Exalted

[fierce star]

my plan for my lunar was mysticism charms/necromancy/exoricsm/martial arts

[winged swallow]

six player exalted game sounds nightmarish but uhhhh

hm

i mean, i guess my advice is like

co-ordinate with the undecided players?

as it stands, lunars can do mysticism and necromancy/sorcery a little better than solars on account of the latter not having any sorcery/necromancy amping charms and several occult charms that frankly need to be obliterated from reality

oh divine mantle is integrity

god why is that integrity

[fierce star]

yeaaaah

I don't want to like

say 'I think I'll step out for the GM's sake' but I may do so

especially since the whole reason this one's going on--and the reason I'm mildly annoyed at the other players--is that the GM was running an ess2 start loyalist abyssals game and realized he was having trouble dealing with that power level, so I went 'okay I'll do something less stupid' but a lot of the other players seem to be, uh

not

some are! buuuut

[winged swallow]

i think there needs to be more in-group discussion on all this, like

this sounds ill-fated

[prisma sun]

Combat will be a nightmare regardless

[winged swallow]

not to mention that, yeah

god

[bleak hazel]

yeah, this feels like a big-talk-at-session-zero situation

at the very least, your GM is going to want to keep extra character sheets to an absolute minimum if the issue was "being overwhelmed by all the stuff"

[dense verge]

yeah six players seems like its straining party size

[fierce star]

yeah he's already said he wants us to do a relative 'zero to hero' start so no 'three PCs with command 5, two pcs with followers 3' like we had last time

[fierce star]

also I think we had four retainers last time

it was a bit of a clusterfuck to be fair

[winged swallow]

if my entire player party tried to do something like that, i'm not gonna lie, i'd stop gm'ing just like

right there

3 x Command 5
2 x Followers 3
4 x Retainers ???

that's fucking illegal

what the hell

[dense verge]

thats a lot of dudes

[winged swallow]

thjat's too many dudes

[fierce star]

being fair to myself and the other players, it was pitched as conquering a newly discovered afterlife for our deathlords

[bleak hazel]

I love playing an RTS with my Abyssal but in order to do that the GM and players have to be happy with 90% of their dudes being offscreen or sent off to do other missions

rather than balled up around five solaroids

[fierce star]

good news; the undecided abyssal has declared for a casteless lunar instead

[winged swallow]

waho

[fierce star]

looks like the zenith is going integrity

[winged swallow]

wow

solar integrity huh

bold move

[tulip folio]

Hmmm...6 charms SHOULD be enough for this ship?

[limpid badge]

yaaaay first hard line of being an abyssal dropped
"This sinner has no name to give you, friend. This sinner is 「A Bloody Hand Holds Aloft A Black Blade Of Sorrows」 and nothing more."

[tulip folio]

Hahahah

[limpid badge]

i feel like the stand quotes are good for abyssal names okay.

[tulip folio]

I get the feeling that a lot of Abyssals would get really salty over Ivory, my previous Abyssal. She was so non-melodramatic it wrapped back around to notable, like a Vulcan.

[winged swallow]

me 🤝 iki
having a vampire-esque character called Ivory

The Ivory Dove..

[limpid badge]

bloody hand is an elric she mostly is melodramatic about herself and doesn't give a fuck about anyone else unless they're paying her or helping her with the gaping nihilistic hole

[tulip folio]

Blighted Orichalcum And Ivory Mask

[winged swallow]

my ivory was a VtR character

member of a bloodline that couldn’t feel joy otherwise they’d be wracked with guilt and shame

tragic yuri story, she ended up revenge-diablerizing her sire

and it shattered her psyche

[tulip folio]

Ivory was funny in that she had zero care about ending creation for herself. She didn't mind if it kept existing.

But Princess Magnificent wants it ended so...

The rest of the circle thought she was undergoing a redemption arc as they showed her reasons creation should exist and she was cool with that...she just didn't think any of it outranked 'But Princess Magnificent said it should end'

The girl was utterly devoted

'I'm morally opposed to senseless murder but I'm MORE morally opposed to the Black Heron getting bored'

The girl was not right in the head.

