Exalted

[tulip folio]

If you don't mind a silly question - What's your plan for when attacks start happening?

You're pretty good at 'dodging attacks' but don't seem to have much active actions.

[upper stratus]

unweaving bolt bestie

[coral wraith]

not a fighter, don't need to be, but mostly stand back and let my Retainer + summoned demons handle things and throw Unweavings

[upper stratus]

rahh

[coral wraith]

I'll pick up real deal offensive spells later

sid XP will help with that

[upper stratus]

sorcery academy says: remember! it's always ok to friendly fire your demons with death of obsidian butterflies

[coral wraith]

throw some butterflies at people. no big deal

[coral wraith]

[tulip folio]

It might be worth picking up with these stats, at a later point, war dots.

Demons make for good battle groups

[coral wraith]

oh true

[tulip folio]

And your stats line up well with 'Bossing People About In War' (Not Rally but hey, can't have everything)

[coral wraith]

weaver of mysteries goes pretty hard with that

[tulip folio]

Ah yeah, Alchs have a similar one for 'flurry magic and something else'

My alch is very much a fan of it

As she can Obsidian Butterflies + Have her guys volley fire the remnants.

[coral wraith]

excellent

later on i can also summon the judge

[tulip folio]

Implacible Justicar is eternally fun.

'This guy is zooming off at stupid speed in a first age chariot!'
judge becomes the flash to catch him

...anyone know if Poison is any good in 3e? In 2e it was kinda anemic due to basicly everyone having immunity to it as a very early charm.

[upper stratus]

not everyone has that shit

so it's nice

if your ST follows ST book advice (which like. there's a lot and i can't fault anyone for missing it) QC opponents should be built with weaknesses to balance their strengths rather than in a more "player character way" where you know everything that can threaten you and go out of your way to get every counter you can

which is to say the games assumptions hinge on the ST choosing not to give everyone you meet the eat poison perfectly charm

[tulip folio]

nods

Pondering due to Toad's other half next to 'be a tanky fucking cane toad' is 'oh and do some poison shit when people try to hit you with golf clubs'

[upper stratus]

in like a real sense it's bad game design in the sense that the balance relies on a vague social contract but you gotta make do

[tulip folio]

Also staring at this.

...Swaying Grass is also a tempting martial art.

Swaying Gass/Toad Style/??? (Not sure. Pondering a mix of tanky and dance-y for a character with high app, low dex)

[upper stratus]

i got a solar with swaying grass in my game with a devious combo

perfromance charms is now combat charms

[tulip folio]

Nice. I was pondering comboing it with:

So as long as it's an Intimidating Dance, she can Drain An Init

[upper stratus]

no, inspire rolls are a distinct thing form threaten and instills

[tulip folio]

...damn similar words.

Aww

I guess I'm glad I found that out before I tried it.

Part of why I was looking at is is because this Sid calculates her Evasion with App, rather than Dex, so something to line up well with a solid app like performance seemed fun.

[upper stratus]

if you got good app why would you wanna replace it with strength

[tulip folio]

...I was under the impression it still let me have Optional Hideous even if I was using App, and drain init.

[upper stratus]

so my reading here is

She Joins Battle with ([Appearance or Manipulation] + Performance), which also counts as a dance-based inspire roll

it is a Join Battle roll and so only Join Battle roll stuff works with it

it just happens to also count as an inspire

[tulip folio]

nods
I think I might scrap that charm then.

I still like the vibe of swaying grass/it adds things that Toad Style won't (As Toad tends to be more focused on tankiness and being toxic)

I should likely avoid trying to get Too Many Martial arts. 2 + Brawl is likely a lot already.

As she'd likely try to pick up a Sid Martial Art later.

...Ways of Exaltation feels really abusable. I'm not 100% sure how but I'm sure it can be utterly silly.

[upper stratus]

it's "free" dice

[tulip folio]

Oh yeah, it's more 'I don't know the stat/skill alignments for Every Single Exalt Subtype to know what is the best/silliest there'

...I think for this character, Adamant Caste would be best.

Appearance, Perception, Strength + 1 Free Pick (So Stamina most likely)

[upper stratus]

you do need to have met the type of thing you want to imitate

[tulip folio]

goes to bang on the seal to Autobot city, screaming 'Let Me In, I Need To Powergame!'

But yeah, you're right. I'd need to track down an Adamant Caste. Which is...tricky...

[upper stratus]

the dice are nice but sincerely i am more interested in the impersonation potential and also stealing greater sign of mercury from the journeys squad

[tulip folio]

Not impossible, as 3e makes Alchemicals a lot more available in Creation.

But not easy.

[upper stratus]

why yes, hello fellow deebs from the dynasts im infiltrating. i am also a deeb as you can see from my anima and the elementaly themed special effects on my charms

[tulip folio]

Yeah. It would be good for my character with her 'Hey, your skin appears to be literally made of jade, can you explain?'

Just throwing dirt around and going "EARTH CASTE!"

[upper stratus]

oh my avoidance technique? the air aspected stealth charm that makes me vanish into smoke? very elementally themed. it's a legitimate DB technique as you can tell from the air theming. and nothing else

[tulip folio]

'Hello fellow lunars' turns into a crow, avoids questions about if they can turn into Any Other Animals

[upper stratus]

look

some lunars never do heartsblood hunts

crow's my designated shape

im a vegetarian okay? stop asking questions

actually feathered cloak trick lets you turn into any corvid so it's like. uhh collecting shapes? yea look at all these birds i can turn into.

[tulip folio]

"Umm...I've got bureaucracy favoured, is a Lawyer Bird acceptable GM?"

[upper stratus]

there's more corvids than y ou might think!!

magpie

[tulip folio]

As an Australian, I'm not allowed to turn into my Natural Predator.

[upper stratus]

.. magpies?

[tulip folio]

Swooping season is very dangerous!

I'm more worried about magpies than I am spiders

[upper stratus]

whatever. go Bold Filcher

[tulip folio]

Hahahah

...here's a silly question: What happens if your Overwhelming ends up higher than your actual base damage?

As that seems like it could happen with an Endings Sid and some martial arts

[upper stratus]

oh i know actually

nvm that's not scary at all

it's the minimum damage of attacks with that damage. if your damage is lower, it gets higher

[tulip folio]

nods

[upper stratus]

that seems. less likely than you think though

but it does mean that if like. my character with a roughly 12 OVH most of the time. im not gonna bother with withering damage boosters if im fighting soaks mcgee

[tulip folio]

So if you've got your artifact dagger with and 1 strength and some sid turns up and adds +10 reliable, you're looking at 13 damage pool even if you would have normally rolled 11 from weapon + strength.

[upper stratus]

extra successes come into play too

[tulip folio]

Also: I'm sure my perspective of what is 'normal' overwhelming is being warped: How much is a 'normal'

Amount of charm-boosted overwhelming?

As I have the Endings +essence to overwhelming bouncing about my head and I'm going 'that can't be a normal amount', that's their Fancy Caste Trick

As looking at this my Sid can have...Overwhelming 10 with an unarmed attack at E2.

[upper stratus]

adding big number (like 3-5) is usually only for like oine attack rather than stuff that's scene long and also more common among deebs

[tulip folio]

nods

[upper stratus]

the example of my sidereal is that it can do that shit for the whole scene

form up + anima bonfire = we whelm

[tulip folio]

Makes sense

[upper stratus]

solar charms don't interact with vh as much as they're special boys who just make a big dice pool to blow through soak or have means to reduce effective soak

[tulip folio]

I'm looking at Drowning Maiden Form + Endings Anima + Trouble The Still Pond from Toad for 20 damage, 10 overwhelming when I hit E2.

[upper stratus]

is that with brawl tricks or whatever

[tulip folio]

Trouble The Still Pond has (Stamina) overwhelming, Drowning Maiden adds 1/2 Str, rounded up (So 3) and Endings Anima adds Essence (So 2)

So they'd be Overwhelming 6 with Normal Punches and Overwhelming 10 when they use Body Press.

[upper stratus]

yipppeee

[tulip folio]

Drowning Maiden looks like a Generally Good Form Charm. Nothing too weird but a lot of general 'Look, just fight better'.

[upper stratus]

just brawl

[tulip folio]

Actually, a silly question on taht front.

Is the Brawl Excellency a Brawl Charm?

As the form takes '4 brawl charms' as prereqs

And I know in 2e excellencies were themselves charms but the formatting in 3e is different

They're a charm bonus obviously but they're not formatted like a charm

[upper stratus]

excellencies are charms

i reckon?

id on't knwo the -intent- was to make them count towards that kinda stuff though

core section on excellencies does format it like a charm

there's nothing in the entire section that calls excellencies charms but then the example is formated like a charm

[tulip folio]

Fair, the sid formatting is rather different.

[upper stratus]

and outside core none of splats give an eample format like this

[tulip folio]

I think I'm going to assume yes because they give a Charm Bonus and are in fact the source of charm bonuses.

[upper stratus]

probably because it's useless and more confusing

[tulip folio]

It would be weird if the cornerstone of charm bonuses wasn't a charm

[upper stratus]

sometehing giving charm bonuses does not make it a charm

spells that give dice bonuses count towards the cap cause magic but they aren't charm

[tulip folio]

True but I think the Most Common and Universal Thing that gives charm bonuses should likely be a charm or the bonus type is badly named. XD

But yeah, I'll have to ask the GM.

Or just take More Brawl Charms so it doesn't matter either way.

[upper stratus]

core phrases it like this and then also gives the example. it's also in the Charm chapter. there's no definite evidence eithe way

core book moment

[tulip folio]

Hmm...Unobstructed Blow looks nice but I'd need to pick up a parry penalty reducer to learn it and I'm more dodge than parry. Maybe for later.

Speared Boar Struggle looks very fun. A counterattack with non-charm successes, if I'm willing to Take A Hit On The Chin.

...oh no, Iron Brute Fist is the return of MDV: Fist.

A counterattack to people trying to talk to you.

[upper stratus]

MARS: are you ready to eat shit for destiny soldier?
sidereal: you made us the squishiest exalt
MARS: WRONG ANSWER

[tulip folio]

You are correct but also: The capstone to toad style is a 1/scene perfect soak.

Who needs def if you've got a perfect soak to make up for it? 😛

Man I love how rare 3e made perfect defences.

And how hard to repeatedly pull off

[upper stratus]

the decisive attack

[tulip folio]

That's fair. Taking it right on the chin might put a dampner on the init.

[tulip folio]

Yay, the GM for the alch game added another machine spirit to the list for summoning. Design Weavers. Aka: Pattern Spiders but Autobot City version. They maintain Autobot Cities loom replacement. Have to check out Pattern Spider statlines.

[bleak hazel]

For most characters, Moonsilver or Starmetal alchemical or Full Moon Lunar

Dex + one other occasionally combat relevant stat

and yes, WoE is nuts, it's about 60% of the reason I tolerate the annoying compatibility issues of Prismatic

[tulip folio]

Makes sense. I'm app for dodging and strength for punching so my needs are a bit different but that makes sense.

