I mean absolutely no disparagement by this but man is that Divine Heritage merit getting a workout
#Exalted
bleak hazel
prisma sun
speaking of Exalted music
bleak hazel
hmm, now that I think about it
bleak hazel
God-Blooded, god-of-chance Sid who uses a bunch of playing card theming
tulip folio
Mostly the 'ones that are more actively supernatural are easier to wire into I Could Use This For An Exalted Game' from the 'game fell over' ones. XD
prisma sun
I would 100% pay the Evocation Your Fist surcharge just to get the Legend-Forging Blow evocation for King Hu's fists
bleak hazel
I still want to try that gimmick of using an artifact razor-wire garotte and buffing it up with the Improv Weapon Damage charm that Sids get
prisma sun
bleak hazel
"oh man that's badass"
"wait, no, we're weaponizing falling damage in stupid ways again"
- me whenever I see a megaton punch move in Exalted
forced movement can just be forced movement, game, you don't have to keep duct taping instant kill cheese to it
although 10m 1wp Simple E3 is at least a more reasonable price for it
bleak hazel
I don't know I would be very generous about slapping warstriders around, that's cool as hell
and warstriders can take it
bleak hazel
I also just want to shout out Holistic Arsenal Methodology as one of the funniest Sid charms
bleak hazel
this happens to really help with martial arts compatibility and it's a great anti-ambush device
tulip folio
But honestly, mostly of my exalted characters don't have that.
Soaring Dream: Perfectly Normal Airfolk ~~Anathema~~ Solar.
Blighted Orichalcum and Ivory Mask: House Iselsi member who became a Loyalist Deathknight because part of her awakening involved her accidently wandering into the Labyrinth and the Princess Magnificent went 'Hey, Free Deathknight' when she found her in a stupor.
Righteous Restoration of Industry: Perfectly Normal Alchemical Necromancer
Loviatar: Master of Nightmares, Keeper of Celestial Flame, Sorcerer, Witch Queen, Chaos Incarnate (Ignore her, she's just an Infernal who's only danger is turning from human into Ham and Cheese).
but most importantly it lets me fight in melee with a starmetal sewing needle
wait, is that what "RiRi" extends to?
talk about a dramatic shift in tone
I love Alch names, they're just the right degree of extra
I was not originally a huge Alchemical fan but they're really growing on me
tulip folio
wait, is that what "RiRi" extends to?
Yes but saying her full name is a lot each time. XD
Ivory's Full Abyssal Name is perhaps a bit Undertuned for 'Extra Abyssal Names' but she was a pretty understated Abyssal.
prisma sun
Who do you think the greatest swordsman in Hell is, in Exalted?
bleak hazel
ligier
tulip folio
Who do you think the greatest swordsman in Hell is, in Exalted?
Ligier, not even a contest.
tulip folio
He will beat your ass with a sword he made for the express purpose of beating your ass.
bleak hazel
he is basically Conqy with the hell equivalent of the Hollywood Yellow Filter on so that makes a certain amount of sense
tulip folio
And with the 'messy bitch' dial turned up high.
bleak hazel
he is one of the reasons Malfeas remains my favourite way to do Infernals
tulip folio
But I think that is the 'existing in malfeas' filter. Rather than yellow, everything becomes green and messy melodramatic bitches
bleak hazel
my infernals are extremely boring, I go straight down the middle Green Sun Rock Star
with maybe a bit of Cece
I should do a SWLIHN primary infernal if and when we get the 3e book
prisma sun
Is Ligier "Invincible Sword Princess needs an opponent"
tulip folio
He's not been statted but the general description of him is 'He doesn't even bother noticing people trying to challenge him unless it's a full circle of solars'
I'm not sure if the devs could write a foe who is both 'A real challenge for invincible sword princess' and also 'Fun to deal with'
But fluffwise, a Dawn going against him is very much the underdog.
bleak hazel
he can do that, although he'd be very bored
tulip folio
Secret Sidereal Trick: Knowing how to hit people with martial art weapons in Normal Ways.
prisma sun
Summoning third circle demons is so fucking silly
"What do you mean this isn't even really a wmd"
bleak hazel
I'm not sure if the devs could write a foe who is both 'A real challenge for inv...
the hard part is mostly dealing with the fact that combat solars don't need to respect the initiative system and can basically chain infinite attacks, if you have a "please stop attacking me, I get a turn now" function of sufficient effectiveness I'm sure it's possible
like three to five deebs can beat up 90% of solars if they don't eat an entire dawn solar's mote pool on tick 1 before they can put up any defences
Falafel actually has something that might do it
if you keep trying to hit him he will just keep countering you
prisma sun
Isn't it mainly just having a "No I go first button"
bleak hazel
yeah, Thunderclap Rush Attack skips the initiative order and can be activated whenever the fuck you like
tulip folio
...man, now I'm remembering the Isodoros perfect that floated about in a few 2e homebrews as both perfect and anti-ambush tool.
'This is a perfect defence against everything that stops working when I actually have taken a turn'
'Look, I'm not paying attention yet and if I didn't see the attack, it didn't count'
bleak hazel
if TRA didn't Do That, Hail-Shattering Practice wasn't quite so cheap and Miracles of the Solar Exalted was hit with a nuclear strike then Dawns would be pretty reasonable
still terrifying singular combatants, but not "yeah, basically nobody has the kit to make this a fight"
(might also have to tweak Peony Blossom Attack because the fact you can just chain it into infinite swings gets kind of jank, but that's more of an edge case)
tulip folio
And with his dice pool and a 2 handed sword, he's pretty damn good at clashes I imagine.
bleak hazel
he's a quick character so his weapon doesn't actually have stats, but he's got 14 dice and a Solaroid excellency so he can thwack pretty hard
prisma sun
What happens if two people do TRA?
tulip folio
The GM goes to get a drink
bleak hazel
"best stunt wins" which probably means the PCs
that clause has basically stopped people whiterooming Solar vs Solar because deciding who is stunting best decides who is the protagonist anyway
you may as well flip a coin
prisma sun
Not if I was storytelling 
One thing I'm consistently good at in tabletop games
N'ere shall anyone outstunt me
tulip folio
...honestly, Glacier Jade as a Sid wouldn't be terrible. Battles or Endings and go full Wuxia Swordmaster.
prisma sun
Considering she's fated to kill her mom you could go Endings or Serenity
tulip folio
I should check how nonsense Sid Ride is.
Mongolian Swordmaster needs herself a horse, after all. XD
...oh right, you can Make Your Horse A God.
Like you're an even more demented nero
prisma sun
You can also Make Anything (or anyone) a Horse
bleak hazel
there's a fun horse archery artifact in AOTC
not sure how cracked it is but I like the vibe
tulip folio
I guess I need to learn how the Riding Rules work now too. XD
tulip folio
not sure how cracked it is but I like the vibe
Solars: No Sense Of Right And Wrong.
"Hey, let me rule you."
"...we kinda already have a leader."
"Oh, I guess I'm going to play the Most Dangerous Game with your god!"
prisma sun
"Well now we want you here even less."
tulip folio
Oh no, the physics engine is jank
Oh, I found the 'turn anything into a horse' charm.
That is very funny
Endings +
Ride
Dodge
Performance
Presence
Melee
For a Sid Swordmaster, perhaps?
prisma sun
Looks good
bleak hazel
resistance is also a good pickup if you're going combat primary
but the alternative of starting with Res 3 and 3 ox-bodies also works
tulip folio
Oh wow. That is beefy
'If these guys are enemies of fate, I am going to absolutely tear them in half'
...vague pondering of an artifact weapon's 'thing'
Dancing Snowflake: When the wielder charges, razor-sharp ice forms along the blade of this weapon. It allows the wielder to Impale, as with a Lance.
So it's a 'When On A Horse' weapon.
bleak hazel
red haze is not quite as nuts as it looks because it's a Simple charm, so that's your turn
not bad if your party is fighting a huge soak monster or something and you need to boost the effectiveness of Overwhelming, though
tulip folio
Fair. Still seems quite mean, especially for Endings, who can give everyone Overwhelming: Lots and let even chips tear chunks out of people.
I should find a list of 'Like a horse but cooler' that exist in exalted.
...wait, silly Iki. Wyld-Mutated Horse, if her mother is a Fae.
...though I'd need to work out how getting that works. I think that literally just ends up 'the GM makes it up'.
bleak hazel
the various Zombie Horses in the abyssal book mostly just use the mutation system anyway, so you're in good company there
tulip folio
Oddly enough, the corebook doesn't see to have stats for a Simhata. Maybe the Lunars book?
Nope
bleak hazel
you want Hundred Devils Night Parade
they also do other stuff but it's split over a few pages
tulip folio
Yeah, they look real scary and still 'horse-like'.
As like, I'm sure riding a tyrant lizard would be better, mechanically
But it also wouldn't really have that 'Mongolian Light Cavalry' vibe.
If that makes sense?
tulip folio
Hahahah
Familiar 2 (Simhata)
Familiar 1 (Hawk)
There we go!
That basic 'you can share senses with your familiar' seems fun with a hawk for spying.
'Hello, I have Many Sidereal Awareness Charms and an entirely mundane hawk is flying overhead sharing sight with me'
bleak hazel
that actually patches one of the larger holes in Sid Awareness, which is that it has very little in the way of direct full-spectrum sensory boosting
it's an amazing tree with tons of useful stuff in, but you do Fate Spider-Sense, not Special Mega Eyes
tulip folio
And while hawks are not that stealthy, I imagine it would take a hell of a roll to work out 'This hawk is actually a familiar spying on me' as long as it's just roaming about above. 😛
I do also find it interesting how much of a looser touch most of the deathlords have in 3e.
