise ocean
#

Can you chain all three into each other and then add on "leave Exalted and play an Eidolon encounter"?

tulip folio
bleak hazel
#

"actually we are now playing a completely different game of my choice" is a Sidereal Martial Arts capstone but this was back in 2e when Solaroids couldn't learn the second half of every SMA, a far better system

#

so abyssals can't use that

#

oh no, wait, old nonsense Eclipse caste

#

technically possible

tulip folio
#

...I will say, I do appreciate how 3e turned most of the 'raise zombies' into a single spell you can just repeatedly cast for more zombies.

#

As there is like 6 'raise progressively more zombies' spells in 2e

bleak hazel
#

ah, that SMA has another boss form

fierce star
#

A lot of old sorcery and necromancy spells are honestly better done as examples of workings in ex3 I feel like