[bleak hazel]

If you're relatively soak-y I recommend Hostility Acceptance, it's deceptively strong with a soak build because it deducts levels rather than dice and does so post-soak

so they need a lot of overwhelming or equivalent to actually reliably chip you down

[tulip folio]

I'm a passive soak 15/with form 20, which seems for a Sid to be pretty soaky.

[bleak hazel]

Yeah, that's plenty

Soak has diminishing returns, because after a while most people are on Overwhelming no matter what, but with 20 soak a strength 5 character hitting you with an artifact weapon is going to be as soaked as reasonably possible unless they have an unusual number of withering damage boosters that aren't overwhelming or post-soak

[tulip folio]

Makes sense

Is that where that Sid 'Increase the TN of damage you suffer' charm shines? Still working vs post soak and overwhelming?

[bleak hazel]

Situational, but very good in a pinch

Hostility Acceptance knocking several flat levels of damage off the final result is a extremely good because ideally they're not rolling that many dice in the first place

+TN is usually for decisive hits where they're not doubling 10s so +2TN takes them down to 1 damage per five dice on average

[tulip folio]

Cool. Toad + Swaying Grass + Brawl should be fun.

[bleak hazel]

Remember brawl moves are only compatible with martial arts if they have the Versatile tag

Luckily that includes the short tree that goes Hostility Acceptance Technique -> Dead Spouse Defence, for an extra perfect

[bleak hazel]

I only just realised that the example they provide for an Excellency doesn't explain what an excellency does

sure, the explanation is just above, but wow did they get better at formatting with deebs

[velvet raft]

Now thinking about how Luna is Gaia's shore-leave spouse

[velvet raft]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vRAgzbarrCf1cpA_ASXZ2FOrWA9zjrL7__TkyAcIvxY/edit?usp=sharing Finished the dumb Solar I was toying around with

(It's V2 because it's a reworking of a character I very briefly played in 2021 but never got out of my head)

[bleak hazel]

ah, the guile 1 dawn caste

classic

"defining tie of ambivalence" is extremely funny

[velvet raft]

She does not believe in having manipulate dots

If she could she would have 0

(I'm not 100% attached to the Abhorrent Reaper's Fang for a Hearthstone but it seemed generally appropriate for the woman who created Unison)

[bleak hazel]

well, you have the Heaven and Earth Gauntlets, Rampage Berserker Attack and Heaven Fury Smite, so there's not a huge amount of point discussing the actual build because you can swing once and shift initiative by about 50 before immediately cashing it all in

although no Thunderclap Rush Attack, so it is theoretically possible for someone to take a turn ahead of you

maybe

[velvet raft]

FWIW I'm more interested in the H&G charms, I have come to agree that the passive should be changed

[bleak hazel]

this build leans heavily towards running at literally anything in the game, evaporating it with one punch and then hoping this resolves the situation

[velvet raft]

This is true

[bleak hazel]

90% of the time this will resolve the situation because nobody really has two characters who can threaten a Dawn around on short notice

[velvet raft]

Although a bit held back, I suspect, by my decision to prioritize stamina

(A bit)

[bleak hazel]

your brawl dice cap is only 2 dice under max, you'll live

[velvet raft]

I like dawns, it's my tragic flaw

Creon was unable to admit he was wrong about anything, and I like Dawn Caste exalted

[bleak hazel]

if enemy has big dice pool and a clash build, Fivefold Fury Onslaught so they can't clash them all, if enemy has normal dice pool then Rampage Berserker Attack to win instantly

this is a more reasonable dawn than most despite the absurdly meta artifact setup, because it is theoretically possible that someone may hurt them with some form of sharp bladed implement

[velvet raft]

I think there's some chance of running into issues with hardness or very high soak? Maybe?

it's funny how I'm arguing for flaws in the build

[bleak hazel]

meh, you have Solar Brawl levels of overwhelming and a successful RBA puts you up to like 40-50 init instantly

Brawl sacrifices the basically unbreakable pseudo-perfect defence of Solar Melee to scream the word DAMAGE over and over and over again

you will not lack for that

[velvet raft]

(I had to choose between Wind and Stones Defense and Thunderclap Rush Attack, and I just enjoy the Brawl onslaught stuff.)

(So the only defensive charm in Solar Brawl won out >_>)

[bleak hazel]

well, there's also Reckless Fury Discard

[velvet raft]

Oh true

[bleak hazel]

but yeah, just lacking TRA makes it vaguely possible that the GM may be able to pose an interestng challenge to you, so go wild

you will ride roughshod over everything until someone manages to catch your first gigantic fist

[velvet raft]

lol

I should probably actually write up the backstory I have in mind since I'm honestly more pleased with that than with the specifics of the mechanics

She is the tallest half elf

[bleak hazel]

my favourite solar brawl setup is the Crashing Wave Throw tree

[velvet raft]

I really like the Onslaught stuff and I would love it if there was more of that

[velvet raft]

I know I missed a few things from it, those would probably be first-priority charm-wise

[bleak hazel]

this move costs 1 mote

infinite throw combo

[velvet raft]

The Air Juggle

Solar brawl is really just one of my favorite charmsets

It's got a fair amount of variety and it's genuinely exciting

[bleak hazel]

it is the only solar combat suite with juice, yeah

[velvet raft]

Throw seems fun too

[bleak hazel]

going T-rex bowling and then air juggling the tyrant lizard's t-rex rider is a good time even if it's a little much for 90% of opposition

[velvet raft]

Melee is just sort of "you are good at swords", Archery is just sort of "you shoot good"

[bleak hazel]

meh, Thrown is all alpha strike, it doesn't have a lot else beyond that

[velvet raft]

Throw has a vibe to it

Lots of debuffing

Or at least some

But yeah not as good as Brawl

[bleak hazel]

it will alpha strike stuff but I'd rather go play brawl, which can also alpha strike out of stealth but replaces all the dice tricks with DRAGON COIL TECHNIQUE

[velvet raft]

I absolutely despised Solar Hero back in 2e

So brawl feeling really good pleases me

[bleak hazel]

I occasionally wonder whether it would still feel good if it wasn't monstrously cracked but given how much fun Lunar brawlers have I assume the answer is yes

hard to beat some of those moves in style potential even if they don't have random win forever clauses attached

[velvet raft]

Lunar grappling is pretty wild

[bleak hazel]

Lunar brawlers do have a way to flurry five heaven thunder hammer attacks for zero motes 2i each

because the core book animals are no better designed than the core book anything else

[velvet raft]

Bearserker?

[bleak hazel]

Siege Lizard

[velvet raft]

Aha

[bleak hazel]

instead of writing coherent charms for the ankylosaurus they just gave it dirt cheap versions of solar charms because it doesn't have a mote pool

which means Lunars now have dirt cheap heaven thunder hammer

they could already weaponise fall damage pretty well, but slamming someone with the dinosaur thagomizer five times in a row is funnier

it's also Essence 1, which means that a Supernal Medicine abyssal can resurrect one as their zombie champion

[fierce star]

ex3 fluff query: are there still Wyld pockets scattered through creation as a result of Balor's invasion and the Great Contagion in ex3 like in previous editions?

I don't see anything at my quick glances that says there are, but also nothing that says there aren't

[bleak hazel]

as far as I know, yes

the Wyld is meant to be something relatively accessible but in practice most games seem to treat it as Out Of Bounds

[fierce star]

Excellent

[velvet raft]

The broad concept is she lived with mom, who was secretly a raksha (even secret from herself), mom died, she lived the urchin life for a while, Exalted (as Violet Pearl's brother's reincarnation?) while involved with something or other that converged with the sidereal's interests, Raksha-who-was-mom showed up, revealed her story, and guided Sparrow to the manse where Unison was as a gift while being weird about it, on her return to creation Violet Pearl took Sparrow under her wing

[fierce star]

I've been Inspired by a combination of imagery and random dreams to make a faeblooded exalt who's raksha parent is basically telling the story of Big Boss, leading a group of fae mercenaries out of a wyld pocket in the hundred kingdoms, all about the price of war and how it's always soldiers who pay it etc

fae MSF

[velvet raft]

Hm, maybe instead of Willpower 6 she should have Raksha Mom as another mentor

Are you allowed to have two mentors?

[fierce star]

Don't see why not

[next delta]

It's too hard to do it justice 😭 . Also it seems highly likely to mess people up in ways that are hard to-impossible to fix?

[bleak hazel]

yeah, Exalted medics only

or a fairly powerful and helpful spirit, maybe

[velvet raft]

I dunno, the Wyld on the borders of Creation tends to reflect the elemental poles and the existing terrain to some degree, at least until you get farther out

I imagine localized pockets would be the same

It's only the Deep Wyld where things get really weird

[upper stratus]

what's up with this charm. it seems pretty ass

[bleak hazel]

yeah no idea

pretty good at E5 or if your integrity utterly sucks, so I guess it's the "I want to occasionally resist a social action but I don't want to buy more than 2 dots of integrity" pick?

kind of annoying to have as a prereq

[upper stratus]

i got base 5 resolve so this isn't useful to me until -4 wound penalty?

[bleak hazel]

oh wait it doesn't work on intimacy penalties

[upper stratus]

yea lmao

[bleak hazel]

OK literally no idea what that's for, trash tier

[upper stratus]

the like. most common penalty

5 motes too

not even scenelong

[next delta]

I think it's common to have "ignore situational and wound penalties to resolve" type charms? This seems expensive for not fully negating them

There is a couple of other random stuff that causes penalties: like illness, poisons and derangements (a name that has not aged well)

[bleak hazel]

all of those exist but are not really worth an an entire 5 mote charm that isn't even much good if you have high resolve anyway

luckily for that charm it's a prereq for some real bangers, like Oath of the Sword, Creation-Preserving Will and In Destiny's Service

[next delta]

Yeah, it's definitely too expensive. The Solar one is 1m base. The lunar one flips wound penalties to bonuses. The deeb one doesn't really exist but they negate a -1 penalty from these random effects with their excellency.

The sid one is the broadest I guess

[bleak hazel]

The players in deebgame have politely asked me for a House of Bells essence 1 prologue so now I need to read all the deeb book lore to write a good tournament arc

Also look at them they're essence 1 Deebs, they're tiny

tiny Exalted

[tulip folio]

Pondering how this is. In particular, the Hallucinogenic turning toxins you make from 'Lethal Damage' to 'Willpower drain'

As my Sid does have multiple toxins available to them. They've got Arrow Frog Toxin from Toad Style and at E2 will have Employment Termination Venom

[raw edge]

Certainly lots of things have less willpower points than health boxes. Especially non exalt humans who might only have 2 or 3 willpower.

I could see it being very effective in social scenes. Though what's the cost benefit on persuading someone to do something if they're now afflicted with madness?

[tulip folio]

That was part of my pondering, as Employment Terminaton Venom is non-combat poison.