Like yeah, they're still giant undead assholes
But there's a lot more 'You could plausibly have a loyalist in a group without them just Instantly Becoming The Villain'
Silver Prince Loyalist Deathknight: "I'm here for wining, dining and a trade deal. You don't start shit with me, I won't start shit with you."
bleak hazel
That is almost exactly my current character right down to the deathlord
Crimson Rain Augurs Fell Tidings wants to build a vast trade empire to fuel his great geomantic ambitions
He's a mildly insane necromancer who has a very blue and orange definition of what a real person is, he absolutely engages in Daybreak Activities, but he's still very friendly if you meet his Relevant Peer criteria
tulip folio
What's that Criteria? XD
bleak hazel
If you build/do resplendent and wonderful things, you're a human, if you don't you're raw materials
tulip folio
...so he'd likely think the Mountain Folk are Humans. XD
bleak hazel
His definition of resplendent and wonderful has the typical Abyssal-flavoured tint on, but yes
he's allies and occasionally odd friends with Lunar Ghengis Khan, whose domain abuts his shadowland
I took a dot/charm in Ride so I could go out adventuring with them occasionally as a patron/diplomat/battle necromancer
his one strange thing is that he cannot stand slavery, because slaves are not given the chance to make great and wonderful things and everyone deserves their attempt
if you fail to find productive employment in his domain his enforcers will kill you and raise your skeleton as a worker zombie, but that was on you
tulip folio
snrk
Despite being an Enemy of Fate, he'd likely like that Mountain Folk-Blooded Sid I made, considering how much 'Makes Resplendent/Stylish Things' is in Sid Craft. XD
bleak hazel
Local Solaroid Does Not Understand Structural Forces
"clearly being a great man is easy, look, I did it and I died"
tulip folio
...this feels like a Kinda Disgusting Eclipse Charm.
bleak hazel
he does not like the guild, but works with a lot of their agents because how else are you meant to do high-powered magical materials trading on the side
someday he will shred their enterprise with his own hands and free their slaves, to whom he will provide no help or assistance whatsoever
and go back to turning more and more bits of creation into shadowlands to make trade posts
bleak hazel
...this feels like a Kinda Disgusting Eclipse Charm.
oh yeah that's really nice
if White Veil worked even slightly differently I'd be all over that
tulip folio
I've not seen many 'dice fuckery' eclipse charms.
Most of them tend to be more 'have a cool trick'
(Which I think is the better area for them mechanically)
bleak hazel
Crimson Rain's morals do not make any kind of sense, but he does not really care
He's going back to his 5 dot soulsteel artifacts now
tulip folio
...oh, the book also shows off a Raksha Artifact. That's cool, they don't use magical materials at all.
So the resonance is entirely Thematics Based
I think this also means this is one of the only artifacts a Solar is not resonant with.
tulip folio
Crimson Rain's morals do not make any kind of sense, but he does not really care
Rich people don't need consistant morals, they've got money!
bleak hazel
Res 5 baby
He doesn't really like military men, and as such he tends to get grumpy around deebs because they're often such a bunch of soldier boys/girls
also they keep trying to kill him but whatever
I stuck a fair amount of Exalted blue and orange morality onto Fisk from Daredevil and then merged him with Sauron
tulip folio
Nice
...looking over Ku Nenaveya (48, Adversaries of the Righteous), I think she might genuinely be an Enlightened Mortal, 2e-style.
She's not undead, there's no mention of odd bloodlines and she's not exalted.
tulip folio
She's also a devoted follower of the Bishop who can treat anything the bishop tells her to do as an unacceptable order. XD
bleak hazel
How tough is she? A baseline enlightened mortal would be fun to use for my immaculate monks
tulip folio
How tough is she? A baseline enlightened mortal would be fun to use for my immac...
Not crazy good but she's pretty decent.
Dex 4 + Stat 4 + Spec on melee
tulip folio
Oh, she's got an excellency
Enmity-Driven Onslaught (1m+; Supplemental; Instant; Dual; Essence 2): Add one die per mote spent, up to (Animus) dice, to an attack roll. If it’s withering, also add that many dice to its post-soak damage; if it’s decisive, add half that many dice (rounded down) to its raw damage, or to the Initiative roll if it’s a gambit.
Animus is 'the value of the intimacy of hatred I have towards you'.
So for a Major Hatred (Like she has for all rivals), she can add up to +3 dice on an attack
Which gives her a pool of 15 dice with her blade. Pretty damn solid for a mortal.
Oh and she's got one for parry too.
Focused Loathing Deflection (2m+; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 1): Increase Parry by one per two motes spent, up to a bonus of (Animus/2, rounded up), and ignore that many points of onslaught penalty. On a successful block, steal one Initiative from the attacker
Vindictive Counterattack (3m; Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack, Decisive-only; Essence 2): When parrying an attack, make a decisive Melee counterattack that occurs after the opponent’s attack result (successful or not), but before damage is rolled, ignoring (Animus) Hardness. This doesn’t count as her combat action for the turn.
Honestly, for a mortal? She's pretty fucking scary.
Like she's not exactly a Real Exalt but if you're not a combat character she could whack a Twilight Caste up and down the arena for a bit.
Her big limitation is that if she doesn't hate you, her power level drops to 'most of my charms don't work'.
So the 'I'm too likable to hate, treat all intimacies towards me like that as lower' Alch would genuinely ruin her day.
bleak hazel
Yeah that's pretty mean
and gives me a good level to calibrate "enlightened mortal immaculate sifu" at
less hatred-based, I'm thinking I bring back my idea of Shape Punch Motes as an action
tulip folio
She's a mortal who was given Personal Attention by the Bishop, so she's likely the upper tier of enlightened mortals.
But that's still a Pretty Damn Decent Tier.
Since her powers are hate-based, her intimacy list is of course, pretty funny and very 'powergamer player made this after knowing how they get power'
bleak hazel
I want my mortal martial arts master to go meditate for a full day and come out with some kind of mote pool that they can use to use basic m-a charms
and then I can just give them Terrestrial-keyword snake style without too much of an issue
no regen, they get what they get
tulip folio
She hates: Exalts, People of Black Shale Road, Bandits and Militia, Enemies who are beating her and the Bishop.
This are all distinct intimacies
She may actually be an earth elemental, as she's made out of 100% salt.
bleak hazel
Someone get that one second circle demon who hates earth-type stuff
tulip folio
...well, that's an artifact.
Who gives a shit what the evocations are with that passive!
bleak hazel
Mask that doesn't work
tulip folio
That said: The evocations are damn good.
The base one lets you have a Resplendent Destiny
...actually, that's a pondering. If a Sidereal wears that Artifact Armour that perfectly disguises you as the guy the armour represents...how does that interact with Resplendent Destinies/Arcane Fate?
coral wraith
...actually, that's a pondering. If a Sidereal wears that Artifact Armour that p...
Overrides Resplendent Destines, Arcane Fate still applies
So everyone forgets Sozen as soon as you leave lol
tulip folio
Yeah, I was pondering as Resplendent Destinies override Arcane Fate but the armour makes you a Specific Dude.
I'm dangerously tempted with this character to get a Variant of Sozen that is 'An outfit crafted by her mother of the figure she's sure that she'll one day be'. So she's wearing armour with herself as the identity...but a herself that's abhorrent to the current her.
To make the 'If you draw on the intimacies of this armour, you start to adopt them' really scary for her.
bleak hazel
...actually, that's a pondering. If a Sidereal wears that Artifact Armour that p...
I think this is just a Resplendent Destiny straight up honestly
overrides one you have on, but isn't subject to Arcane Fate
by extension of the principles outlined in the "stick arcane fate on a guy" charm
this strikes me as Creative Use Of Magic
tulip folio
I think this is just a Resplendent Destiny straight up honestly
Possibly? Resplendent Destinies are not really Specific Dudes in 3e.
That's fair!
bleak hazel
the outlines of them are just archetypes, yeah, but you can still name them and so on
it depends slightly on the group, but in the one I'm currently playing we tend to have Resplendent Destiny X the Y
so Vigil has one for Green Dog Liang, the Quartermaster
nobody quite knows what he's the Quartermaster of
he just has Quartermaster Vibes
upper stratus
you can still use resplendent destinies to build allies and contacts so it's not like they make you completely Generic Some Guy
bleak hazel
(this mostly just gives me excuses to meet with the Lunar merc company the sids are employing without raising any eyebrows)
you can also crib the mechanics from Sword-Queen's Foretold Blade, which lets you stick a resplendent destiny on an object and turn it into an artifact
tulip folio
it depends slightly on the group, but in the one I'm currently playing we tend t...
That's fair, that's broader than I thought it was.
coral wraith
is there a reason the Great Contagion happened?
or was it just "disease apocalypse device"
tulip folio
is there a reason the Great Contagion happened?
Because the Dowager figured it would kill all of creation.
bleak hazel
in 2e, one of the deathlords dug it up from the deepest well of horrors in the underworld
coral wraith
who
coral wraith
ah okay
bleak hazel
I am going to continue giving it to the Dowager Clad In Unrent Veils because otherwise she literally hasn't done anything ever
total scrub-Lord
tulip folio
I am going to continue giving it to the Dowager Clad In Unrent Veils because oth...
Actually, abyssal book confirms she did it still
bleak hazel
oh, nice
tulip folio
The Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils
Each of the Deathlords has vowed to end all things. Only one has come within reach. The Dowager engineered the Great Contagion, nearly wiping out all life on Creation. While she may not havesucceeded fully, she’s dealt the world of the living a blow from which it may never recover.
But basicly: The Deathlords are sworn to End Creation so that everything might enter oblivion and the neverborn might finally truly die.
And the Dowager nearly fucking did it
bleak hazel
note that the rest of the Deathlords are mostly not as fanatical as she is and look at her with extreme alarm because of this
tulip folio
Like half of them, if not more, are mostly just at the 'sure, why not' level.
bleak hazel
many of the Deathlords have a strictly "yeah, yeah, we'll get to it eventually" attitude towards Oblivion
tulip folio
With many of them at '...so just confirming: You guys have no understanding of human concepts like Lying, right? Cool. Yeah, I'm on board with this'
bleak hazel
the Neverborn themselves have agency but not really personality, because they're Dead
coral wraith
aren't most of them like "just chillin at da beach"
tulip folio
And even when they were alive, they didn't get people.