[tulip folio]

Yay an elric

[limpid badge]

we love an elric

[tulip folio]

I get to start on the second airship when I get home, which should be fun.

[limpid badge]

yaaaay

[tulip folio]

Not sure if I want to do the fighter or the explorer. I think the explorer.

[tulip folio]

Okay, looks like I actually need 2 more charms for this artifact. Have to figure them out. XD

As I put the ones I have together and they didn't flow naturally.

[velvet raft]

Pondering just writing about my Sid :/

[tulip folio]

To Each According To His Need
Cost: 5m, 1wp (+5m, 1wp); Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Mending Broken Nations
The Sky Furnace is not to glorify a single ruler or even its pilot. It is to uplift the entire Populat.

The pilot requests an mundane object from the stores of the Sky Furnace, which is delivered via Elsewhere to her. She must have a Craft appropriate to the object, and the object must be no bigger than a normally sized table.

On a successful roll, the revealed item counts as exceptional equipment (Exalted, p. 580). The Pilot gains craft points as though she’d completed a basic project (Exalted, p. 240), even if the object would normally require a major project.

Special activation rules: For an addition 5 motes and 1 willpower, she may instead call up multiple copies of the same object, producing enough to provide for enough people to make up a battlegroup of (Essence/2, rounded up) (Ikinote: Not a huge fan of the scaling there but full essence I was worrying about scaling too much, with it starting at 'enough for a hundred dudes' and ending enough 'enough for a thousand dudes' at E5.) size.

Reset: Once per scene. One per story, if used to produce multiple copies of the same object.

2 essence higher than the Abyssal one but it has the option for mass production and can make Slightly Larger Objects. How's this seem?

[fierce star]

mass production

I LOVE FACTORIES SO FUCKING MUCH

I like it

[tulip folio]

If that one looks okay, just need one more E4 and I'll be done.

[bleak hazel]

tonight, on Sids: someone uses That Athletics Charm and I spend ten minutes digging up this poll from an old Exalted server

whoops, we sandblasted the city

bunch of blood apes got it in the neck, though

and in the all over

[fierce star]

rip that city

[bleak hazel]

well, city block

it's only a short-range-radius bubble

really fun charm though

do not drunk dial the primordial

[bleak hazel]

I like this a great deal

I am trying to figure out how to do a white-point-project charm that lets you build sets of lesser artifacts that add up to one great feat of workmanship

so you can have your honour guard equipped with a hundred magical spears, etc.

my current shorthand is that the individual things you make with Myriad Miracle Method just get Artifact Stats, an identical attunement bonus and no evos, and count as 2-dot wherever artifact status is relevant

but I think this should probably allow you to stamp out a hundred magic seals or a hundred winterbreath jars or what have you

[tulip folio]

Hmm...do you want them to be Full Artifacts or just Lesser, Not Quite Artifacts?

[bleak hazel]

I am unsure

full artifacts means you can just use all the existing 2-dots, which means there are a bunch of use cases out the gate

[tulip folio]

My thoughts? I'd make something where you make a sorta 'keystone' artifact and you can make lesser copies of it as long as it's functional. So like you wouldn't be making 100 self-powered magic swords. You'd make a statue for the castle and that statue empowers the swords you built that are attuned to it as long as they're within the castle's grounds.

Makes them less independent but also makes you mass producing them less 'all of creation very rapidly has a magic sword'.

[bleak hazel]

oh, that's a good one

means you have the Master Key that all your magistrates bear a lesser copy of, that can access any door in My Domain

(exact boundaries of My Domain currently in flux due to shadowland)

[tulip folio]

Yeah, something like that!

And if someone steals the master key, that's A Problem. XD

Special Material 

Powered (+•, Minimum •••)
Powered armour and weapons are made from alloys and wires designed to channel essence easily. With an eight hour ritual, a thaumaturge or sorcerer can align a powered weapon or armour with a Manse or Industrial Organ, allowing a mortal wielder to channel a hair of its power. While within that Manse or Industrial Organ, this object uses the statistics of its artifact counterpart. Most Metropoli have Municipal Charms that allow them to be treated as a Manse for this purpose.