As it's granted by a social charm

[fierce star]

ohg hey

i know people were looking for non-armor ways to increase soak and such, has the stone of resilient bamboo come up in those talks?

[velvet raft]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/931622744121045032/1288197454453412001/image0.jpg?ex=67c34a5e&is=67c1f8de&hm=d63f831ec7d922d9aba517b096b1e2d033d12a6856ca71b0f81e173dc9fbe871&

[bleak hazel]

(it is kind of weird calling an E1 deeb who can probably solo a rhinoceros a baby exalt but they really are very small by normal standards)

[raw edge]

The issue is that since it does aggravated damage, there's no prompt to roll jb to establish initiative and thus crash. So arrow frog venom might be better for that reason

[raw edge]

In our heptagram campaign our brawler nearly one hit KO'd BBEG because the dice really liked the DB brawl excellency

[bleak hazel]

it has, it's a good pickup even if it does cost precious juice

especially for Sids

silken armour (5) + Bamboo Stone clasp (2) + Stamina (3-5 for most combat characters) = very decent soak

[tulip folio]

Oh right, they'd have 'null' init rather than '0 init' outside of combat.

Damn you null vs 0, why must you taunt me even outside of work hours. XD

[raw edge]

A good option if you've decided on a dependent hearthstone and don't know what to pair it with

[fierce star]

yeah, that was my thought, since I knew dependents came up a lot

[bleak hazel]

the deeb excellencies are great bullying tools

I've seen a deeb in a celestial campaign kind of struggle to get Stoking Bonfire Style going against enemies with exalt-level parry but man, when they had to fight a tyrant lizard in an arena match he bullied the hell out of that thing

[tulip folio]

...man, you know what 3e would love to see return? Perfected Kata Bracers for 'Yes, you can have artifact unarmed'. XD

[tulip folio]

I'll admit, I've not looked over the 3e hearthstones yet. In part because they require an artifact before you can have any and my chargen points tend to be lean enough without help.

[fierce star]

Fortunately most artifact weapons/armor are 2 slots by default these days

[tulip folio]

...though I suppose if this sid is good at Crafting Manses, I should likely learn which ones are good. XD

[bleak hazel]

Sids! Rejoice!

[tulip folio]

As I've got no clue what ones are notable these days beyond the 'I'M UNKILLABLE!' one.

[bleak hazel]

(Prismatic Arrangement of Creation now only saves you a few motes, but that's still handy)

[raw edge]

There's a sidebar advising storytellers to perhaps include a free hearthstone amulet with the merit. Page 121 of the Sidereal backers copy

[bleak hazel]

White Veil Style has a good sidebar for this, because it also does out of combat poison

[raw edge]

The other notable is Glory Sphere for getting you access to one charm one higher essence than you actually are

[bleak hazel]

yeah, Glory Sphere is extremely big

[tulip folio]

...interesting. I'll admit, that seems like it's likely to become quite dull with Employment Termination Poison, since it deals 1A/hour.

[raw edge]

Problem is that the Sid anti corruption poison does aggravated damage not initiative damage, so doesn't prompt this

[bleak hazel]

yeah, that one is not for that at all

white veil comes with excellent combat time poison, though

[raw edge]

With bonus they don't notice effects

[tulip folio]

I did see a hearthstone somewhere that gives you a Flexible Extra Control Spell, which seems really nice for a sorcerer.

Being able to just Shift Control Spells

[raw edge]

Yeah that's a nice one. Now I'm thinking of a lunar who's got one stuck in them

[tulip folio]

Stone of Pissing Off Abyssal Players.

[dense verge]

they weren't lying that legal defense competence do be minimum

[tulip folio]

Oh, that is a Solid One for sorcerers. Maybe not 'like 5 dots' good becuase it's just Bigger Numbers but it's very handy for giving more reliable casting.

[coral wraith]

How do you get these?

[fierce star]

Hearthstone or Manse merit

[coral wraith]

Interesting

[tulip folio]

This one seems...really good.

Both for Abyssal Douchbaggery and also for like...helping treat trauma

[bleak hazel]

personally I am a big fan of the Iron Soul Stone in core

mostly because Sids have an ability to just quickly whip out a hearthstone from a chosen five by replacing their caste mark with it, without having to go get the physical object first

so you can just turn on the We're Good field when you need it

[raw edge]

There's a few in Adversaries of the Righteous, but only one I think players would be interested in is the Soulgate Obsidian. Which can open a portal to the underworld (at night, provided you have a fresh corpse)

[tulip folio]

...oh fun, Arms of teh Chosen brought back fucking Collars of Dutiful Submission.

That was not an artifact I needed to see return

[fierce star]

I think they were a backer-chosen thing

[tulip folio]

God dammit ID, why did you do that? 😛

[fierce star]

it wasn't my fault this time!

the only money I've spent on ex3 was getting my name in the lunars book!

[bleak hazel]

oh, that's really fun for the Sidereal Hearthstone kit

you can have Materialize Spirits, protect from wyld, door to underworld, give-unarmed-smash-attacks and then one more of your choice in the toolkit

ideally one you won't want to use all the time because you do have to commit 2-4 motes to get one out of the kit

I suppose Revolutionary Dog is effectively 3 motes for +1 willpower

or Aetherial Sphere for an extra utility spell

[tulip folio]

This is intriguing but seems overall less fancy than a Sorcery capturing cord.

[tulip folio]

This one seems kinda just Generally Worse.

This one is an evocation so it's a charm bonus

It's 1 more soak but is also +2 motes and immediately falls off if someone whacks you hard enough

[bleak hazel]

no "charm dice" cap on soak at least, doesn't matter

[coral wraith]

that's just awful Invulnerable Skin of Bronze, lol

[bleak hazel]

the annoying thing here is that you have to spend 8xp learning it

[tulip folio]

Oh, for some reason I thought soak dice were capped by your charm limit for some reason.

That's not so bad but it still Kinda Stinks.

[fierce star]

It... gives hardness at least...?

if the hardness stacked with armor hardness it might be good...?

[bleak hazel]

soak isn't dice, soak is just a number

(parry: "I am not a number, I have a fixed cap!")

[tulip folio]

I like the Yeet Stone.

[bleak hazel]

that one is really good for sids

2 motes for Unarmed smashing attacks

since you use the SMA charm to socket it in your face

[tulip folio]

Makes sense. Alchs can do a similar thing, though it requires you Own The Stone, rather than generating it.

[bleak hazel]

Lunars can just manifest a greater hearthstone in their forehead for no committment cost, which can be pretty damn bullshit

less flexible but just Having A Glory Sphere for 8xp is well worth it sometimes

[tulip folio]

This seems fun for Charisma/Appearance Social. Manipulation is less likely to Also Have That Emotion.

Though if you want a standard fire gemstone for Big Emotions, the one Literally 2 Stones Down seems more fun.

Melodrama-Invoking Stone

@fierce star for that Secrets Sid of yours, maybe? 😛

[limpid badge]

aaaugh i need to find the energy to make my moonshadow

gotta figure out how to kill someone with abyssal linguistics

[fierce star]

lol

I do enjoy thep assion unbinding stone

I also need to actually read the sid charmset to make said sid, beofre I legitimately pick favoreds

[tulip folio]

Could explain what your General Plan is and people might have suggestions.

[fierce star]

well, generally: Absorbing gossip both passively and actively, prying out secrets (true or false) about people to hoard for future use as like, the main thrust of why they're a secrets sidereal and not something else, then a penchant for using that gossip to seduce people that eh, maybe she shouldn't, mostly because she likes melodrama and making things interesting. She's faeblooded, her father is a veteran of the Balorian crusade who runs a mercenary kingdom out of a wyld pocket int he hundred kingdoms, using hte role of 'mercenary king' in a story about the costs of war and how it' sthe soldiers who end up paying it, not the kings or politicians who order them. Up until a little after puberty she thought hse was fully fae, fulfilling the role of 'warlord's rebellious daughter', though on finding out she was half-mortal she left her father's kingdom to travel to nexus, where she picked up her rumormongering and other habits; she's not much of a killer though she doesn't mind fighting, she hates the idea of killing people because it ends their story right there, and everyone has a story to be part of, no one's a secondary character in their own tale and cutting that off without their permission just feels wrong to her.

That got rambly

I haven't quite figured her moment of exaltation yet but it probably involved her getting in trouble with someone important

probably a guildsman

[bleak hazel]

do tell me when you find out, I've been making a Daybreak and going "hmm, I kinda want this guy as a moonshadow"

[coral wraith]

Sids are extremely good at stirring up melodrama

[bleak hazel]

no linguistics on him though

he can instead open palm slam a deeb to death mid-joke with White Veil + stacked Socialize

I choose to believe he has the Kill Bill five point palm

[coral wraith]

recreate the plot of breaking bad with this one simple trick

[tulip folio]

My personal thoughts is that you really want socialize. As it's got both 'stir shit' and 'be saved from your stirring of shit' charms

[bleak hazel]

CAMG is the Sidereal socialize move, with the possible exception of Shun The Smiling Lady

it's also why their social tree is occasionally called the Orbital Laser Cannon

lots of "throw this on a guy and leave"

[fierce star]

Makes sense

[tulip folio]

I also think you really want Linguistics.

Let me get you the 'Make my ship real' charm

[fierce star]

I guess the real question is how much will I make use of the Secrets abilities. Thematically the character feels secrets? Investigation would probably be quite useful, but the others I'm unsure of for the concept, which is why I said I really need to read all the charmsets lol

[tulip folio]

'Hey, those two people are totally into each other' makes it true

[coral wraith]

Secrets stuff can be good, like this Stealth charm

[fierce star]

...

oh my god I can be someone else's intrusive thoughts

[coral wraith]

[bleak hazel]

you know what else is a manipulation-based influence roll?

Cash and Murder Games

you are very intrusive thoughts

[tulip folio]

Also: Secrets has the funniest social charm

In Lore

"Hi Lunars, I'm a Fey and a Sidereal."
Pfff "Come the fuck on."

[fierce star]

so sounds like secrets is the play, with socialize, linguistics

[tulip folio]

Lore also has the 'I am so smart' tips fedora social charm.

[tulip folio]

Actually, you'd really like one of the Big Lore Charms for shitstirring.

[fierce star]

oh?

[tulip folio]

'I tell people what happened recently and everyone else agrees it must be true, even if they were there and I'm lying'

[fierce star]

lol

[limpid badge]

I was doin a moonshadow with apocalyptic melee because it’s funny

[tulip folio]

Oh and I think this fits the character you mentioned a lot ID in Larceny, which is secrets...

If you do get caught, you can Skyrim Guard Wrongwarp to a jail of your choice

[fierce star]

lol

[tulip folio]

Alch familiar/pet charms are very lean but they're interesting

If overall on the weaker end, I think.

Your familiar being effectively 'Autocthon's version of any demon of up to E3' (As machine spirits are demons, just Autocthon demons) looks very fun though.