So they can't really easily tell if a deathlord is just Fucking Around.
As long as he's being Kinda Death-y
bleak hazel
They can't observe shit. They can't commune with each other. They can't plan. They can't scheme. They're not "evil death-gods" in the style of most fantasy. They are dead and yet they screamed "I Am" at the Shinma and so cannot die. They are caught in a dreadful paradox where they must exist and yet cannot be.
Their state of existence is dreadful. They definitionally exist for they burned their Mythos into reality - and yet they cannot exist for they are dead and rotting and cannot live. They suffer axiomatically and yet they have nothing to suffer with. No thoughts, but pain. No senses, but memories. No awareness, but sensation. They are caught eternally in a qlippothic state of un-being.
They have no mouth and they must scream.
And yes, the Whispers are the rotting noises of dead universes. There is no will behind them. They are the noise of degrading cosmoses. The nightmares of the Neverborn are not truly dreams, but are instead the breaking down of structure in the way that chemical reactions continue in a body after death. They're the food in the gut still being digested post-death, even as it spoils. But - and I said this before - a Primordial is a being of such complexity that there are patterns and meaning in their ceaseless and unending dissolution. A Primordial is so vast that the sound of it rotting contains secrets and imparts wisdom. The remnant chemical processes still create worlds to themselves - terrible, wretched, stinking worlds of suffering memories.
But when it comes down to it, yes, they have no agency and they have no will and they have no plans and they cannot do a thing. That is by design. The Neverborn were murdered and lost everything. Everything. Now they rot at the bottom of everything - and the filth and spiritual and mental taint they emit is impure and unclean. Every culture that has ever existed has had taboos against handling dead bodies and has been scared of disease and the Neverborn are the ultimate accumulation of every one of those taboos. They should not be touched.
But the Exalted broke open their tombs and fondled their rotting organs and pillaged them for their shiny things and that, that is perhaps the greatest sin of the Exalted. They broke open the tomb-cysts that contained impurity and let it spill out and now the sickness of rotting titans infects everything.
my personal favourite description of the Neverborn, from the old SV exalted thread
tulip folio
But that's where the Dowager comes in. See, she thought 'I was an exalt and I'm a powerful superghost. I can take over Stygia, Death's Main City!'
bleak hazel
they occasionally manage some spark of dying rage, which is what Whispers is normally and what got the First and Forsaken Lion locked eternally in his armour for challenging them
but they're not people
tulip folio
She proceeded to get her ass powerbombed through the nearest table by the Twin Monarchs of Stygia, two ghosts so powerful as to be borderline gods.
coral wraith
that's hardcore as fuck
bleak hazel
yeah they rock
coral wraith
She proceeded to get her ass powerbombed through the nearest table by the Twin M...
owned
bleak hazel
3e abyssals are great fun
tulip folio
The neverborn brought her back but...well, remember how they don't get people?
bleak hazel
they get all that delicious death metal neverborn juice without the old Solar Redemption bullshit
tulip folio
How well do you think they managed to put her back together?
tulip folio
Less with body and more with her soul but sure.
Her eyes are hungry voids into oblivion, when she speaks it is proclaim the end.
She's barely a person any more
More an avatar of the concept of oblivion
bleak hazel
the things the neverborn used to be didn't have souls that looked anything like humans, they had labyrinthine soul-hierarchies that produced a world full of full beings who were components of larger beings
the things the neverborn are now don't even have that
tulip folio
And it was this Dowager that unleased the Great Contagion.
She has no plans, she has no goals, she has no motivation. What she has, is a Purpose. To End Creation.
coral wraith
Are the neverborn like, full-on "dead" Primordials or just certain souls of certain primordials that came back wrong
bleak hazel
the process of killing a Primordial basically involves going through their entire hierarchy and killing all their second circle souls, then their third circle souls, then the thing itself, although they don't really have an existence distinct from the sum of little bits
coral wraith
right
tulip folio
Are the neverborn like, full-on "dead" Primordials or just certain souls of cert...
Yes. The specific dead souls are a top tier undead summon!
But the neverborn have reached levels of 'been killed' that mortals can never achieve but can't quite reach 'dead and gone'
bleak hazel
they are !Dead! Primordials, in full, but they don't have a Primordial soul structure any more than the burn-shadow on the wall left by a nuclear blast has human organs
coral wraith
jesus, what did the solars do to them
coral wraith
bleak hazel
every Celestial Exalt has an equivalent
the Solars have Ghost-Eating Technique, the Sidereals have Terminal Sanction, the Infernals, even, have Green Sun Nimbus Flare
tulip folio
It lets you Permakill things that can't normally die.
bleak hazel
Pattern Spider Touch can do it too, and explicitly has, from the 2e description
at least one primordial got duck punched
(Green Sun Nimbus Flare fucks supremely by the way, one of the cooler buttons in the Infernal charmset)
upper stratus
lets just permakill them a second time to fix this problem
tulip folio
But yeah a reason why one of the hardest-ass, in love with murder deathlords ran like a bitch rather than go through what the Dowager went through.
bleak hazel
Falafel is a boss for an entire circle of solars, he is very much not a chump
coral wraith
But yeah a reason why one of the hardest-ass, in love with murder deathlords *ra...
oh lord
bleak hazel
but you can't sword the neverborn
tulip folio
Princess Magnificant/The Black Heron is up there when it comes to 'most on board with the concept of death' Deathlords. Despite that, she took one look at the Dowager and went 'whatever the neverborn can do to me as punishment, it can't be as bad as them trying to help'.
upper stratus
black heron kinda goated for that tbh
tulip folio
Which is also sorta why so many of the Deathlords are Fucking About.
They know that, eventually, they need to make a push.
But...that comes with the risk of Sol just fucking Intercontinental Ballistic Sun Lancing them and they really don't want to see how much of them is left when they come back from that.
bleak hazel
3e deathlords are sicknasty because they are no longer wildly bouncing between the power tiers of "yeah, a single Dawn can just own these guys" and "so wildly beyond the game's mechanics that they are not plausible opponents"
they are instead raid bosses
upper stratus
funnily enough the "just fucking around" deathlords are divided into two groups of "trying to postpone the inevitable" and "genuinely think their bullshit is the best way to bring about the end of creation"
bleak hazel
totally plausible that your Celestial Circle can go throw down with Winters at some point but it's going to be the climax of a fairly long campaign of fighting all his dudes and getting swole, rather than the thing you do on day 2
coral wraith
right, Mask of Winters is the scary one that's doing a conquest rn
bleak hazel
he's cool, all my Siddy characters are peripherally connected to Thorns
upper stratus
he's the first to do a big flashy topside conquest yea
tulip folio
right, Mask of Winters is the scary one that's doing a conquest rn
And Mask is the least wants creation to end of them.
Like, creation is Mask's toy.
He doesn't want to lose it.
bleak hazel
I'm tempted to write up a little lore thing for the impromptu coalition of Independent Sids and Lunars that two of my games have turned into, since they've all accidentally ended up forming the anti-Abyssal moon and stars pact
coral wraith
lol
upper stratus
most of the other deathlords are upset with ol mask for putting a big sign over thorns that said "hello deathlords exist. you should look into this"
bleak hazel
Mask of Winters is my favourite deathlord
coral wraith
So Mask really is more of a conquering warlord than an exterminator
bleak hazel
he's just rocking and rolling
my actual Abyssal is under the Silver Prince, but only because it's convenient
coral wraith
most of the other deathlords are upset with ol mask for putting a big sign over ...
its fineeeee
tulip folio
The most wants creation to end guy outisde of dowager is the Bishop.
Who has achieved levels of 'fucking around' unmatched since the first age
He spends a lot of time having Philosophical Debates with priests over 'My Counterpoint: Kill Yourself. It's great!'
coral wraith
just die :)
upper stratus
the bishop: "my plan is to debate Creation to death"
thr neverborn not understanding anything except "creation" and "death": awwssome
bleak hazel
I have occasionally been tempted by a Bishop abyssal who is just channeling big Dune energy
holy war apocalypse prophet
tulip folio
Behold: The Bishop.
The walker in darkness likes the idea of oblivion and is very devoted to the neverborn but like...creation is where all his stuff is.
Are they sure they don't want something else from him?
We're not sure if The Eye and Seven Despairs knows what his job actually is but if he does enough Mad Scientist Shit he'll eventually blow the world up.
The Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears has decided that 'Little Death' and 'Big Death' are the same thing so if the does the first one enough it should cause the second one.
And she's making genuine, concerning progress
bleak hazel
Winters is to some extent allies with Eye and Seven Despairs purely because he produces many fun toys for Winters to use
coral wraith
The Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears has decided that 'Little Death' and 'Big ...
uh oh
bleak hazel
they still end up scheming and feuding because all deathlords do that but the schemes are things like "I'm requesting his favourite deathknight for an exchange program"
tulip folio
Like there's a lot of jokes about 'hahah, sex deathlord'
But the Lover is fucking terrifying.
upper stratus
no her thing is the loss of all hope now
tulip folio
There is no Deathlord that is as much about the death of the soul as she is.
tulip folio
no her thing is the loss of all hope now
Oh yeah but she's still called the Lover/2e characterization will likely stick in people's minds for a while.
upper stratus
i don't think that means you should impart that 2e characterization upon briar's innocent (read: no 2e) soul tho
tulip folio
And her 3e version isn't that far removed from her 2e one, just with a bit more thought and nuance to it.