Powered equipment are not artifacts and are no more durable than any other mundane weapon, the power is entirely provided by the Manse or Industrial Organ, rather than them having any inherent power of their own.

I did this a while ago, while is partially inspiring this but wasn't 100% happy with it.

[fierce star]

Hmm. revolving crescent defense is a really good onslaught negator so I probablyh don't need to pick one up from my native charmset, and rotten leaf arrested plus falling scythe flash are good attack damage adders (plus utility of auto-knockdown from RLA), so I should be good there...

[bleak hazel]

the primary limit on Revolving Crescent is that it's very expensive so you probably want to wait until -2 penalty before beginning to pop it against every attack

luckily you're a Lunar, so this is no great issue

lots of motes and probably good baseline soak

it's actually the one charm that makes me wish I could get Mastery more easily on Sids, because dipping 19xp into White Reaper just for a persistent defence that good is very tempting if it lasts a whole round

[fierce star]

the ST might be limiting me to a single artifact, so right now my baseline soak is looking to be... like, 8-ish before excellency, since artifact weapons are ultimately cooler than artifact armor

[tulip folio]

That's what, stamina 4-5 and light-medium armour?

I do wonder how you'd make armour more interesting than it is right now. I think part of it is that armour has no Active Effects.

[fierce star]

yeah

that's before HBT/DBT, mind

[tulip folio]

That's likely fine if the GM isn't sending Murderhobos after you.

[fierce star]

ah damn I can't use carapace/shell on thi scharacter, it'll turn off golden jannissary since it countsa s medium armor

[bleak hazel]

DBT immediately shoots that up to "more than enough"

5 from DBT, 5 from Unusual Hide (Lots), 18 soak

if you need more than 18 soak your opponents are probably hitting hard enough that soak is not your major concern here

[fierce star]

lol

fair

[bleak hazel]

then at E4 you go "lmao" and roll White Reaper Form into DBT so you no longer need to care about activating it

[tulip folio]

DBT OR unusual hide is instantly enough to make every single mortal statted in the books down to 'single overwhelming die' 😛

Well, okay. One or two of them are down to overwhelming 2 because they have a sword.

[bleak hazel]

assuming you have a heavy weapon + attack with strength or a medium weapon for parry, you're also swinging for 22-24+extra sux withering damage without spending a mote

DBT Lunars are the only build that make me consider going out of my way to make my builds way soakier

normally 10-15 soak is perfectly adequate

just watch out for Brawl Solars, Wet Deebs or PAOC Sids, because if the water dragon stylist throws a bucket of water over you and turns off DBT you suddenly have a bad time

[fierce star]

Oh this character is probably going to figh ta lot of immaculates, being one herself

(Intou heresy on top of it)

[bleak hazel]

kill the soggy ones first

(yes, this is kind of a pain, because Bottomless Depths Defence)

[fierce star]

("Look just becuase the religion is wrong doesn't mean the comfort it brings people is truly false. Why wipe away what is good just because it sprung from a bad source? If we can bring life to ground gone fallow, we can bring good from bad intentions.")

I do like the Intou heresy, honestly. The much... softer? Underworld in ex3 is kinda nice for like, making characters who do death things and aren't bastards about it, while not reducing the bastard's bastardry any

I am having trouble picking between a longfang and a dire lance. A single longfang isn't bad, but i'm not intending to do much tossin' things at people and I want to go two handed, but that +1 defense from a medium weapon is extreme good. On the other hand I can ignore dex almost entirely with two charms which is really, really nice, if I go with the dire lance

I think the dire lance wins mostly for style points, admittedly

[tulip folio]

Fair

I had a fun idea for the charms for Sky Furnace. Giving one of the charms a 'this unlocks for free if' etc.

[fierce star]

ooh?

[tulip folio]

For the 'You've brought the AI back online' charm.

Special activation rules: A pilot awakens this Evocation at no cost upon completing a Legendary Social Goal that demonstrates Blazing Soul can trust them and that their goals are in alignment with hers.