[fierce star]

I like Clockwork Colossus Upgrade becuase it lets you turn a tyrannosaurus rex into your stand

you could also give it, assuming ess4, +12 soak, +4 hardness, 8 extra -2 health levels and 4 extra -4 health levels.

which sounds like a spicy meatball of a t-rex

[bleak hazel]

run a siege lizard

due to aforementioned rules templating, you could be the only thing in Autocthonia with access to Heaven Thunder Hammer

[tulip folio]

8 Hardness, 20 soak fix beetle seems fun.

[bleak hazel]

considering a Sid who has spent the last six years pretending to be a random outcaste swordsman because two hundred years into being a Sidereal he couldn't take the pressure any more, disguised his anima with Ways of Exaltation and went, in a very sociable and generally understood way among the Bureau, rogue

called back into his old job when Something Scary attacks and he has to bust out the sidereal martial arts and head off on a real mission

assuming the Sworn Hearth he took up with actually likes him enough to come along, I like the idea of him shepherding a bunch of random deebs through the Heavenly public transit network to zap down onto a different continent and take them on their first ever Destiny job

[fierce star]

That sounds amazing honestly

[bleak hazel]

not sure what style I'd give him

CMOS, maybe

or Obsidian Shards

he'd need to dabble in Prismatic but that's easy

[raw edge]

Have you picked a db aspect he's pretending to be?

Cause if he's committing to the disguise, he probably needs to pick up the appropriate Immaculate Style. And that choice hopefully some what synergizes with his other MA

[tulip folio]

Hmm...earth dragon tanky but water dragon explode peoples blood...

[spring lynx]

remember, murder is a form of damage reduction

[bleak hazel]

he has a plausible copy of a Deeb anima complete with Elemental Aura, I'm pretty sure he can get away with Sid Melee

Sid Melee not being particularly flashy

I have a funny build that's Thousand Blades + Emerald Gyre, but 1kBlades would be outrageously obvious

[coral wraith]

Is 10 Soak/7 Hardness with 5 Evasion acceptable for a backline character?

This is a sorcerer Sid with ISOB as their control spell

[tulip folio]

Seems more than fine.

[coral wraith]

great!

[tulip folio]

Righteous Restoration of Industry is:

6 Parry
3 Evasion
7 Soak
4 Hardness

Which is apparently Just Fine.

You've got More Soak but Slightly Less Def

Like neither are Super Durable.

But by all accounts/despite my worrying, RiRi is not about to get herself taken out by the first Blood Ape she meets.

[coral wraith]

right, yeah

I've also got summons/my retainer/my circlemates as meatshields, ideally

[raw edge]

Looks solid to me. What's your plan for gaining initiative?

[coral wraith]

and if it looks bad, well, i hit the funny button

[tulip folio]

Yay Summons! RiR's a dedicated summoner herself. Her focus spell is 'Maek Skeletons'.

So if a problem appears I hit the Skeleton Button and tell them to Hit Things.

[coral wraith]

huck Unweaving Method at people with 14 dice base, ideally

[tulip folio]

RiRi's 'Generate Init' option is 'I have a Wrackstaff, they have a Face'

[raw edge]

Both good choices

[coral wraith]

also, hell yeah, I'm going Demons as my route personally

[tulip folio]

Makes sense. Daemons are something RiRi can do but due to being an Alchemical, her options there don't work normally.

In Autocthon, you can't summon Normal Demons.

You can summon Machine Spirits.

Who are cool and basicly demons except fro 2 major changes:

-They don't hate you by default, they think you're pretty cool. So they're generally willing to help out.
-They can't be bound because unlike demons, they won the primordial war. So you can't use them Long-Term becuase they have Jobs they need to get back to.

Makes them better/safer for short term stuff but less of a 'Here is my army' thing

[raw edge]

Possibly getting into spread too thin territory, but have you picked an angle on enhancing your Unweaving Method? I'm a fan of using Thrown, and just tossing people around. Edit: oh and Life-Gets-Worse Approach

[coral wraith]

unfortunately not, I'm going hard into largely noncombat stuff and sticking to Unweaving/spells as my offense

[tulip folio]

While not a Mandatory Pickup, it might be worth getting a Flame Piece at some point in mundane gear. They don't use strength for damage, so they make a good 'Fuck it, emergency weapon' option for people with a solid dex but who didn't really get any strength

RiRi has a couple hidden in her long sleeves just in case for some reason she needs something with more reach than her staff. She's not great with them but Short Range + Dex 5 is still 9 dice at the problem, before excellency.

[raw edge]

Perhaps as a later wishlist item then: Thrown 3 let's you get Insatiable Weapon Wanderlust, which for 2m extends your attack to long range. I don't know their archery charms as well, but there probably is a similarly useful dip there too

[tulip folio]

Let me check, I don't know sid charms super well yet

[prisma sun]

Are you also going Throw Sid?

[tulip folio]

Generalized Ammunition Technique is Archery 2 and would get you some non-combat usage and access to Excellency on normal attacks.

As a 'maybe pick up later'

Generalized Ammunition Technique lets you fire anything fist-sized or smaller out of any ranged weapon without damaging it.

So you can use it to Get Things Places even if you're not in combat.

[coral wraith]

now that is handy

[tulip folio]

It also leads into Strange Quiver Trick, a summoning ability.

Strange Quiver Trick
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Archery 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Generalized Ammunition Technique

The Sidereal’s quiver is stocked with the right arrow for every eventuality.

Reaching for ammunition on her person, the Sidereal rolls (Wits + Archery) to produce a mundane object that’s small enough to fire with Generalized Ammunition Technique with a Resources rating less than or equal to her successes. She can’t use this to steal specific objects.

So it lets you get 'Anything mundane and fist sized' even if you didn't have it before.

There's better 'actually fight' things.

But more looking at 'stuff you won't regret even if you don't do much attacking with it'

If that makes sense?

[coral wraith]

[prisma sun]

As long as your arm and as thick as your fist on command huh

[tulip folio]

Giant Sid just quietly scaling up how big 'fist sized' is.

[prisma sun]

[tulip folio]

...I'm realizing this wasn't a comment on powergaming.

[prisma sun]

Ha ha

Pebiz

[tulip folio]

My Sidereal: "I'm in danger!"

[prisma sun]

Stanewald's cute though so she deserves it

[tulip folio]

It's kinda funny how despite Shining Nephrite being Pretty Damn Combat Focused, her nature means that even once she gets some more charms and exp behind her, she'd get absolutely bodied by Stonwald.

As she's a Mountain Folk Blooded Sid with White Jade Skin.

The demon Actively Has Type Advantage

Which is funny as Shining Nephrite has some of her eclipse charms in the list of 'Stuff she can learn from her bloodline'. XD

Nephrite has this from Sid Resistance.

And the First Dance.

Which combo Very Well.

'Half str requirement, every effective strength I have over the minimum adds dice'

[prisma sun]

Oh the funniest demolition charms Sids have

Is that they can do it from a distance

[tulip folio]

This dance feels Really Abusable.

'How much falling damage is 7 miles?'

[coral wraith]

what. what the fuck

[prisma sun]

Drifts:

[raw edge]

As a high school maths teacher, "one square yard in radius" is tempting me to get out my grading pen. But I'll accept that the hole is simply a 4D hyper-object

[tulip folio]

This shit is why Autocthun turned on his kin.

They were making square yard radius objects

The dances are interesting, though I feel like only 1st, 7th, 8th and 11th have much spice to them and also are 'something you could use in a game'.

[prisma sun]

I mean Stanewald is the person you summon if you just hate a town

[tulip folio]

Good news: She hates that town too.

[prisma sun]

Consider that dance 6 is something you can sit outside during a Siege to just

Get theoretically infinite troops

Just keep sending spirits in to destroy that city

[tulip folio]

...silly combo of charms.

[raw edge]

Probably for the best that the ninth dance lacks the eclipse tag

[tulip folio]

8th + the Sid charm where you can just stand in mid-air.

'What are you doing up there above me?'
'Don't worry about it' Starts dancing

[prisma sun]

Ninth is great

For one reason

[tulip folio]

My Sid is likely to end up with some of these as they are on the 'Look, they're Stone Magic and you took the divine blood advantage for Mountain Kin' list. XD

[prisma sun]

https://youtu.be/7_DTNdmpliY?si=P7aQdnBAiFuVm4OJ

[tulip folio]

The digging one seems fun

[tulip folio]

I do find it funny that the GM notes on Stanewald is basicly: If you summon her, she will cause Shenanigans.

Like not even 'She'll do evil things', and more just 'She will find something to obsess over and try to make it About That New Obsession'

[coral wraith]

man demons of the second circle are juiced

are third circle demons like, really fucked up

[tulip folio]

They are functionally Gods and not like exalted 'big spirit' gods.

[coral wraith]

[tulip folio]

You have go to fight shit like 'Hell's Sun'

There is one statted in the game right now.

She's essence nine

And she's noted as not being much of a combatant by their standards.

[coral wraith]

holy hell

[tulip folio]

She's a multi-mile wall of snakes

She's also like...genuinely a nice person, in her own way.

Life is pain; pain is change; change is life. This is the wisdom of the Rampart of Serpents. She sees herself as a teacher, though few in the demon realm welcome her tutelage, for her tuition is gathered by venom and paid in agony.

Sibri winds across the Demon City as a wall of living snakes taller than a bowshot, parting crowds and barring passage. Though she’s scarcely a yard thick, few dare cross through her; to those enfolded in her serpents’ coils, that lone yard can seem endless. Some of her venoms are lethal. Others are crueler.

When Sibri enters Creation, she rises from the earth as a pillar of snakes, then stretches outward as a mile-long living wall in accordance with her summoner’s will, following long sweeping curves like the path of a chariot at full gallop. Alternatively, she may condense herself into human shape — tall, lean, and dark, clad in many-colored snakeskin robes, with venomous fangs and the milky blue eyes of a molting serpent.

In all her forms, she scars the earth where she passes, leaving it cracked and furrowed. Water that flows through these gullies grows brackish and salty. Those who taste it later dream of old pains or lost youth.

She favors outcasts, sorcerers, children, and the impoverished, maimed, chronically ill, and elderly. Her familiar-serpents sometimes cross between worlds to offer these her aid and wisdom. Some legends suggest that rarely, she’s personally drawn to Creation to answer the prayers of slaves, the abused, or princes laboring under imperial yoke. These she teaches harsh lessons in perseverance, treachery, and the brutal demands of victory.

She will torture you to teach a lesson but she'll also drop some Wrath of Snake God on anyone abusing children.

[coral wraith]

yay :)

[tulip folio]

She's got 3 different venoms and all of them are beefy and all fo them are 'lessons'

Infinite Suffering Venom (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only, Venom; Essence 5): Sibri makes a decisive bite attack while at Initiative 10+ to inflict a poison (0 damage, unlimited duration, –3 penalty). Drugs can dull the pain for a time, but it inevitably returns. Only powerful techniques like Wholeness-Restoring Meditation or Order-Affirming Blow can purge this venom. Usable once per scene, unless reset by defeating a non-trivial opponent.