But yeah, she's terrifying because...most of the death lords are about death (The body stops working). Undead Hordes and Stabbing You With A Daiklaive.
coral wraith
i am untainted by the terrors...
tulip folio
Lover's thing is the death of the soul.
coral wraith
oh dear!
tulip folio
Of losing everything that makes existance worth having
Amid the icy wastes of the North reigns a dreaded witch-queen, cruel and uncaring as the winter’s cold. This is the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears. She is the death of love. She is the moment when one wakes from a dream of a long-dead lover and remembers that they will never see them again.
this is especially dangerous for Solars, because Solars are to some extent intimacy-powered murder engines
fierce star
Hey iki have you considered the lover could be jades mom
bleak hazel
one of the more nonsense 2e solar charms was "when you go down while protecting something you truly care about, Get Back Up"
tulip folio
Hey iki have you considered the lover could be jades mom
That is fucking terrifying...it lines up concerningly well with her themes but also: Oh god, christ no.
tulip folio
Imagine how much rope that's worth!
Enough to hang all of creation.
bleak hazel
Abyssals, or Lunars are perfectly capable of doing the same thing through sheer hate or rage, Infernals have all kinds of weird and wonderful demon nonsense that gives them very strange perspectives on relationships, Sidereals will do as much self-psychosurgery as necessary to ensure the Damn Job Is Done, but Solars are not like this
Solars care, deeply, about the stuff they do and they're a lot less dangerous if they simply don't any longer
tulip folio
And the lover is very 'Just lay down and rot. Why even bother? This doesn't matter, nothing matters and hope is a lie'
bleak hazel
of course they're solars so they can heroic willpower through that kind of stuff, but it's not their preferred environment
upper stratus
the lover features prominently as a looming threat in my chronicle although sadly before the 3e writeup. i adjusted her theming to be about passion. she can't really do anything without fully commiting herself to it.
im sorta adjusting to 3e writeup now. she's doing an open invasion in the north cause she feels the mask forced everyone's hand but rather than about conquest, she wants to create a bastion on creation that shows itself off as a monumenr of her philosphy that will draw in the forsaken and destitute of the world
fierce star
The lover is the sort of nihilism that people who don't understand nihilism think nihilism is
bleak hazel
admittedly when your soul has been plugged directly into the Neverborn's OHGODMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOP for nearly a millenia that makes more sense
tulip folio
Bishop: "Nothing Matters! :)"
Lover: "Nothing Matters! :("
fierce star
I want to get into a kung fu debate with the bishop
bleak hazel
he is probably the ghost of a Sid, which is fun
he made his own SMA, which is Sid-only
probably very good at kung fu
fierce star
Yeah, he's implied to maybe be a sid, the dowager maybe a lunar, everyone else ???? Probably once a solar but all that really matters is the level of hate
tulip folio
The Lover terrifies even the other deathlords because for all their things...they still care about stuff. She is the death of the last thing they have left.
She's also very driven about proving nothing matters. She will find a single crack in your soul and slowly break it open to let your hopes and dreams drain out into the dirt.
fierce star
God I love her 3e characterization
coral wraith
probably very good at kung fu
He's the best martial artists among the Deathlords, according to the book
Which uh, is a very dangerous thing
bleak hazel
Silver Prince is also a master of Thousand Blades Style if you want a warmup
coral wraith
On top of him being one of the best necromancers
bleak hazel
1kblades is probably the strongest "mundane" martial art after Single Point
tulip folio
The Silver Prince went to Literally The Other End Of Creation to be away from the Lover and he's afraid it might not be far enough.
bleak hazel
Single Point because it's cracked, but 1kblades because you need five goddamn artifact weapons to use it
this is a very effective way of turning anyone who picks the xianxia protag martial art into an actual xianxia protag, looting bodies and tombs and scamming everyone who gets anywhere near because you want More Swords
tulip folio
Which makes sense. The Silver Prince gives so many fucks. He cares about so much shit and making that shit better and cooler.
He's her opposite.
bleak hazel
yeah, Silver Prince has arrayed the fields in which he grows his fucks carefully, and staffed many nicely polished zombies and skeletons to tend them
fierce star
Random head canon: ex3 eyes was a jadeborn
tulip folio
...his personality does line up with Void Seers and the particular ways they fall apart mentally very well.
tulip folio
yeah, Silver Prince has arrayed the fields in which he grows his fucks carefully...
He likes Playing With His Boats and, ironically, likely has some of the most Ethically Made Soulsteel in creation. It's still a horrible abomination but a lot of it is made from people who volunteered!
bleak hazel
yeah, Crimson is one of his abyssals because they both want to build institutions
although Crimson gets his skeleton crew (ha) from slightly less pleasant sources
tulip folio
The Prince is sitting there with his excel spreadsheet for his hearts of iron game open.
bleak hazel
Crimson, despite having 9 craft charms, is actually a Bureaucracy Apocalyptic
tulip folio
Okay, that's not fair. Faffle is the Hearts of Iron player.
bleak hazel
I was kind of tempted to see if I could make some super scary skeletons by dipping exalt bones in molten soulsteel alloy
gimme that E-1000
first though I need to make some zombie krakens because Peleps keeps interdicting my stuff and using strictly underworld rivers for transport is a pain
fierce star
Hmmm. Who's the Europa universalis, crusader kings, and Stellaris players among the death lords....
bleak hazel
Winters is clearly playing CK2
tulip folio
Oh right @coral wraith. Faffle. So, you'll likely hear that a bit. That's the First and Forsaken Lion. A Darth Vader looking motherfucker who is pretty much the iconic Deathlord.
bleak hazel
he's spending ages shuffling local appointments among his deathknights
tulip folio
You would be too if you got steam-baked into your soulsteel armour
tulip folio
Hmmm. Who's the Europa universalis, crusader kings, and Stellaris players among ...
The Lover plays Diplomacy. She is the death of all hope, after all.
bleak hazel
I think he's the most nicknamed after the Unconquered Sun (Conky/Conk/Sol Invictus) and Chejop Kejak (almost universally known as Ketchup Carjack)
I suppose She Who Lives In Her Name is usually SWLIHN but that's mostly for convenience
tulip folio
The Bishop plays 'Twitter Arguments but he has the power to punch you through your screen'
fierce star
Lol
bleak hazel
god who else gets nicknames, I know every exalted thread I've ever been in ends up assigning a few
tulip folio
Autocthun.
Gets Auto-kun, Autobot City and Primus, though the first one most commonly.
upper stratus
are we counting the books giving each exalt type and then also all of their castes like 6 nicknames each
bleak hazel
nah that's official, that doesn't count
upper stratus
lmao
bleak hazel
although I do like that the Immaculates officially assign every Solar and Lunar caste a slur
Forsaken (Derogatory)
tulip folio
'Please consult the Big Book of Bigotry to identify your exalt'
fierce star
Lol
bleak hazel
also it's cool to have a bunch of titles assigned to you by default
blackberry sids rocking up and going I AM THE RECKONER kicks ass
tulip folio
I look foward to the inevitable Locust Crusade expansion when we get Immaculate Slurs for their castes too.
bleak hazel
oh god not the locust crusade
second only to the Lotus Massacre as "strangest ass-pull plotline"
fierce star
I feel like we can trust the current crop of devs to like
tulip folio
The GM for that Autobot campaign had a very fun idea on how to do a 3e version of it that's more interesting/less stupid.
fierce star
Not shit the idea up
bleak hazel
even the previous devs acknowledged that the Locust Crusade had to be driven extinct to do interesting stuff there again
tulip folio
Basicly: Treat it less like an invasion and more like X-Com. There are strange lights in the sky, sightings of odd figures and things going missing.
Not a rampaging army
bleak hazel
and Return of Big Red was memory holed for many reasons but "trivally murdering all the Sids, who just apparently forgot to use all their abilities today" was one of them
tulip folio
As they're investigating and data gathering about creation. They've not just turned up with Metropolis Warforms to wreck shit as 'invading' isn't the plan.
It's 'getting resources to live'
And there's a lot of ways to do that
fierce star
Yeah rotse was a thing. There were some individual cool ideas but...
bleak hazel
it becomes instantly more plausible if getting out of Autobot is hard and they can't just pop the seal and immediately go walkabout
a concept immediately familiar from the other realm made out of a primordial
tulip folio
What I'd do? Is have them crack the seal., not open it.
So they can send Individual Airships or Small Groups
But not A Full Army.
bleak hazel
Alch to Infernal "wait, you guys have to walk for exactly five days too?"
tulip folio
Like I feel like the biggest issue with the Locust Crusade was the 'crusade' part. Why is this just Instantly A War?
Creation has so much fucking resources
Set them down on whatever level of crater gem is currently at
And most of the Autobot City metropolis' would be entirely happy
bleak hazel
I suppose "do a bunch of sorcery to get Cece to erode the seal a bit, because it should take five days god damn it, this is primordialland and I am the one who guards primordialland" would be a funny way to deal with that
"hey autobot how you doing"
tulip folio
Lux likely wouldn't be happy but that's becuase Lux needs something to put his fancy new jackboots down on before he's happy.
Return of the Scarlet Empress though...yeah, that one is kinda irredeemable.
coral wraith
extremely bad
bleak hazel
it was very much from the "solars need to do everything" era and as such it basically chumped every other splat, Sids especially, to ensure that you had to get a circle of solars to show up and save the day kinda sorta
fierce star
There are some individual interesting ideas in it but it--yeah
bleak hazel
similar vibe to the old "autocthonia can't fix autobot, only Solars can (trivially), so the only valid autobot plotline is to break the seal and go find the real protagonist" issue
fierce star
And fails to deliver on the few decent ideas it had
bleak hazel
"doomoid hit squad kills the unconquered sun" is not entirely without merit as a plot, yeah
but not in the way it was executed
coral wraith
absolutely shat on the scarlet empress as a character/ideal, too
tulip folio
it was very much from the "solars need to do everything" era and as such it basi...