'You get it for free if the AI doesn't think you're a shithead/you prove your goals are in alignment with hers'

[fierce star]

oooh

[tulip folio]

Her intimacies make it not too hard to prove you align with her as long as you like Fostering Peace, Repairing Harm or Fucking Up Voidbringer Cults.

[fierce star]

makes sense!

[tulip folio]

Okay. Just need to work out an E4 and I'm sorted.

[fierce star]

Hmm. Hollow Envoy Wisdom is thematically appropriate for an Intou Heresy Immaculate Exorcist from Gentian, and gravetongue is a really good one-dot merit, but the actual shaping rituals aren't great...

then again at least right now both the spells I know are Ritual spells, so...

[bleak hazel]

if you have the stats for it, Bound Soul Wellspring is mostly a freebie

you just need some flunkie ghosts

personally I am a big fan of Baptised In Royal Crimson but it requires you to be a tiny bit obviously evil

[fierce star]

I note it doesnt' say human blood

[prisma sun]

Well anyone straying from the path of the immaculate dragons is obviously evil anyhow

[fierce star]

also as a Lunar I can 8probably* provide enough of my own blood to count

That is a question she's consistently asking herself, mostly 'what is the path' at this point

[prisma sun]

Not for nothing but as a lunar you are going to be eating a lot of people and animals

Might as well double dip and get sorcerous motes for it

[bleak hazel]

if you can craft, Death in Effigy is straight up broken as written, figure out a sensible cap on it with your GM

but even if capped at Essence or whatever, still solid

[winged swallow]

i believe it is now?

[fierce star]

I chatted at the GM and Im gonna have a two-dot ghost retainer around, so I think I'm gonna go with Bound Soul Wellspring. I'll get more flunkies later since I'm angling towards the 'turn spirits into familiars' charm

also I just realized the hilarity of taking field of fell dreams along with having rotten leaf arrested

[winged swallow]

did you talk to your ST about the size of the circle?

[fierce star]

One of the players may be dropping out, and we've reduced solaroid numbers to 2 actual solaroids, one waffling between an abyssal and strawmaiden, and three lunars

even if no one drops out, that feels more manageable at least

I'm gonna keep an eye on things and keep reminding the other player sto be gentle

[bleak hazel]

only half of it is, and the uncapped half is still plugged directly into the Craft system live wire where everyone gets a zillion successes

[fierce star]

I did a fat line of straight necromancy which leads me to a question: is there a spiritual equivalent of a city father for stygia, and do you think he could get a favor from wun ja

[limpid badge]

the dual monarchs?

[bleak hazel]

I don't think there are official gods for the underworld

in previous editions it didn't run on LoomOS, and as such the Fate-equivalent maintained by the Calendar of Setesh was not administered by Heaven

[limpid badge]

I think that's still true, if im remembering what's in the abyssal book?

[bleak hazel]

yeah, it seems about right

skimming the abyssal book, there's no explicit underworld metaphysics section that mentions this but it seems to work the same

[fierce star]

damn, no long-distance tragic romanc ebetween the architect of stygia and the architect of yu-shan

[fierce star]

Hmm

I have been sent on a side-tangent. @bleak hazel have you looked into Sovereign Craft much? I know you're the local expert on utilizing the craft xp system and etc.

[bleak hazel]

I have not, I'll scan it in a minute

I know they have some fun stuff

[tulip folio]

I mean, I'd allow it still. The Dual Monachs asked for a favor from Wun Ja and they're now running an underground rebellion against the Deathlords being in charge of the place.

[fierce star]

Mostly pondering if their wxp farm is enough for their adamant resonance charm's buy evocations part

[tulip folio]

Silly Pondering: Sids would find Golgin frustrating if they returned to creation.

As they hand out a big aura of '+2 autosuccesses on any check related to remembering things'

That's not enough to beat sid memory messing but it's enough to make the odds a bit less certain

[bleak hazel]

turns out the irritating thing about Sovereigns only having five caste abilities is that it means their craft charmset is seven million miles long

and does many fun things unrelated to crafting

[tulip folio]

Unrelated: Does any exalt have a non-spell 'Instant Battlegroup' charm? Trying to find a comparison point to springboard a thing.