Lesson One: I don't like you.

Mind-Opening Venom (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only, Eclipse, Venom; Essence 5): Sibri makes a decisive bite attack while at Initiative 10+. It carries a hallucinogenic poison with 0 damage, duration 24 hours, and penalty −5 (also applying to Resolve and Guile). During this time, Sibri’s mind touches his; she shows him visions of dreadful futures that may or may not come to pass, or confronts him with terrible truths about himself, others, or the world. 

His player gains or alters a relevant Major or Defining Intimacy of his choice relating to these visions. Usable once per scene, unless reset by using this Charm against a willing target.

The second one is a much more 'real lesson' venom.

It's not a pleasent lesson.

But it's a genuine lesson about genuine things

[coral wraith]

haha oh dear

[tulip folio]

Nature-Molting Venom (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only, Venom; Essence 5): Sibri makes a decisive bite attack while at Initiative 15+. If she deals at least one level of damage, the target must roll (Stamina + Resistance) against difficulty 5 or sleep for a full day, undergoing a supernatural transformation. Sibri rolls nine dice, awarding the target up to (successes) dots of innate and/or purchased Merits of her choice. She may transform a willing creature without attacking or dealing damage. This venom can only affect a given target once. Usable once per story; reset by the target achieving a major story goal in pursuit of a Major or Defining Intimacy.

Her third one allows her to allow people to change. Not always in how they want to change but how she thinks they need to change.

And like, she's not fucking you over with this.

It's just you're not 100% sure which benefits she thinks you're most in need of help with.

[coral wraith]

fascinating...

[tulip folio]

Some demons are more malicious than her but she's, by demon standards, a pretty solid sort.

She just firmly believes that you can't learn unless you change and change is painful.

Another well known 3rd Circle is Liger, have you heard about him @coral wraith?

[coral wraith]

I have not!

[tulip folio]

Ligier is Malfeas' self-loathing personified.

He's the sun of Malfeas, literally looking down on it.

He's also everything Malfeas wishes he was, to deepen that self loathing.

He's charming, he's brave, he's self-confident.

A perfect swordsman and a craftsman who can rival Autocthon himself

He's not a good person but it would be an insult to his pride to be anything less than a perfect host to those who get his attention.

[coral wraith]

oho...

[tulip folio]

If you try to call him out for a fight and you're anything less than the greatest swordsman in reality he won't smite you...that would be insulting to his pride to make you think you're worth his attention.

He'll just ignore you.

He'll even back down if you manage to cause even a single point of damage to him, proving gracious in defeat and acknowledging that you are one of the few people worthy of his attention.

Malfeas hates Ligier. Which is an issue when Ligier is Malfeas' primary soul.

But Ligier shows what Malfeas wishes he could have been

The great king that was beloved by his subjects, instead of betrayed by his own brother after proving an abusive asshole

[coral wraith]

his own dang fault!

[tulip folio]

Oh, 100%

Every single third circle says something about the personality of the primordial who formed them.

Oh and Ligier is a fantastic dancer.

Because Malfeas uses to love dance and now is warped and twisted into such a form that he can't even move, save to reshape his own insides.

[coral wraith]

oof...

[tulip folio]

Which is why there are ways that mortals can summon Ligier without magic.

A smith working on a masterpiece in Brass may find Ligier there to assist with the finishing touches, to demonstrate the mastery of Brass over other metals.

A mortal leading an army against the Exalted may find Ligier standing by his side, a brave king willing to face down against the exalted again in his creation.

And a lonely queen in a court may find Ligier there, asking if he may have this dance.

[limpid badge]

And all this, when the sun hangs at the horizon, and, for just a moment, flares with green.

(Malfeas once had another soul, did you know? It was a moon, and Ligier's Queen. But she is dead and he is not. Is that not fascinating.)

[coral wraith]

this is good lore. good to chew on

[tulip folio]

Oh yes and Ligier is also profoundly radioactive. He's a sun and he's not just light. Malfeas' fire is vitriol and hate and bitterness.

It taints all it burns.

[coral wraith]

lmao

don't get near him!

[limpid badge]

And yet, vitrol, acid, purifies in alchemic terms

It scubs clean impurties through a flensing touch

But dissolves all but the strongest materials.

[tulip folio]

It's hard to call all demons 'evil' but they're...hostile to human life by their very nature because they're not human.

And can, at best, play the role

Even the most human of them don't quite get humans.

[coral wraith]

Blue/orange morality?

[limpid badge]

Yeah

Even the gods are a little better at grokking human needs, so close to prayer and tied to Creation

Demons... are very bad at it

[tulip folio]

This is actually what Autocthon's biggest, most personal project was.

He wanted to think like a human.

To understand them not just as parts and components but as people.

There's a reason why his creations, the Alchemicals are both the exalts that can have the hardest time Getting Humans but also the ones that most want to see them as equals.

[coral wraith]

the best of the primordials, truly

[tulip folio]

The Godhead
There is a ninth soul in Autochthon’s pantheon. This is the Godhead, the Core, a vast cathedral-mind of crystal and adamant where the Maker’s thoughts dance in wild arcs of cerebral lightning. The Core is Autochthon’s spiritual center, the foundation of his Grand Design, the foremost of his souls and the seat of his now-slumbering mind. It was not always thus. Ceaseless in his tinkering, the Great Maker reshaped and remade his highest soul through a peerless working of will, imparting a new purpose unto it.

Within the Crystalline Sanctuary’s walls, the Divine Ministers commune with the Godhead in its wordless theosophic calculations of eons yet to come. Here, Autochthon’s innermost dreams and half-finished designs spill out into the world in pure creative energy. The Godhead is the whole of the Great Maker’s cognition made separate from himself, allowing him examine himself in a way few of his Primordial cousins might countenance. 

But it is more than just the Maker’s mind given form — it is an engine for thinking in ways he might not otherwise be capable of. Should the Maker be roused from his slumber by a pilgrim to the Godhead, the entirety of his vast mind could be focused into a single point of cognition, allowing him to briefly think as a human might. 

Here we go!

Autocthon has done some things to hurt people, no promordial hasn't...but he's unique in that it can genuinely be said to not be done out of Malice but out of Misunderstanding.

Even the worst thing he did, the Great Geas of the Mountain Folk, was done because he cared and it was the way he could think of to save them from the threat.

[limpid badge]

Because Autocthon so loved that humans took the idea of Creativity so far, as creatures

He's a wonderful soul, metaphorically speaking

[coral wraith]

well, he earnt his stay of execution, I think

[tulip folio]

The Mountain Folk were the Prototypes for humanity. Crafted of Jade, they were raised up to attempt to allow him to understand them by putting them on his level instead of going to their level.

[coral wraith]

"execution"

[tulip folio]

When the other Primordials learned of the first one he made, they vivisected it because it Seemed Interesting.

From that vivisection, humanity was crafted.

Autocthon knew that one day the other primordials through either malice or just not giving a shit would destroy both humanity and the mountain folk.

[coral wraith]

jesus

[tulip folio]

They were one of the reasons he turned on his kin.

Not just that they tormented him but because they kept destroying his attempts to find people to care about and were going to do it again.

The Mountain Folk are the origins of a lot of what is called 'First Age' technology. They crafted it with Autothon's aid and produced the weapons for the war on the primordials.

And when the Solars Won...they decided that they would genocide the Mountain Folk themselves.

He'd gone to war to save them from his kin and now humans wanted to kill them.

The Mountain Folk were numerous. While not as powerful as the mightest of solars, they could match twilights in inventions and were still powerful demigods.

So the Solar Deliberative decided they were a threat and would be put to the sword.

[coral wraith]

bruh

[tulip folio]

Autocthon saved them the only way he thought he could. He shattered them, breaking them into three castes when they were once a singular powerful whole.

And to stop the solars, he wove the great geas, a promice that the Mountain Folk would never wage war on exalts and would craft works of wonder for them.

With their nature broken down into lesser forms and their autonomy stifled by the Great Geas, the Solars decided they were No Longer A Threat.

And chose not to kill them.

[coral wraith]

[tulip folio]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1161699000836165714/1344845619088592906/image.png?ex=67c3b615&is=67c26495&hm=86af98e6398235d35c64791ca326bd2dc878adb018b8bcbf4139d5af57537215&

Here is the Geas' 'offences'

(They had playable rules in 2e)

they are, for all intents and purposes, the slaves of exalts. So they try to avoid them, staying deep underground and mostly avoiding humans to avoid exalts Calling On The Geas to force them to obey.

[coral wraith]

what happens when Divergence stacks too much?

[tulip folio]

Fate Itself tries to kill them.

(They start getting automatic botches on Important Actions)

[coral wraith]

thanks fate

[tulip folio]

The mountain folk are understandably not happy with humans/exalts.

These days they're broken down into 3 castes, based on how close they are to their original form.

Workers are Barely Independent Beings, capable of doing labor and craftsmanship but incapable of creativity and true decision making.

Soldiers are a bit better off. They can function independently and are not borderline autonomatons but are still very limited, finding true sparks of individuality difficult

Artisans are a solid fragment of the original Mountain Folk.

They are genius craftspeople and capable of innovation and independence.

But even they are still just a fragment of what they were. Unlike a lot of beings where growing in essence is self-discovery, for Mountain Folk, growing in essence is self-repair.

Recovering more and more of what they were before they solars ordered them shattered

[coral wraith]

That's really tragic

[tulip folio]

Only one of them has ever fully finished that path but at the end she discovered that Autocthun deliberately only put the Geas on their new, shattered forms. A mountain folk who manages to bring themselves back fully is free of the Geas.

And she suspects that he did that so that, eventually, they'd be free.

[coral wraith]

[tulip folio]

Shining Nephrite was born under odd stars. Among other things, one of her mothers cannot give birth to anything save stonework. The child of a Dragonblooded sorcerer and an Artisan of the Mountain Folk that dwell deep beneath the imperial manse, she was formed for her mothers by Neomah hands under the sign of the Peacock.

Nephreite's early life was difficult, to say the least. Her nature as not-entirely-human made her insulting to the Immaculate Philosophy and one cannot escape it when born on the Blessed Isle. Her dragonblooded mother, Mnemon Meng, helped salve concerns with a mixture of political pressure and quiet implication that the jade-skinned girl had impeccable earth breeding and would one day prove to be a powerful asset for her family.

However, as she grew, her mothers became more and more worried about her. She saw spiders in the corner of her room and strange connections formed before her eyes. Her Mountain Folk mother worried, becoming depressed that her nature might have made her daughter vulnerable to the madness of the Void Seers. Nephrite was often reduced to tears, flinching in fear from spiders that only she could see or running screaming about a death that she thought was coming.