God, I remember the 'Somehow her redness mind controls literally every single dragonblooded in the great houses because they're related to her?'
bleak hazel
yeah
tulip folio
'Welcome to dragonblooded adventures: Being a mind controlled borderline automaton minion for the infernals'
bleak hazel
every Sid dies all at once after Unspecified Infernal Nonsense, Big Red zaps every deeb, can't remember what the lunars were doing but I assume absolutely nothing as usual
tulip folio
It's 2e. Lunars are always doing nothing in other people's books.
I think the only bit of that entire plot I liked was the silver prince going 'OH NO YOU FUCKING DON'T!' and basicly rallying the entire south.
'Look, he's a deathlord and his guys are undead but he's anti-all-this-fuckery'
coral wraith
exalted 2e: not a well written game!
bleak hazel
if you combine that energy with the new 3e actually-good-abyssals it becomes very charming, yeah
the vibes of the evil death solars are surprisingly good
tulip folio
Also the vibes of his navy are fucking amazing.
Just these pure soulsteel battleships.
I'd say he's not playing but he clearly is, he just likes playing 'build the cool boat'
upper stratus
bro got hobbies
bleak hazel
now that I think about it, the eternal vibe I kind of disliked about some of the older Exalted writing is that it put "actually having infrastructure and organisation" as a major downside whenever it came up
tulip folio
I think if I ran him and his ships in the game I'd let the Soulsteel-ified crews of those battleships Pirates of the Caribbean davy jones crew and go 'We can't leave this ship, we're part of it but we can still move about on the deck/fight boarders'
bleak hazel
Sids and Deebs are incompetent chumps when their toys get taken away, Lunars only do stuff when the Pact isn't involved, Solars are eternally fine because they were born yesterday as isolated blobs of infinite power who don't need none of your Society
tulip folio
So you've got Soulsteel Skeletons attacking boarders
upper stratus
awesome
coral wraith
dope as hell
tulip folio
Sids and Deebs are incompetent chumps when their toys get taken away, Lunars onl...
Pull yourself up by your own exalt-straps.
bleak hazel
I think there's a ship in one of the splats for that
with naval combat rules, unfortunately, but hey
coral wraith
Sids and Deebs are incompetent chumps when their toys get taken away, Lunars onl...
From everything I've observed they've done a good job at making every Exalt that isn't Solars cool in 3e in their own way
Sids are so charming
I love the lil Watson plants
bleak hazel
"having relationships and infrastructure and social organisation is for idiots, because those are things that other people can attack" is kind of a strange theme for all the bad exalted writing
aside maybe from my one minor grump about 3e lunars, which is that basically all of them are in the Pact and it should probably be like half tops
tulip folio
The souls of the crew can inhabit parts of the ship, forming it into attacking limbs or even full on bodies for a time. They are treated as a size 2, Might +2 battlegroup with Elite Drill. However, they can only exist upon the ship and any ship it is currently boarding, dissolving back into nothing as they are drawn back to the soulsteel they are now part of if pushed beyond it.
etc
Basicly set the ship up as 'This ship has functionally modern automation because it's Full of Sailor Souls that know how to crew a ship'
bleak hazel
I could have sworn I saw a really fun writeup of something like that but the thread I remember it being in is 2000 pages long so excuse me if I can't quite find it
tulip folio
It is interesting how they seem to have really taken a hammer to the gear of everyone's favorite Gunzosha-armour hoarders in 3e
Like, they're still a power but there's a lot more...Fallout 1 Brotherhood of Steel to them.
Where they're really starting to fall apart/their maintenance is reaching its limits.
fierce star
You know what I don't get
Forest witches
They're just kind of... There? Being... Weird?
And it's all the solars fault?
bleak hazel
I have seen one really fun forest witch PC so while I do not get their entire deal I appreciate the weirdness
"you can be both a spirit and a deeb at the same time" is pretty goddamn wild though
normally anything that makes you Go Ghost strictly removes the exaltation
fierce star
Yeah it's like
bleak hazel
I do want to write up my 3e version of BOKL style as something inspired by the Sea of Mind though, because an Elder Sid going on these insane dreamquest wanderings that somehow result in him wrecking house and solving problems before withdrawing to Heaven where he's normal again sounds fun
fierce star
I don't mind them being there but it's strange they're put on the same level as like, lookshy and Prasad as far as writeups go instead of being an example of Weird DB Hillbilly Clan, I suppose.
bleak hazel
OK, in attempt to find the cool ghost ship I ran into Deathlord Dracula Flow
fierce star
Oh hell yeah
bleak hazel
coral wraith
I think having weird fucked up thing is cool
bleak hazel
tulip folio
Border of Kaleidoscopic Logic Style is weird but I kinda like the vibes
And would like a functional version
bleak hazel
dowager kind of weak but I like Eye
fierce star
Bokl and quicksilver hand of dreams are two of my favorite smas, thematically
tulip folio
I like the Princess Magnificent one. It feel like it treads both sides of her pretty well.
fierce star
I keep talking about it but qhod being a memetic virus the fair folk made to weaken heaven that the siddies coopted for more kung fu is great
bleak hazel
I use a lot of Prismatic since it's an amazing combat toolkit, but I vibe with CMOS, Obsidian Shards and BOKL
I am not too familiar with QHOD
tulip folio
That's the one where you start doing Fae Shaping Combat Bullshit in creation, isn't it?
Like not mechanically but fluffwise.
bleak hazel
I like the Princess Magnificent one. It feel like it treads both sides of her pr...
Winters is my favourite
and yeah they were all unusable but they had some fun energy
one of the best things in the Sid book is the almost total redemption of Breathing on the Black Mirror without making it any less scary
tulip folio
Now it's just, as I understand it, 'Fuck it, skip to the end of this fight'
coral wraith
Y'all sleeping on Citrine Poxes smh
bleak hazel
(well, it's less scary because it's not literally an instant win button any longer, but it's got the same juice)
tulip folio
As anyone you can beat with it is likely someone you could beat without it
bleak hazel
not... quite
in order to land Black Mirror you need to start a mediocre tv series have enough initiative to produce successes equal to the tankiest opponent's remaining health levels
in a vaccum, this is identical to "how much initiative you need to kill them" but it's not an attack, they can't parry it
or use defences against it
it's not uncountable damage either, it Ends Combat
fierce star
Y'all sleeping on Citrine Poxes smh
Poxes is just very usable tbh. Extremely viable and normal sma. It's good but it's not like
tulip folio
'normal sma', ID says, like that's a sane phrase.
fierce star
It doesn't make you go 'wouldn't it be fucked up if' very much
bleak hazel
I am sure if someone used it on a Solar PC they would argue that they can Heavenly Guardian Defence it because that ability is terribly worded but it basically just Works
tulip folio
I am sure if someone used it on a Solar PC they would argue that they can Heaven...
Yes but if a solar PC claimed that I'd counter with Rulebook Clapping Head Blow.
bleak hazel
which is fun because it lets the max level sid accept a variable result via collaborative writing exercise in exchange for getting to say "Fuck you, I Win"
which is extremely sidereal
Obisidan Shards is not the strongest SMA for just slamming into each other until you get to the big capstone stuff, it's mostly a long list of expensive gimmick moves
tulip folio
It is amusing that Sids and Raksha hate each other but are basicly each other's mirror. Playing roles and doing esoteric bullshit. XD
bleak hazel
they're very strong gimmicks but if you want raw combat efficiency or utility go Prismatic or Charcoal March of Spiders
which makes sense, those two are kind of the Straightforward smas
Prismatic is a giant toolbox with a lot of raw mote efficiency boosters, CMOS is the best skirmisher kit in the game with the possible exception of Solar Archery, purely because Solar Archery can instagib you long before you have to take a move action
tulip folio
I was looking at Prismatic for my Mountainfolk-blooded sid because it would let her literally Become Jade Like Her Kin/The magical material style felt really natural. XD
bleak hazel
citrine pox is Normal(TM) but it's not for beating faces in like the rest, it's a continuation of the sneaky plague martial arts in sidereal form
it does have a couple of moves for throwing hands but it mostly makes you the megadoktor
bleak hazel
I was looking at Prismatic for my Mountainfolk-blooded sid because it would let ...
the magical materials tree is one I wish my characters could make better use of, but it's not a great form when you're holding a sword
Five Jade Fury for 2 motes is wild, for 4 motes it's very much a sometimes food
bleak hazel
haven't tried it
haven't even ran mock fights with it
does have some sweet moves though
I suppose I could give it to Detective Exalted, Exalted Detective because he has Lore favoured and Int 5
tulip folio
Then Is Now isn't really a combat trick but it's just a very cool trick for 'Wait, no. I'm stopping this shit'
bleak hazel
he just has to scramble a bit getting all his favoured abilities in a neat row before he hits E3
tulip folio
If someone blows up a castle, you can go 'WAIT A SECOND' and hit reverse
bleak hazel
since I spread him quite thin to get the Presence and Occult stuff I wanted out of the box without favouring them
tulip folio
My only sadness with Gyre is that it doesn't work with swords, so you can't have a Daiklaive and Short Daiklaive as Hour and Minute Hands.
bleak hazel
Get Enlightened
every weapon works with any SMA as long as you don't want to mix other martial arts in
even martial arts weapons, because there's a battles charm that lets you use them with Melee or Brawl
the annoying part there would be that dual-wielding two nonidentical weapons does not grant the +2 dice clash bonus
but you can always make an artifact that is two different swords and just say that it does
tulip folio
The thing I'm less sure about with Gyre is that Gyre basicly doesn't believe in single digit mote costs. XD
'You wanna use a charm from me? Pony up 10+ motes and a willpower'
upper stratus
common for SMAs tbh. you don't really wanna use them back to back
tulip folio
Striking Through Eternity
Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Futures Best Avoided
The stylist’s blow echoes through the future, striking at multiple points along her enemy’s progression through time.