[bleak hazel]

how instant?

[tulip folio]

Not 'in-battle' instant but 'can have a ready-made battlegroup with a short amount of non-combat time'

[bleak hazel]

Sids have Auspicious Recruitment Drive

failing that, mostly necromancy

[tulip folio]

Ah yeah, the sid 'I need an angry mob' charm.

Yeah, this works as a springboard to help some design. Thanks.

[bleak hazel]

Reroll 5s/6s - Prismatic Design Realisation
Rerolled sux add 1 NCD, this recurses - Flawless Diamond Talent
Exceptional Equipment adds +1 autosux rather than +1 die - Hammer Guides The Smith
Making gifts adds +Cha or +Manip NCD - Irresistable Amethyst Tribute
Double 9s - Every Work A Glory

this is annoyingly difficult to mathhammer

[winged swallow]

:D

[bleak hazel]

entirely because of Flawless Diamond Talent

[tulip folio]

...oh yeah, I can see how that would cause some headaches in the mathing

[bleak hazel]

it's doable, I'll just figure out some rough approximations

also, because you're a Sovereign, you want to do a bunch of excellency-boosted star jumps to reach Transcendent Anima before crafting anything

which is very odd

[tulip folio]

Sovereigns only do crafting in places where there is a good view of how awesome they look while crafting.

...I joke but that's basicly how Sion works in a game ID runs.

[bleak hazel]

at E3, because you're doing this at E3, you have 7 personal and 42 peripheral motes

that might actually be a limit here

30m 4wp 2gxp per maxed out craft roll, if I'm figuring this right

so you're doing this at E4 or finding another way to get a level of anima, because otherwise you literally don't have the motes to full combo a craft roll

luckily you're a sovereign so you can even have an anima power that lets you flare transcendent for being greedy

[prisma sun]

Busting A Nut Straight To Bonfire

[bleak hazel]

straight past bonfire, actually

these guys get Anima 4

[prisma sun]

Wh

Who are these guys?????

[bleak hazel]

they have like seven personal motes, all the rest is loud

Sovereigns, a group of exigents from a common source

[winged swallow]

patchwork exigents!

[bleak hazel]

they make hardlight objects out of something that looks like blazing glass, are rich and extra and gain power from flexing and being glowy

I quite like them

[winged swallow]

made from bits of fallen aurora, the exigence, and a god called cantata-of-the-depths iirc

[prisma sun]

Okay I'll read exigents.....

[bleak hazel]

they're the coolest ones

although all the terrestrial exigents in there have a little bit more juice than deebs in general

I believe the devs have said that if they did deebs again they'd give them a bit of a tune up

[winged swallow]

that would be Cool

[bleak hazel]

OK, so your best crafting roll is 21 dice + 2 autosux, double 9s, reroll 5s and 6s until they fail to appear and each rerolled die that produces a success rolls one extra die, which recurses forever

[prisma sun]

Exigents don't count as Anathema right?

[bleak hazel]

varies, but usually not

there's stuff about the Sovereign's relationship to immaculacy but I am doing maths and can't look it up just at the moment

OK, 13.75 sux per roll before recursion

I'll just do this out to two layers because I don't want to do a limit for stupid dice game

[winged swallow]

that doesn’t seem all that bad

[bleak hazel]

wait have I fucked up a dependency here

recursion

gah

I have, hang on

so if you roll 5s and 6s, you reroll them. If those dice come up 5/6 again, you reroll them again, and if they score a sux, you add +1 non-charm die, which is statistically identical

so each rerolled die produces 0.6 sux and 0.6 more dice because 4/10 numbers are sux and 2/10 are rerolled anyway

[tulip folio]

One of these days I do kinda want to make a Sovereign with Crystal Chameleon Style, as it cares about Anima level.

'BEGIN THE COMBAT RAVE'

[bleak hazel]

(I'm typing this out mostly to keep it straight in my own head, since I cannot be bothered to do calculus here)

[winged swallow]

sovereign crystal chameleon stylist would go hard yeag

[tulip folio]

'No but...' is the general stance.