And then, one day, she went weeping for her Dragonblooded mother and found she was a stranger to the woman. Everything broke around her and she lashed out, smashing one of the spiders around her to the ground and into visibility. Her mountain folk mother's eyes widened...these were spiders she knew. Creations of the Great Maker.

By the time the Bureau of Destiny came for her, they found a furious artisan shouting that the Great Geas can allow them to extort *some* creations from her people but her daughter is beyond even that. She would give them a host of artifacts if they would simply renounce their claim on her daughter.

The remorseful monk told her that no matter how much they would like to accept that, they could not. This was her destiny.

The Sid I put together is Half-Mountain Folk!

[coral wraith]

Merciful in his own way, even when forced to do the unthinkable

[coral wraith]

Augh

Heartwrenching

[tulip folio]

Yay, glad it reads well.

The Mountain Folk are cool and not just because Iki never found a Sidhe story they didn't like 😛

[coral wraith]

Mountainfolk are further proof the Sidereals did the right thing. Good work fateweavers

[tulip folio]

Also: Nephrite is a Sid with a negative intimacy towards spiders. Which is amusing, when it's not sad 😛

[tulip folio]

Yeah, 2e was this weird beast where if you actually Read The Stories, you'll go 'Man, these solars are assholes! I'm glad they got their teeth kicked in!'

But then you'll read how the setting treats it and it's...why are you like this?

Like there was a legitimate sidebar in 2e that said no god in heaven likes the sids.

Even the ones who supported the uprising against the Solars hate the sids for killing them.

Because the solars are the Rightful Rulers Of Creation.

After all, they got it because they beat up the primordials!

And the Sids are not legitimate because they just killed the Solars to get control instead of...wait...I need to check my notes...something isn't lining up here...

[coral wraith]

Yeah, I know, I've heard the 2e horror stories

Abhorrently bad writing

[tulip folio]

There's some good individual stories but 2e's primary flaw (Moreso than even the mechanics) was the game was written as a game For Solars.

Everyone else sorta needed to revolve around them and to support their story of being the Rightful King Returned

[coral wraith]

Instead of Solars using their "Massacre a city of 10,000 people and crucify the survivors" technique

Repeatedly.

[tulip folio]

3e is much more written as a game where solars are a big deal but everyone else is also Legitimately A Hero.

If that remotely makes sense?

[coral wraith]

Absolutely, yeah

[tulip folio]

Oh good, I know I ramble a bit. XD

[coral wraith]

nah you're all good

[upper stratus]

and my faction are the best heroes of them all!! lets go sidereals!!!! RAHHH

[coral wraith]

wooooooo!!!!

[tulip folio]

I like Infernals a lot but 3e Infernals are going to be a different beast, so what I like about them might not survive the transition.

Basicly: Infernals resonated with the Yozi because the Yozi are all profoundly broken in one way or another.

I mentioned Malfeas' self-loathing earlier.

An Infernal is someone who had the potential for greatness and then failed...not because it was impossible or too difficult but because of their own personal flaws.

Someone who stands by while a fire rages, letting people he could have saved burn out of fear.

Someone who destroys a chance for peace because he can't let go of a grudge.

They're people who have damage in one way or another that had them falter in their moment of greatness.

For example:

The Infernal I played once was Loviatar. A particularly bright slave girl, who was taken in to be trained as a potential sorcerer for a noble house. She had one chance to earn a better life for herself, to pass the test of Fear (Back when 2e Sorcery forced your character to confront and overcome their greatest fear) and to become a Sorcerer and prove herself one of the best minds of her generation despite her background.

She entered the test of fear...and found herself being told that she'd failed it. That she was being sent back to the laborer slaves, likely sent to a mine. And she...failed the test by being unable to stand up for herself, to push back against her fear. She broke down, things went red and she awoke to find herself having smashed in the skull of the sorcerer trainer, the only person there that had ever treated her with respect and compassion, in blind fear and rage.

And then a demon came with an offer for her.

[coral wraith]

oh dear

[tulip folio]

Infernals are not the inversion of Solars that Abyssals are. They're a funhouse mirror, warped and misshapen but still recognisable.

And they draw power from their weaknesses.

Infernals actively vent their version of limit by indulging in actions that will likely cause themselves harm.

An infernal who lets everyone know what his plan is, before he makes use of it is drawing on She Who Lives In Her Name's pride...but also her profound need for validation.

And by doing so, they draw power.

An Infernal can draw on Malfeas' spite to blight the land around him or irradiate his foes...but he can also draw on it to shatter pretty words, as he refuses to believe that things can get better.

They've got a Sid-Like Charmset, where they get a lot more 'Weird Tricks' than 'Dice Boosts', making them very powerful if they've got a trick but wanting to leverage those tricks.

Loviatar could draw on the Ebon Dragon to lie so well that reality itself would start to agree with her bullshit, to fool creation itself about the nature of things.

...but is also kept her disconnected, unable to make Genuine Human Connections due to those lies and finding it profoundly difficult to speak honestly about things she cared about.

[coral wraith]

I kinda love that

[tulip folio]

To get a bit less introspective and a bit more 'They were a fucking blast to play', they also let you just be the Hammiest Fucker.

As the overlap between 'Cartoon Villian' and 'Person engaging in self-sabotage due to their own issues' is razor thin.

And Infernals could cross that line and back again depending on the mood.

It was also great for producing long-term antagonists.

Loviatar, my Infernal, ended up with a Solar Nemesis because rather than killing the Sorcerer who was manipulating the kingdom she was trying to help...she explained to her exactly what she was/why this was never a fair fight and then tossed her into an entrance to Malfeas sure that she'd never turn up again.

Something that I'm not sure I'd have considered having her doing if there wasn't a Mechanical Framework going 'Hey, have you considered rubbing your victory in rather than securing it, for a bonus?'

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1161699000836165714/1340580938718908416/image.png?ex=67c4044a&is=67c2b2ca&hm=f586856ccbcb3324fbc4a220b913ce366e539598672923e4e5607d2883b00e01&

[coral wraith]

fantastic

[tulip folio]

The new 3e Infernal stuff we've seen...I'm going to wait on the full version but I feel like the theming is a lot less inspired/was done up by people who didn't like what 2e infernals were not, instead of enjoying what they were.

[coral wraith]

I'm sure it'll come out good in the end

[tulip folio]

I hope so

I'm really looking forward to playing Righteous Restoration of Industry.

[coral wraith]

Alchemicals look dope

[tulip folio]

They're fun. RiRi is a little odd among them (Necromancy is not a normal thing for them) but she should be fun.

Alchs are also funny because of just how unironic most of their charms require you be.

They're really good but only as long as you're just ironically doing your best to help the community

Also helps that the divine minister, Autocthon's equivelent to third level souls are Just Dudes.

Defining: The Dead Are Part Of Our Community (Principle), Autochthon (Faithful Hope)
Major: Vos-Ulos (Positive Tie, Protective Love), Divine Ministers (Positive Tie, Awed Respect), Divine Minister Ku (Negative Tie, Exasperation), I Am Not A Monster (Principle), Spellcraft (Positive Tie, Joy)
Minor: Half-Forged (Negative Tie, Horror), Food (Positive Tie, Comfort), Tunnel People (Positive Tie, Sympathy)

So she's kinda sick of one of their shit.

Divine Minister Ku gives her a headache, even if he's not a bad guy.

[coral wraith]

Get em

[tulip folio]

Pondering what Sorcerous Initiation would work for that Sidereal of mine.

Geomancy would be thematic but it's also Kinda Dull (And also I have no hearthstones to use)

And geomantic prodigy sorta sits there going 'Okay but this is Just An Excellency. I already have excellencies'

Would be great for a mortal sorcerer.

[tulip folio]

...maybe one of the autocthonian ones? This is tricky as so many initiations call for Intelligence, which my character is not good at 😛

[fierce star]

Scarred by Nightmares? The spiders were trying to teach her sorcery in her mortal dreams, but... well...

[upper stratus]

scared of spiders huh

[tulip folio]

To be fair, she's a Mountain Folk. Spiders are Actively A Problem for them.

Mountainfolk who try to interface with Pattern Spiders go absolutely bugfuck crazy due to them not being able to handle it ever since they were broken down into castes. XD

Despite the fact that Mountain Folk are able to work with them, theoretically, as fellow creations of Autocthon.

They get the worst case of sensory overload ever and it burns them out

[upper stratus]

imagine you go on a mission so you get away from pattern spiders for a while. look over at your colleague. they're doing Charcoal March of Spiders practice

[tulip folio]

Hahahah

Void Seers are Mountain Folk who team up with Pattern Spiders and end up going full:

[fierce star]

Oh, may I add something to the discussion of third circle demons from earlier?

[tulip folio]

'My math brain is not handling getting shoved into the loom of fate well'

[tulip folio]

Sure!

[upper stratus]

wait are rhey enemies of fate

[fierce star]

'enemies of fate' is a new thing in ex3 as far as I'm aware, but probably not, just bad reactiosn to spiders

[upper stratus]

yea i thought autochton was pretty on the ball wrt integrating his little projects into fate

[fierce star]

but yeah, third circle demons are the most important souls of their yozi/primordial... but one is even more important than the others. The Fetich Soul is the 'defining soul' of a yozi/primordial, the thing that most fully defines what the yozi is.

[tulip folio]

He was but this is post 'The solars shattering the mountain folk into lesser versions of what they were'.

[upper stratus]

fucking solars

[tulip folio]

With the implication that autocthon's original design could handle it.

In 2e this was Actually A Mechanical Thing.

Void Seers get divergence (Mountain Folk LImit) for Doing Their Shit.

If you overcome the Great Geas and become a full original Jadeborn you Ignore Divergence

And thus you can use void seer charms all you want

Which is fun as void seers had what is now the Sid Excellency

Where they go 'Yeah, just gunna knock the TN of my actions down by 2 by Mathhammering Fate'

[fierce star]

Ligier, abovementioned, is Malfeas' Fetich Soul. Malfeas is so totallyd efined by his self-loathing that his primary soul is his manifestation of it. Killing a fetich soul 'changes a yozi's mind'--literally. It causes a massive upheavel in their world-body as they desperately try to redefine themselves. It's what turned Theion, the Empyreal Chaos, King of the Primordials, into the twisted and shattered world-prison of Malfeas.

Almost universally the Exalted Host found that killing Fetich Souls made the Yozis worse. It's why they imprisoned them instead of rolling the fetich gacha to try to get a yozi they'd like.

There's a reason Autochthon only, uh

lobotomized his

and then inserted himself into where his fetich's brain used to be

[tulip folio]

It gave him the advantage of being defined by...himself.

[bleak hazel]

Ligier is very fun, he's always got entertaining stuff going on

[tulip folio]

That said: I have exactly 0 clue how they're gunna handle the Mountain Folk in 3e as the Mountain Folk were very much tied to 'We know what happened in the first age and it Fucking Sucked', while 3e plays a bit more fast and loose with the specifics. They were also About Making Artifacts and the 3e craft system is...a lot.