The stylist makes a withering or decisive attack against an enemy. If it hits, the attack is repeated at the end of the round as a surprise attack, inflicting a −2 Defense penalty. It benefits from all magic used to enhance the original attack, but the stylist can’t use additional effects to benefit it. Decisive attacks have the same base damage as the initial attack and don’t
reset the stylist’s Initiative. She doesn’t need to still be within range of the enemy when the attack recurs.
Reset: Once per scene unless reset by landing a decisive attack at 12+ Initiative against a crashed enemy
On the plus side: This seems like a beefy double hit.
upper stratus
cmos does get nice relatively cheap scenelomg buffs you can stack in addition to the big fuck you moves
tulip folio
The Perpetual Moment
Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Enlightenment
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Then Is Now
The stylist slows time’s flow, trapping her enemy a halfstep behind her in eternity’s gyre.
The stylist makes a decisive attack against a lower-Initiative enemy. If its damage equals or exceeds (target’s Integrity or Resistance), he suffers the following effects:
• Acting on his turn requires him to flurry to take a single action. He can take actions that couldn’t normally be flurried, like using Simple Charms, but still suffers the penalties for flurrying.
• All of his movement counts as being through difficult terrain.
• His onslaught penalty doesn’t refresh at the start of his turn — instead, it’s reduced by one.
This effect ends at the end of the scene or if the target crashes or incapacitates the stylist.
This also feels like a really beefy debuff.
Where you hit him with a scene long 'Fuck off, doing shit isn't allowed'
...actually, looking over it, Gyre has a good number of non-combat charms for a marital art.
Then Is Now is basicly purely non-combat unless you're opposing someone who's actively trying to destroy scenery
Future's Best Avoided is just 'Hey, I already set up a counter to this', even outside of combat.
Battered by Eternity’s Tides is has a non-combat part built in.
Lotus Labyrinth Durance lets you Hyperbolic Time Chamber an ally.
bleak hazel
CMOS has cheap scenelongs, Prismatic has Ways of Exaltation + the whole counter suite to give you more juice, plus the relatively efficient magical materials tree
the others are all expensive
bleak hazel
```
Striking Through Eternity
Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 3
Ty...
ignore the actual effect of any defence/onslaught penalties on parry/evade because any opponent you need to break SMAs out against will negate them, but the double hit is huge
The Perpetual Moment is not quite total Bad Touch but it's very close to "fuck you, get on the floor"
the good thing is that an onslaught penalty of a billion still exists even if the enemy exalt is popping a penalty negator to remove their effect on his parry
so you can still build up mega onslaught and use it to fuel Emerald Gyre of Aeons Form
tulip folio
I have also decided that RiRi is 150cm on the dot. Tiny Alchemical. XD
tulip folio
so you can still build up mega onslaught and use it to fuel Emerald Gyre of Aeon...
Yeah I remember another style reminding 'Even if the other guy isn't applying it to defence, onslaught penalties still exist for any other use'
bleak hazel
yeah, it's in VBOS
fierce star
Smol robutt
bleak hazel
and that's basically a Solars Only warning because they have the scenelong penalty negators
abyssals too I guess
tulip folio
Yeah, I recall most others I've seen being 'pay a small amount to reduce onslaught by that much'
Or 'once off, negate it entirely'
bleak hazel
the celestial standard is "pay 1-2 motes, remove 1/2 the penalties on one attack, with a conditional way to remove them entirely"
Sid melee is fun because if you're in its form it's a straight up 1 mote full negation
Sid melee defence can get very efficient but you have to work at it because Sids never do anything in a straight line and their static value excellency cap is slightly lower than other celestials until they hit E4/5, like the alchs
tulip folio
Alchs have a nice charm for going 'Okay, sure. I guess I don't get it to reduce your defence...but'
bleak hazel
there's a particular shield charm that eats a steady trickle of motes but I'm pretty sure that dual wielding shields in Sid Melee with a dash of Prismatic can get you up to a resting parry of 12 stock, 13 + no penalties for 1 mote
14 on a horse but that feels excessive
assuming you're stunting
bleak hazel
yeah but two shields and a horse?
tulip folio
Alchemical: 'Okay, I guess I'm not getting it vs your def...but have you considered: Clashes and your soak?
bleak hazel
that might be slightly difficult to smuggle into the calibration feast
bleak hazel
Alchemical: 'Okay, I guess I'm not getting it vs your def...but have you conside...
yeah that one is very strong
Alchs are probably the most directly punchy celestial other than Solars
fierce star
You're a sidereal, you can figure out some weird way to smuggle things in
bleak hazel
wait you're a sidereal
your horse is a flea that lets you count as mounted
your shields are also small, starmetal butterflies
you were secretly Malenia all along
is there an alch charm to just make Onslaught stick?
tulip folio
is there an alch charm to just make Onslaught stick?
See: Overwhelming Velocity Upgrade on that charm.
They need to keep hammering to stop it refreshing
But they can do so
bleak hazel
genuinely amazing that that doesn't make it cost more motes
I suppose if they parry you they break the streak
because you need to land the attack
great counter to clash spec though
tulip folio
'Hey, Mr Clash Guy. Can you pass the clash with minus...eight...dice?'
bleak hazel
yeah, Mr Clash Guy needs to pop out Serenity In Blood and force you to miss just once before he can get back to clashing
god, the Ride A Flea charm is so fun with this stupid setup because it doesn't actually say you don't get your mounted bonuses while riding something 1/10000th your size
they need reaching to reliably hit you
tulip folio
Put on a scarf and pilot goggles and just keep zooming about the room
bleak hazel
they can still stab your familiar, though
even if it is wholly shielded by your boot
tulip folio
It's not the most 'wins direct fights' charms, I do really love the Alch Defend Other upgrade.
As it's just So Very Alch
Casualty-Minimizing Equations
bleak hazel
also, every Sidereal clash or counterattack charm is somewhat more expensive than the Solar equivalent for one reason
so robot takes the hits, and then when they try to throw something scary the Sid can jump in and clash it
bleak hazel
clash + defend other is kind of wonky, there was a dev ruling on the Onyx Path boards once from one of the new devs that indicates that combining the two is absolutely brutal, because if someone is Defend Othering a teammate and the teammate clashes, the Parry value from the DO is applied to the attacker's successes before the clash is resolved
which basically means Eat Shit
Sid and Alch can now cover each other absurdly well
tulip folio
With Advanced Calculation Arrays it looks very powerful but before that it's a bit weird.
Giving up an entire turn to bank your successes.
bleak hazel
how many motes does it cost baseline?
tulip folio
3m, 2i
bleak hazel
yeah that looks fair enough, it is a significant efficiency booster
tulip folio
bleak hazel
but you don't want to excellency that roll because spending 2 motes for +1 success on the banked dice is the same efficiency as just spending it to raise your evasion normally, and less reliable
unless you are specifically banking a huge evasion spike in advance of a big enemy decisive
tulip folio
Advanced Calculation Arrays letting you do it reflexively seems really good.
bleak hazel
yeah, I can see this being a big strategy component
lots of fun ways to game this
rare good dice trick
tulip folio
I like it becuase it gives you a resource to spend
Not just 'Here are ways the dice get adjusted to affect the final number'
Also: 'Here comes the sid buddy to reduce your TN on that dex + dodge roll'
bleak hazel
sadly that requires either a one shot horoscope or Big Boy E4 prophecy
but horoscope is very accessible
I do think Sid/Alch will be a winning combo
possibly even more so than Sid/Lunar
tulip folio
It is a very amusing mental image to have a Sid and Alch just sitting there doing Combat Math.
'I have calculated all possible futures'
'And I have calculated all impossible ones!'
bleak hazel
sidereal doing blind swordsman stuff
"you've turned off your targeting computer, what's wro- oh yeah you don't have one of those"
tulip folio
There's also an alch upgrade to turn you into a cat.
Controlled Decent Calibration there going "STOP WITH THE HEAVEN THUNDER HAMMER BULLSHIT"
bleak hazel
sadly I don't think that works because it's "take damage as if you had fallen X height" but I would in fact allow it to work
I should check to see if there's a convenient fall damage reducer for sids
ah. no, only +1TN on falling damage
guess you really do need Dance of the Hungry Spider
tulip folio
He yeets you into the skybox and you just sit there.
Some of the Alch upgrade names are great.
The upgrade that makes this work better on disengage is literally just installing a reverse gear
bleak hazel
He yeets you into the skybox and you just sit there.
hungry spider is actually even funnier
fate is strongly convinced you have eight legs and you can as such remain firmly balanced on the remaining six after having your two physical legs punted into orbit
it also buffs the "stand in midair" button but honestly the juice is mostly in the first two bullet points
that's a lot of schmovement
tulip folio
And I imagine most knockback guys would find it frustrating to pull it off three times in a turn XD
bleak hazel
well, it's three full stop
can be over multiple rounds
but yeah it's a huge boost against grapple nonsense
tulip folio
That's still a lot of 'Red Mist' throws it's stopping.
bleak hazel
it's also only the third charm in sequence and the first charm allows you to fight from medium range, so dipping those four charms (including Enlightenment) at E3 and then doing different SMAs for the rest of your career is not at all a bad idea
four charms is a lot of dip but such juice
tulip folio
I do also love that one of the big alch stealth charms is going 'I can't be seen if nothing can be seen'
And letting you hide without any need for cover by just throwing flashbangs everywhere
tulip folio
I also love the 'Hey GM, is this a Stupid Decision?' charm.