[bleak hazel]

If you want a look at what a more directly killy Third Circle equivalent looks like in 3e, there's a behemoth in the Abyssal draft that is intended as an example for the summon third circle ghost spell

slightly less powerful but more consistent

[upper stratus]

they did a good job killing off theion's souls tbh. malfeas is very self sabotaging. less of a threat overall

that's my divine revolution baybee

[bleak hazel]

I hope they keep the lore about Malfeas manifesting personally on occasion when there's music in the Demon City

and just hanging out and dancing

[tulip folio]

The Green Dancer, iirc?

A manifestation of that little bit of hope and innocence left in Malfeas.

[upper stratus]

solars? kill that dancer. kill it with hammers

[prisma sun]

The only currently 3rd circle demon in the edition is a several mile wide wall of snakes that can and will kill the fuck out of you

[upper stratus]

i'd handle the matter

[bleak hazel]

It can also give you One Snake if you summon it

[fierce star]

Awh, she's not that bad, she just wants to help you learn and grow

[bleak hazel]

It's quite a helpful snake actually

[upper stratus]

is it cute

[fierce star]

Though being fair Theion wasn't much better

he kept trying to get Autochthon and Gaia to make Vitriol a sixth element in Creation

despite Vitriol being...

gestures

Vitriol

[upper stratus]

autochton and gaia are my goats fr

[fierce star]

also random yozis fact: two of the yozis are in an honest, committed, and actually pretty sweet unofficial marriage! Isidoros, The Black Boar That Twists The Skies, is the strongest of the yozis and he only respects strength. He is a great beast who's force of might and personality is so great it pulls all around him into himself. Szoreny, the Silver Forest, is a forest of mirrors who reflects everyone he sees perfectly; when they first met, Isidoros saw himself and fell in love with his reflection.

[bleak hazel]

Malfeas and Cecelyne are my two go-to primordials, they both have really fun stuff

[fierce star]

My favorite are probably the aforementioned Isidoros and Szoreny, though my favorites to use in games are Kimbery and SWLIHN

[bleak hazel]

I am boring and find the classic Green Sun nuclear fire rockstar my favourite kind of Infernal

[tulip folio]

ID told me that one of my characters in his non-exalted game is a Malfeas Infernal and now I can't unsee it. XD

[fierce star]

She is!

[upper stratus]

i like the guy that's an infinitely long spear. i forgot their name

[fierce star]

(Her twin sister's a Sidereal, though)

Qaf?

[tulip folio]

Sion would argue she can't be an infernal because she never fails 😛

[bleak hazel]

Swillin has some good moves but I just want to Green Sun Nimbus Flare

[prisma sun]

Incredibly funny idea

[fierce star]

GSNF is really fun

[bleak hazel]

Adorjan also cool

[prisma sun]

Summon snake wall as a Sidreal

[upper stratus]

yea good ol qaf

[fierce star]

can't, summon third is solar circle

[prisma sun]

Generalized Ammunition Technique

[bleak hazel]

Summon unbound third circle is a Second Circle working so you can do it if you're really confident you can talk snakewall into being helpful

which isn't actually impossible

[lunar magnet]

Oh good, I see Hubris made its way over to Exalted. 😛

[bleak hazel]

even if third circles are a lot more eclectic than firsties

Second Circle Sorcerors can also do Solar Circle workings just fine in 3e, although it takes a while

[fierce star]

You know fair

I sometiems forget the scope of workings

... and sometimes that workings are a thing

also it's not really hubris when dealing with demons

they're Just Dudes.

[bleak hazel]

which does mean that if Sids or Lunars could get better at crafting they could make first age stuff themselves

Right now they're at about 100 and 150 successes/project each respectively and would need to be at 200

[lunar magnet]

"I can bring this killer snake wall into my presence and talk it into working with me, there is no way this could go wrong."

[tulip folio]

...are workings a type of Shape Sorcery, as far as the game is concerned? Aka: Can you boost them with sorcery boosting charms? As like, they're definitely in-universe sorcery but they're a different subsystem.

[fierce star]

it's not, AFAIK

it's just int + occult rolls (though I'd let players substitute another metnal stat if it made sense)

[tulip folio]

Fair. Still pondering what to do with a shaping ritual for that sid of mine. XD

As her Int is bad and most shaping rituals that are thematic want int.

[fierce star]

Like I suggested earlier I think a slight modification of the scarred by nightmares one could work

like, slight thematic modificaiton

but yeah ex3 sorcery is a lot harder to just slap onto a character than ex2 despite having arguably less buy in?

[tulip folio]

Could be interesting!

Once per story, the sorcerer’s player may stunt to describe how the current situation was somehow symbolized by her dreams, essentially declaring that her past dreams retroactively foreshadow the present. Doing so awards her a number of sorcerous motes equal to (her Essence x [stunt level + 1]), which last for the duration of the scene.

...that seems like a lot of motes, but I guess it's only 1/story.

Assuming a level 2 stunt (So decent but not anythingg world shaking)

That's 3-15 motes depending on essence.

So that's a Free Spell at E5

[fierce star]

yeah

but it is once a story, so

[bleak hazel]

Scarred by nightmares is also one of the ones with an Actual Drawback

[fierce star]

and of course like most things in ex3 if nothing is suitable without it, there is making your own like I did for my alchemical lol

[tulip folio]

Hah, there is that.

...now I'm kinda really tempted to do a Silly Thing.

[fierce star]

oh?

[tulip folio]

Well, Void Seer stuff was the connection of Pattern Spiders and Jadefolk minds and this is a Jadeborn-blooded Sid...

[fierce star]

this is true!

[tulip folio]

New Background: Flickers of Time (2 Dot or 4 Dot)
Prereqs: Making A Bad Decision

Somehow your character has unstable and highly disruptive flickers of times that were or might have been. For some exalts this might be the result of unnaturally strong past lives or too much experimentation with Temporal Sorcery, while for Jadeborn it can be result of interlinking with Pattern Spiders and the Loom of Fate shattering open caches of Pre-Geass Knowledge indiscriminately.

Rules - As Whispers. Replace mentions of Death with Geomancy, Necromancy with Sorcery, Undead with Automatons and the Underworld with Manses and First Age Sites. When you invoke it for a decision point, rather than Nihilistic Despair, it is an Erratic Wonder as infinite possibilities fill a far too finite mind.

Initiation: Void Seer

Unlimited Options: While shaping a spell, the sorcerer may invoke her Flickers of Time to reflexively roll (Flickers of Time x2) dice, gaining sorcerous motes equal to her successes. She adds (Essence) automatic successes on this roll when shaping her control spell. Either during the same scene or in the scene that follows, she suffers the consequences of a failed Willpower roll against the Madness Derangement (Exalted, p. 168).

Geomantic Beacon: The sorcerer may bathe in the geomantic fires that burn in her manse’s heart to gain (Essence + Willpower)
sorcerous motes, at the price of taking a level of aggravated damage. These motes last until the end of the story, or until she next claims motes from the manse. While within the bounds of the manse, she also gains one additional sorcerous mote each turn while casting a spell.

Adamant Unweaving Rune: The sorcerer recycles the lost motes of her foes works against them, channelling them like the great Dragon Lines. When the Sorcerer uses Countermagic, they gain the same number of sorcerous motes as they remove from the affected spell. These motes do not stack (Being replaced if you use Countermagic again and would generate more motes than you currently have from this) and last until the end of the scene

[bleak hazel]

Geomantic Beacon is very big if you build for it, that's 11 motes minimum for Willpower Georg

[tulip folio]

That's actually an existing one with a rename XD

I didn't invent that one.

[bleak hazel]

yeah, shaping rituals swing wildly around in utility

[tulip folio]

It's just right now an Orphaned Shaping Ritual without any overall initiation connected to so I figured 'waste not, want not'.

[bleak hazel]

I have the necromantic "inflict damage to yourself, gain motes" one and the only reason I have it is that I can combo it with Hundred Shade Breath to nudge my wound penalty just into -1s as I cast the spell and drop the ghost battlegroup at Size 3

[tulip folio]

Hahahah

[bleak hazel]

because normally 1 damage for 4 motes is not a great deal

also cutting your palm open and scattering blue blood everywhere that forms into a horde of hungry soulghosts is fun

does Geomantic Beacon require you to have a manse or can you take it and then go break into someone elses' to take a bath?

[tulip folio]

I was intending the latter to make it...usable...if the players travel but that's fair, it's not clear.

[bleak hazel]

should probably be "a" manse rather than "her" manse then

because that very directly reads as "one you've attuned to"

it would be a fun combo for a Sid actually

because of this thing

Demense-and-Manse Form, although admittedly it's E4

"I am in my house, you do not want to fight me in my house"

base mote regen at 8 and base initiative at 6 is pretty nuts

I'm still trying to find a Greater Hearthstone that can reliably enhance unarmed attacks so I can get that big damage bonus

[tulip folio]

Merits

Chronopsychí (••): Once per story, the sorcerer’s player may ask the Storyteller for guidance from the flow of endless data, receiving it in the form of a prophetic dream, feverish vision, or strange omen. This guidance calls the sorcerer to perform some quest or duty, typically equivalent to an inconvenient task (Exalted, p. 216). While the significance of this action may not always be clear, its consequences will serve Autochthon, aid in the creation of wonder or oppose the actions of Enemies of Fate, though their purpose or relevance may not always be clear. Fulfilling this task grants the sorcerer two Willpower, which can raise her above her permanent Willpower.

Crystal Soul (••): Jadeborn, Pattern Spiders and Automations recognise the sorcerer as kin, which can be leveraged as a Minor Tie of trust and respect.

The Blood of Creation (•): The sorcerer can make a difficulty 3 (Awareness + [Lore or Craft]) roll after a few minutes of calculation to analyse local Essence flows. Success lets her detect the presence of a demesne, manse, or anomaly within the Dragon Lines within (Occult x3) miles, along with the distance and direction to it. If she spends an hour performing more complex attunments, she can attempt a difficulty 5 roll to sense such sights within (Occult x20) miles. She can attempt to detect a specific site, or search for whichever is nearest to her.

And merits. I'll freely admit all of these are 'slightly adjusted existing ones'.

[bleak hazel]

what did you adjust for Chronopsychi? I would like a max willpower of 12, thanks

[tulip folio]

Guided By Design, from the Alch book.

I changed up Who It's Helping.

will serve Autochthon, advance the will of the Eight Divine Ministers, benefit those whose faith in the maker is true or the stabilizing pattern of the Grand Design

Into a more 'You're in Creation' version

[bleak hazel]

wait this is in the Mastery of Tools tree

that one is already great

[CraftSid] is becoming More Powerful

[tulip folio]

Mastery of tools was tempting but this character has Bad Int and for some reason despite the fact craft can use Many Stats, Mastery of Tools is Int Only 😛

[bleak hazel]

yeah, I was tempted to dump int on this character and just craft with charisma but int is too good for other trees

really I wish that Sidcraft let me use Manipulation instead of Appearance or Charisma because I want that lore tree

[tulip folio]

Luckily my character has the advantage of Being Pretty, so she's a good crafter despite being Dumb As A Sack Of Hammers

[bleak hazel]

honestly I can see why manipulation doesn't work on craft because it's already really good for sids

big sorcery, big socialize, big lore

but I will remain desirous of my god stat

[tulip folio]

It's also the stat for the very important Sidereal role of 'Scheming Vizier'

My Sid runs on '...shit, shouldn't have said that. Hopefully you forget it when I leave the room' more than 'being stealthy and cunning'

[bleak hazel]

I suppose I could go Social Primary, go big on Manipulation and Appearance since they're not mostly-redundant like Cha and Mpl are, go big on int in the brain stats and then spend more bonus points and Sid XP than normal getting Wits and Perception up

I do need Perception for Sid Melee though

[tulip folio]

I'll admit, I kinda just threw numbers at the wall with mental stats. As I had no clue what would be useful there for my character.

Perception: 4
Int: 1
Wits 2

Iki: "I dunno, this might work?"

[bleak hazel]

wits is for Join Battle and occasional psyche stuff, Perception is for Perception

unless you're a Sid, in which case Perception is for massively increasing your melee damage output

[tulip folio]

I am a sid.

How does it do that?

Or is this like 'melee skill melee' rather than 'close combat of various sorts' melee?

[bleak hazel]

yeah, it's the secondary stat for Sidereal Melee

[tulip folio]

Ah, I see.

I might swap Perception and Wits for Better Resolve?

[bleak hazel]

you have reflexive aim, so this is brutal

also this

[tulip folio]

Oh, that'll do it.

Is maiden on the shelf like elf on the shelf?

[bleak hazel]

kind of, yes

[tulip folio]

'The scripture of the asshole murder puppet' wasn't as catchy.

[bleak hazel]

Sid Melee is the most evocative combat tree in Sids, I think

Sid Brawl isn't bad either

but Sid Melee is very clear that it turns you into Obi-Wan Kenobi

bonus "blind swordsman" capstone

[tulip folio]

Nice

[bleak hazel]

reflexive aim makes you very good at clashing the regular way, too

since you can delay your turn, see your enemy attacking, aim at them and then attack

[tulip folio]

So they work real damn good with like, Fire Dragon, which wants to Always Be Clashing with short swords.

[bleak hazel]

Fire Dragon is still an Immaculate art and as such is not amazing for Sids because it lacks Mastery, but yes

the reflexive aim move has Versatile so it works with martial arts, but your standard issue "I am amazing at clashes" charm does not

possibly for that reason

Fire Dragon is also big on Onslaught, and peer opponents for Sidereals usually have some kind of penalty negator

a quick dip for Searing Edge Attack can be worth it for high essence Sidereals looking for even more brutal punish moves, though

soul-fire shaper form puts your effective essence at 6 or 7 at E4-5, so if that attack lands people just fold

it's not a damage adder, it's just a flat chunking effect, so it's very significant even by the standards of Sidereals and their massive Overwhelming

[tulip folio]

And it doesn't seem like it really competes with overwhelming.

Youc an have big overwhelming and init draining

[bleak hazel]

Prismatic Endings sid at E5 hits you with a shortsword for Overwhelming 9 + 7 flat levels of damage

4 more motes for Overwhelming 14

you still have to hit, but if they're doing this in a big Clash that's another 3 flat levels on top

they hit like trucks

the main issue offensively is that you can't use Fateful Exchange to boost your clash when you combine it with Fire Dragon, so that's a risky move

better to just Clash, make sure you win and then use searing edge attack on the followup Harmony of Blows strike

Sids, probably

the glaring issue with using this is not anything to do with charm combos but the fact that going dual shortswords drops your parry by 1, and Sid Melee loves maintaining a really high effortless parry

Base 7, Ways of Exaltation for +2, maybe be on a horse for +1, stunt for +1

[tulip folio]

Get extra arms for more, better parrying, weapons. XD

Still weirds me out that war fans parry worse than axes

[bleak hazel]

what you really want is four arms, two shortswords and two hook-swords

since then you can combine Searing Edge Attack, Snake Style's reflexive clash, melee and Prismatic Arrangement

[spring lynx]

https://tenor.com/view/general-grievous-star-wars-clone-wars-seperatists-villain-gif-24892836

why stop at four

[bleak hazel]

(assuming you pay the extra 8xp for the Battles charm to use hook-swords with melee)

[spring lynx]

...actually, could you make greivous as an alch

[bleak hazel]

there has to be an alch charm for more arms

[spring lynx]

even if there isn't, surely alchs can just take the merit for them

[tulip folio]

The game notes you can buy mutations just fine and say you were Built Like That

[fierce star]

And if not there's a charm that gives you I think 5 dots of mutations?

[bleak hazel]

yeah, that fits

bit harder to do as a Sid, but if you're willing to Prismatic it up you can do Soulfire Form (15), Ways of Exaltation (5), artifact weapon + armour (8) and Bound In Ivy Fetters (5) to spend 2 willpower and exactly half your E4 motes at the start of a fight going super saiyan

that gets you 10 dots of mutations, and I'm not sure the best use there isn't Extra Arms, Extra Arms, Centaur and 2-dot Unusual Hide

become the Vitruvian Man

(can you take Extra Arms twice, if you've transformed one set of them into a "mount"?)

[tulip folio]

I suppose? Also I should likely learn the riding rules sometime.

[bleak hazel]

the reason you do it this way is that it completely skips all the riding rules about being knocked off your mount and such and just gives you +1 parry and +1 non-charm dice to withering attacks against non-mounted targets

which Sids, as usual, love

honestly this kind of has style, I just wish I could put down the hook-swords and wield only the one set but you kind of want both

works fine if you can get a Ready Weapon in there

(I suppose I should spoiler that, technically)

Vitruvian Man and attendant artistic nudity

at E4, that means your resting parry is 11 w/ stunt, you can boost to 13 if you have to and your regular Withering attacks are 22-23 dice @ TN5

yeah, this is going to drop people

whether it's more killy than the nonsense your average Lunar or whoever puts out at E4, not sure, but it looks good

[bleak hazel]

Pondering Lunars

War Lunar is perhaps too much like my current Abyssal but the charms are really good

[next delta]

The Resource costs listed for these items aren’t their actual price — instead, they’re a measure of the social status and requisition authority needed for a citizen to obtain them for personal use. By way of reference. Most Populat have Resources 1-2, though the highest-ranking members may have Resources 3. Tripartite members typically have Resources 2-4, with some in the uppermost echelons having Resources 5.
This makes metropolis citizens pretty wealthy compared to Creation right?

[bleak hazel]

Extremely, if it translates directly to jade rather than "here's the autobot resources scale, independent of creation" like I think it's saying it does

[tulip folio]

That said: I imagine the prices of objects themselves also vary. A creation-born character can likely get 'a piece of fruit' for resources 1.

[next delta]

I assumed you could translate the ease-of-acquisition by dot-measurement between Creation and Autocthonia

[bleak hazel]

Creation res 1 is three times the income of a skilled labourer

[next delta]

Yeah, a piece of fruit is below it's scaling

[bleak hazel]

it's an insane super-logarithmic scale where Res 4 is a small nation

given the size and resource availability for most autobot cities I don't think the scales map neatly at all

[tulip folio]

Oh yeah, sorry. I meant 'a resources 1 character could buy fruit, while a resources 4 metropolis character would find non-mushroom vegetables insanely hard to get'.

[next delta]

4x two skilled laborers even

[tulip folio]

As sorta a 'you can't really translate dot values precisely'

[next delta]

True, some things will not have equivalent dot-values

[bleak hazel]

I don't think it's some things, I think it's "these are two completely different scales that happen to line up most closely on normal Exalt purchases like big swords"

It's designed to map character XP to social status rather than comparing social status among everyone else

[tulip folio]

Yeah. The absolute height of corrupt decadence, to the point where it's an actual secret to avoid uprisings by the populat in the game I'm in is that...there are people with individual houses in the Tripartite in this city.

For the game I'm in.

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.

[next delta]

It'd be nice if they had some suggestion on translating dot-values

Though I'm sure stuff like swords are more easily made in Authonoia

[tulip folio]

And like...even in creation the White Petal District would be 'pretty nice' but in Autocthonia? That is some Eyes Wide Shut level of decadence.

[bleak hazel]

While I think it's an excellent decision to wall the two settings off and have creation alchs unfamiliar with autobot, I would really like to see RoboCop's reaction to being given res 3 quarters in Heaven compared to Autocthonia

[tulip folio]

'Here is your quarters, we're sorry that you've only got a personal mansion with a view of the god of hunting's fields and a wine cellar that goes back to the first age'
Alch foaming at mouth

[next delta]

(I am surprised they gave most populat a resource value though, given how in Creation most people wouldn't have one)

[bleak hazel]

Heaven has many slums, but what they consider a slum is Very Odd because they can basically transmute matter at will

The alch might like the quicksilver sea, though

[tulip folio]

From my reading, it seems a lot more like wealth in heaven is less 'Stuff' and more 'Dudes'.

It's how many people you can get to Do Shit For You

If you've got Lesser Gods acting as your manservants, you're stupidly wealthy

While a low wealth person could have what would be a giant mansion in creation but he's cooking for himself

[bleak hazel]

For gods, yeah

Humans are in a slightly less postscarcity economy but it's interesting in that even where they're resource constrained, the resources are all Really Nice

they might be hungry, but what food they do eat is the finest quality

[tulip folio]

I guess it's the fact that prayer can make anything, so there's no 'shitty resources means shitty outputs'

The limit is how much of the output you can get, not how good it is.

[next delta]

Also suggests there is a lot of prayer to make stuff

[tulip folio]

...I wonder if there are gods who make Scam Cults.

[next delta]

Define "Scam" here

[tulip folio]

Like 'Hey, pray to me and I'll give you a kickback on the stuff that comes from the prayer'

[next delta]

That is less of a scam than most prayers tbh >.>

[bleak hazel]

that's how most mortals live in heaven, actually

since as non-gods they don't get the Prayer UBI

[wise ocean]

Behold, young dragon, this chain upon which I have strung many blocks; it is a new, divinely inspired fiduciary system which is more secure and yet more transparent to the common man than any in Creation.

[next delta]

Especially towards the big gods who would not have the time to respond to a given prayer

[bleak hazel]

it's less cult and more local mutual aid society

because the god needs the prayer too

and is also broke

I also really want to have either Vigil the sid working with Lunars or my sid-pretending-to-be-an-Outcaste pull their respective parties through heaven at one point and do the whole "I hate this rotten city, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth" noir protag speech only to realize nobody was listening because their eyes are bulging out of their heads, they're making awooga noises, etc.

[tulip folio]

Thanks, I am now going to be making a god when I next run for the 'God of financial scams' that is trying to sell blocks on chains.