Where you pay 4 motes for the GM to tell you the obvious and clear consequences of your action.
bleak hazel
ride a horse, carry a medium shield w/ shieldbearer expertise, have Ways of Exaltation up, stunt and then stand in your spiderweb for light cover, heavy cover later into the fight if you aren't moving
tulip folio
...this one is basicly two pages but it's another one I really love as it gives you a cool resource to do cool things.
bleak hazel
parry 15 + no penalties for 1 mote/attack
tulip folio
tulip folio
It's great for 'Yes, I am a Smart Fellow, I prepared Smart Things' without needing the player to know everything that might happen
bleak hazel
"hello, Johnny Solar, you must roll 27 dice + spend willpower + use Excellent Strike to have even odds of hitting me"
he probably still will because of Rising Sun Slash but still, always nice to make my enemy spend 12m 1wp to take a serious swing at me
tulip folio
What goes well with Single Point in marital arts? It seems like it doesn't need any help offensively, so maybe something defensive or mobility-ish?
bleak hazel
not many styles use swords
a brief dip into Sid Melee allows you to negate penalties on your attack roll and gets you Harmony of Blows
tulip folio
There's Steel Devil in the corebook but I can't make heads or tails of what it's good at.
bleak hazel
blowing up high durability low defence targets
it's very cool for that but not really any good at things that are hard to kill
it just instnatly evaporates tarpits
tulip folio
So it's good against like...Giant Soulsteel Walking Siege Weapons?
tulip folio
...nevermind.
It's Parry 7
It's evasion 1 but parry 7 XD
That's not really low defence
And the Thousand-Corpse Goliath is Evasion 1, Parry 6
bleak hazel
well, if you need to kill three pestletails at once it's handy
tulip folio
That seems...situational.
bleak hazel
it is
probably the weakest core book martial art
spends a lot of mechanic space on just explaining how it works
are you putting this on a Sidereal or an Alch or what?
tulip folio
I'll admit with the 'two swords' focus, if I'd had to guess what it was on pure thematics it would have been like the Defensive counterpart to Single Point.
Parrying and Counterattacking
tulip folio
Violet is very good at murder
bleak hazel
You'll probably want a cheap onslaught negator if your splat has one in Dodge
tulip folio
Thousand Blades works with Literally Any Weapon Style, I suppose. XD
bleak hazel
Single Point has a big flashy one but it's not cheap
tulip folio
The Sid one is likely somewhere in Melee or Dodge.
bleak hazel
Melee one isn't Versatile but I suppose you don't have many Single Point defences you'd want to combine with it
Impeding the flow solves that at least
velvet raft
There's Steel Devil in the corebook but I can't make heads or tails of what it's...
Being shoddily written
bleak hazel
first 50 sid XP on this character is going to have to go purely into rounding out all my abilities
Sids are so incredibly ability-hungry
luckily I've got all the necromancy I'm ever going to have at chargen and I'm not doing martial arts until Essence 3, so that still leaves me the E2-3 sid XP margin to save up for SMAs and maybe get an extra couple of specialties and an attribute dot
bleak hazel
it is kind of tempting to set this character up for the build that can reach Parry 16 but I think that's a little much
at least until I find a way to fluff shield weapons as something cool
velvet raft
Sids are so incredibly ability-hungry
Everybody who has ability-charms is
Unless they're a solar/abyssal who takes Literally Only Melee Charms or something
Which seems like a bad idea
Don't do that
I don't care about your supernal ability grab other things they're fun
bleak hazel
Sids are especially ability-hungry because they get -1 TN access at Ability 3 and -2TN access at Ability 5
which means spiking to those values is more important than it is for a Solar or a Dragon-Blood who is merely increasing the regular dice limit and doesn't really mind hanging out at 3-4 for a while
they love maxing things
fierce star
Sidereal skillsmaxxer here to minmax XP gains and training times
bleak hazel
this is what I'm looking at at chargen, by the time I get out of E1 I'm hoping to have all those favoureds at 5 besides maybe lore and resistance
I am wondering whether to take Shun The Smiling Lady at character creation and make a single non-favoured charm purchase to get Cash And Murder Games, because man is that one stronk as hell even with only 10 dice @ TN5
the Sidereal social tree's signature intercontinental ballistic missiles are as juicy as ever
velvet raft
Hm, maybe I'll play around with upgrading Courageous Sparrow to each essence level
bleak hazel
E1 is always super tight honestly, because you end up taking a few charms from non-favoured areas to get them out of the way before the XP cost goes up and end up with a couple of your intended core focuses only half-covered
E3 is buttery smooth, at that point you can afford to have six craft charms and still be mostly a spy and swordmaster
velvet raft
What is generally considered the norm for Solar/Lunar/etc XP? In the game I played in, we just defaulted to 4 per session rather than requiring stuff
next delta
I think 4/session is the max, but it's also probably expected that you hit it almost all of the time?
velvet raft
It is the max, yeah
Basically the assumption was "don't worry about fulfilling the particular prereqs, just play your character"
But I don't know if that's normal
bleak hazel
4/session is the max, but over half the games I've been in (and the one I run) just lock it to 4 every session and ignore the requirements
or replace them with something less fiddly
bleak hazel
OK, I can just about fit everything in if I don't take very much Awareness at chargen, wonderful
I do have two mote efficiency charms that ideally I'd want later but that is the curse of chargen/XP split
tulip folio
...considering in 3e her heavy associations with snow and ice, I wonder if the Lover Clad In Raiment of Tears might have been a Dragonblooded in life.
How is Sid Larceny?
coral wraith
How *is* Sid Larceny?
weird, as all sid charm trees are - a lot of it is about stealing qualia like names, thoughts, dreams, stats, and even charms later
spring lynx
How *is* Sid Larceny?
coral wraith
you can even steal a sentencing with that charm yeah lmao
spring lynx
(that is, of course, not the entire text of the charm, but i found it Funny™️ to cut it off there)
tulip folio
Oh yeah, I remember the Oblivion Guard Warp. XD
Also: Would 'another sidereal' be an acceptable authority figure? 😛
tulip folio
two sidereals getting caught, confessing crimes against heaven to each other and vanishing
spring lynx
anyway the actual meat of the charm is
tulip folio
I do like the idea of Siderals walking up to a Deathknight and confessing they're planning assassination against his boss.
And then just Being In Said Bosses' dungeon to make sure it happens.
spring lynx
i don't really think they count as "legitimate authority figures" outside the underworld. of course, you couldn't really use it for that outside the underworld anyway, because of the range limit, but
tulip folio
Hey, the Silver Prince has his own country 😛
He's totally a legitimate authority figure.
But fair
spring lynx
and here's the only paragraph i haven't screengrabbed yet. i think this means you can use this charm to travel to malfeas? or else it's saying "hey, you don't need this charm to send yourself to hell"
tulip folio
But yeah, pondering swapping Dodge for Larceny for a Sid. Sid Dodge is...Sid Dodge, it's always a fucking terror...but she's also a Melee Sid so she's got Sid Parry Stuff from Melee.
tulip folio
Discussing Deathlords with the GM for that Alchemical Game and this line came up:
"Wait, is the Silver Prince British?"
bleak hazel
and here's the only paragraph i haven't screengrabbed yet. i _think_ this means ...
yeah, I think this means you can use this charm to just zoop to malfeas
but it's not clear
personally would not recommend going to Malfeas at Essence 2
coral wraith
im sure it'd be fineeeee
bleak hazel
every time I think about Malfeas I consider having Ligier rock up in my deeb game
they are essence 1 baby deebs, this would be a bad idea
he wouldn't give a damn about them, but just being near the Green Sun for the 40 minutes or so he's allowed to remain in Creation is a major problem
coral wraith
nah you should. it's funny
bleak hazel
he is a very fun character for Big Demon Prince, precisely because he's surprisingly normal outside the fact his ego is measured in AUs
it's easier to chat to Ligier than it is to chat to Conky
coral wraith
he wouldn't give a damn about them, but just being near the Green Sun for the 40...
Is there anything that actually says he does the whole "emits lethal radiation" thing besides homebrew? I feel like it siphons away a lot of the bittersweet dissonance if his brief dalliances in Creation always end in "and then everyone he interacted with died of rad poisoning. the end."
I feel like it's something he can turn on and off
If it is a thing
bleak hazel
his sun-body is permanently in Green Sun Wasting mode from what I remember, his demon form can probably turn it off
(although he doesn't have stats, so we have no idea)
coral wraith
Oh yeah, sun-body just doing it all the time makes sense
bleak hazel
dealing with a few cases of green sun radiation poisoning from being near Ligier going loud is probably a threat that is more calibrated to early deebs, though
coral wraith
oh god who is Ligier going loud against
bleak hazel
no idea, just musing on his release conditions
coral wraith
makes sense
bleak hazel
one of which is "a mortal prince leads his army against the Exalted at dawn/dusk"
I would imagine he doesn't show up every time that happens because he has to walk for five days through the Endless Desert to leave hell and can only stay until the sun fully rises or sets, but I imagine it's not unheard of
coral wraith
five days is A Fair Bit
bleak hazel
it always takes five days to enter or leave hell
bleak hazel
(attempting to game this in 2e resulted in lots of people trying to invent time travel, which is not allowed)
coral wraith
oh dear
velvet raft
he is a very fun character for Big Demon Prince, precisely because he's surprisi...
Also he's weird about dancing
... Exalted version of the plot of Footloose, but it takes place inside Ligier's soul
upper stratus
oh god who is Ligier going loud against
ME!!!!
fierce star
Serenity sidereal that owns a five dot artifact boat that does pleasure cruises in the West and occasionally messes with the war for the caul: ideas I have while drinking on a boat
bleak hazel
I believe there is actually a Heaven's Dragon smuggler and her Sidereal boyfriend in the Sid book who occasionally cruise out of the quicksilver sea into the regular Western one, so that's explicitly something you can do
the Sid Sail charm that lets you sail... basically anywhere is one of the only reasons I've ever wanted to play Journeys
fierce star
Oooh
coral wraith
uhhhhhhh
bleak hazel
3 dots in Ride also gets you Yellow Path, which is pretty hot
Journeys has a bit of Dawn Syndrome (which dawns no longer have) in that they have a bunch of stuff that you'll probably only want a small selection of
Journeys and Battles
fierce star
Thrown is a journies ability isn't it? I remember liking siddie thrown
bleak hazel
yeah
they also get Resistance, so it's not all bad
Ride/Sail/Survival tend to be a "pick one or two" situation though
tulip folio
Battles also seem to have a little of that. With Archer, Melee and Brawl. Though having Presence is nice.
bleak hazel
compare Endings: Athletics, Awareness, Bureaucracy, Integrity, Medicine
all bangers apart from maybe Medicine which is a sometimes food
since long term Sid healing is actually in Craft
fierce star
Thrown/sail/survival/resistance from caste, favored of like... Presence, socialize, awareness, bureaucracy, athletics probably?
bleak hazel
sounds good to me
Sid Thrown is a little odd
good, but odd
has a bunch of anti-doomoid stuff, it's like Golden Janissary with throwing knives
tulip folio
I get the feeling that ID is currently staring at Gyroscopic Chakrams and Air Dragon, as they're the Thrown Martial Arts. 😛
And sids can just Get Dragonblooded Anima
fierce star
See I was thinking a harpoon
tulip folio
...fair, that would work with most 'Spear' martial arts, right?
There's a lot of spear martial arts.
fierce star
Yeah
tulip folio
Though I don't thikn many of them were intended for thrown spears.
But hey, if it works, it works
bleak hazel
the really hot part of Thousand Wounds Gear Style is that it works in heavy armour
and so does Sid Thrown
fierce star
Man that is cool actually
tulip folio
Meanwhile I'm debating if a Sid Wuxia Melee Swordsman can get away with just Melee for defence, not being dodge-favoured.
bleak hazel
The Circle Screams is a casual +5 overwhelming on big slams, Gear-Catches-Gear is a non-charm parry bonus that also helps fuck with flurry
fierce star
But harpoons are more nautical than chakrams, and I had this idea of one with an infinite length rope to haul in whales/leviathans/evil fae/other ships
bleak hazel
Meanwhile I'm debating if a Sid Wuxia Melee Swordsman can get away with just Mel...
mine does, I'll tell you whether it works or not after I'm done fighting all the assorted Bullshit
every deeb in our campaign appears to have been loaded up with a billion custom evocations designed to bring them up to Solar power level so I feel I should have been more of a charop gremlin going in
I instead decided to go with Violet Bier + Melee and fight unarmoured
tulip folio
I was looking at Single Point as it's the Reaper Daiklaive martial art.
Also: I am blaming ID for keeping my focus on this character with his horrible setting suggestions (Complimentary). XD
fierce star
:3
bleak hazel
I was looking at Single Point as it's the Reaper Daiklaive martial art.
it's also hilariously stronk, so good pick
fierce star
Hmm, do any spear mas work with throwing spears?
tulip folio
I imagine basicly anything of them do that just say 'spears'?
Throwing spears are spears
bleak hazel
martial arts that work with thrown-tag weapons can generally throw said weapons with the Martial Arts skill just fine
but the subcategories of spear are weird
Short Spear is a distinct weapon from Spear
fierce star
Right, yeah. I'll have to go dig when I get back home
bleak hazel
short spears have Thrown (Short), regular spears do not
tulip folio
Failing all else, I imagine 'Has Thrown(Short/Medium)' would be a very valid artifact passive bonus for a spear.
upper stratus
not throwinf my artifact i need that shit back
fierce star
But if I don't throw my harpoon how can I catch Leviathan?
upper stratus
jump on its back and never let go
fierce star
It always comes back to mounting damage doesn't it...
upper stratus
we shadow of the colossus this shit
fierce star
Also is Leviathan not male pronouned in ex3 now? I could absolutely see a lunar preferring it/its.
upper stratus
i forgot about the lunar and thought we were talking about giant seamonster type leviathan like from da bible
velvet raft
One is an explicit reference to the other
tulip folio
Man, Last Hope Salvation is big
bleak hazel
it's one of the only things in the Sid book that actually does hit the "GM has to figure out what this does" button that the core book is leaning on 100% of the time, and honestly I think it earns it
tulip folio
Yeah. It also I feel gives enough guidance to make it work.
Like it's not super detailed but it spells out 'This should be big, immediate and definitively very useful/change the situation'
That said: I do kinda wish more of Sid Integrity played with the 'You have Great Hopes' theme set up by Until Hope's End in ways other than just yeeting them as hard as possible out of your body 😛
prisma sun
A fun sid artifact would be a box of prayer strips that never empties that you can throw as weapons
bleak hazel
so I'm making a backup version of my current Sid, in case I run him in other games, and he has Craft
upper stratus
i mean it's a dual theme of being hopeful and being a martyr for the cause innit
bleak hazel
I am kind of tempted to make that Craft (Calligraphy)
the downside is that he doesn't have Linguistics beyond the 1 dot literacy tax, and while I know those are different skillsets it still seems a bit odd
upper stratus
is craft caligraphy meaningfully different from linguistics
bleak hazel
yes, it lets me craft things rather than write wonderful letters
I kind of like the idea of Sid Detective wearing silken armour made out of tiny woven starmetal sutras in his robe
prisma sun
was have him attack a battlegroup, and describe the odd ways he was slicing up mooks before it'd pan out to reveal that he had been writing the Old Realm word for "DEATH" in their blood through his attacks.
upper stratus
was have him attack a battlegroup, and describe the odd ways he was slicing up m...
- Hero (2002)
tulip folio
i mean it's a dual theme of being hopeful and being a martyr for the cause innit
Oh yeah, I just kinda think it had a bit more of the former to make the latter stronger. If that remotely makes sense?
bleak hazel
thank you core book, this is way too much waffle but it does in fact indicate that I can probably have Craft (Calligraphy) without having to be a master poet
except it is completely silent on "what if I want to craft stuff by producing beautiful and complex letters"
prisma sun
\- *Hero* (2002)
That's the goal!!!!!!!
tulip folio
That said; Until Hope's End is both a very good charm and a very thematic one.
prisma sun
7
Health doesn't matter
"We got a Heist Boys"
The Plan:
Sneak the body of the First and Forsaken Lion to him
tulip folio
Though I think that 'pay 1 WP to resist' might be a factor. XD
wise ocean
Keep doing it until he runs out of WP!
bleak hazel
hang on
I'm pretty sure this doesn't work because "compare your essence to the bad guy" is not a calculation in the charm's block, but it would be really funny if it did
tulip folio
On the topic of fire: The presence 'make a pact with the elements' charms seem pretty cool.
bleak hazel
E5 Sidereal enters Soulfire Form, channels a defining ghostbusters intimacy through the crystal and blasts Falafel right back to where he came from
upper stratus
On the topic of fire: The presence 'make a pact with the elements' charms seem p...
there's little 'make pact with elements' charms spread throughout various abilities it's quite neat
fierce star
That's just ex2's iconic bluesid
She has an ex3 stat block. Iron Siaka I think was her name?
bleak hazel
yeah, her deal is "if I beat all the enemies of fate to death with a giant club, this will achieve Serenity (TM)"
upper stratus
she's spitting
prisma sun
I love how there's a Sid charm that lets you deputize a ghost
wise ocean
I think we should give her a giant club and just see what happens
prisma sun
and you can use it on Abysssals
bleak hazel
I think we should give her a giant club and just see what happens
she's a Sidereal, she has a giant club forged from the body of a dead god already
or at least that was the 2e lore for Starmetal that I think has been changed
fierce star
Yeah now it's excess essence that coalesces in the firmament before falling to creation
bleak hazel
she is also surprisingly well-specced for a quick character, she's got solid dice pools
barely any charms, though
upper stratus
yea sids are no longer making every heaven party awkward by lugging chunks of dead bodies around
fierce star
And with how artifacts are in ex3 are you can still have them made from dead gods so
upper stratus
from AotC
i run around extracting favors and uncovering blackmail to force gods into spending their entire essence pool every day to increase starmetal production
tulip folio
It's a lot better than promoting sids to just kinda 'accident' gods for artifacts 😛
bleak hazel
yeah, "corpse of a dead god" is now actually cool rather than default sidereal equipment
tulip folio
...in 2e, if you killed Sol Invictus, would his corpse make Ori or Starmetal? 😛
upper stratus
2e wrote god-sid relations to be so insanely hostile it didn't make much sense in the setting
bleak hazel
I think they're all First Age though
so I'd need another charm and 19xp's worth of ability
I only have regular megacrafting
wise ocean
we're all lancer players, of course we want mechs
upper stratus
a mere regular megacrafter
tulip folio
You know, I've not checked out the warstrider rules for 3e yet
bleak hazel
the primary issue with putting Crimson in one is that his combat skill is Martial Arts and you can't use White Veil in heavy armour, which is what a warstrider counts as for that
oh, also he doesn't hit the strength minimum
spring lynx
You know, I've not checked out the warstrider rules for 3e yet
i'm not sure there are any yet
bleak hazel
OK, screw this, giving the Dusk Caste a warstrider instead
prisma sun
There are
bleak hazel
I will have to make do with giant golems
upper stratus
they're in AotC
wise ocean
the primary issue with putting Crimson in one is that his combat skill is Martia...
- whenever you would get into combat in a warstrider, play a game of lancer instead until combat concludes
upper stratus
i think the way they set up warstriders are actually quite nice where the smoothest way to do it is to have two characters work together as a mechanic - pilot duo. trying to do the whole thing yourself is pretty hefty in the dots department
bleak hazel
you know I could actually do it just fine if I went regular melee rather than social martial arts
prisma sun
Also it lets you have Mecha-Pilot/Handler psychosexual conflict
bleak hazel
all I'd need are the two training specialties
upper stratus
you know I could actually do it just fine if I went regular melee rather than so...
just make 'compatible with martial arts' your warstrider's special trait 
. they all get one
tulip folio
Piloting a warstrider is equivalent to wearing heavy armor for purposes of Martial Arts styles and other Charms incompatible with armor
BOOO, BOO!
prisma sun
Lunars:
fierce star
There's a.moonsilver warstrider in MFS iirc that's a Kaiju