They're not Anathema but default but you're also not a DB so they'll beat your ass if you cross the DBs still.

You're sorta in the same area as Local Gods. Where you're supposed to listen to what the Immaculates tell you to do but you're still a person.

[bleak hazel]

OK, call it 16-17 sux per roll on average, after you deduct difficulty

tail's long but I'm not Nassim Taleb so fuck it

so if you are extremely lucky, maxed out Sovereign can do a 5 dot

realistically, 4 dot is your limit because nobody wants to spend 40+ gold points on a coinflip chance at an artifact

and that would be 70+ if they didn't have a charm later on to halve the cost of finishing rolls while in a manse they built

your artifact rushing charm requires you make a bunch of little guys to assist you, which is fun

[winged swallow]

4 dot is pretty nice still but that’s like

low end crafting for terrestrials, right?

[bleak hazel]

about the same as deebs

[winged swallow]

oh i thought deebs could do 5 dots

[bleak hazel]

you have way better mundane craft, though, and better stuff for manses and so on

the downside is that in order to get your max dice pool for artifacts, you have to be making them as gifts

[winged swallow]

dang

[tulip folio]

'It's my birthday and this is my present to me!' 😛

[bleak hazel]

if you aren't making gifts or bribes, you lose 5 non-charm dice and you're down to about 12 sux, at which point you're going to be really straining just to hit 4-dot

[tulip folio]

nods
So they're pretty solid but only if they're being generous.

They're not great at giving themselves a heap of shinies

[bleak hazel]

I may have missed something but I don't think it's terribly important for me to get this exactly right so I will not be reading through 15 pages of flunky charms for dice boosters

[tulip folio]

Hahah, fair

[bleak hazel]

they're actually quite fast crafters, because their crafto-speed boost is that they work 2-3 times faster, not at a fixed speed

so once you are E4 and can sit in your crystal manse halving craft point costs, you make 3 dots in a month

which is faster than Sids or Lunars

at E3 it's six weeks, which is still slightly better than celestial standard eight

[tulip folio]

Oh, so it's like the Alch one rather than the Solar 'It will get done in X amount of time max.'

[fierce star]

nods

[bleak hazel]

so you get to E3, you get all these crafting charms and you produce about one white point a week

[fierce star]

so they can pretty reasonably make enough superior projects to get use out of 'turn 10 wxp into an evocation' as long as they're willing to give people shiny gifts

[bleak hazel]

assuming you have enough stuff to continuously work on one artifact or equivalent

so yeah, you're not bad at it

it's probably going to be two or so evos over a campaign, honestly

[tulip folio]

Man, who do we know who's from the area of the Aurora and who goes about giving people gifts...SANTA?

[fierce star]

you know one of the aspects is associated with the color red

[bleak hazel]

it's not like Alchs where they turn into the Crafting Utility Monster because their white point sink is absurdly good

but they're not bad

Great Maker's Panoply offends me and it should work differently to how it does

[fierce star]

lol

[bleak hazel]

not in that it's good, but in that it's really greedy

I once proposed an alternate version in the Exalted server that works as follows:

• Pop charm, creating a pool of white points
• Alch puts as many white points as they like into the pool
• Anyone else can also put points in, but only up to the number the Alch put in
• Add 'em all up, divide by number of people who wish to awaken evocations
• Each person gets their share of the free splat XP for evos

which was quite well recieved

[fierce star]

but yeah thanks for mathing that out misc

[bleak hazel]

this a) doesn't mean that the Alch is objectively the best crafter to have do anything other than a Legendary Project, because every artifact they make comes with 3-9 free splat XP and b) splits the goodness among the party rather than spending 30wxp to give one character a 30xp lead, then waiting for ages while you earn enough to hit the next person, and so on

[fierce star]

I might be getting a chance to play a sovereign in the near future in a play by post and I was pondering investing in an adamant artifact, which emant I would want the 'become resonant with one' charm, which well... made me wonder if the other part ofi t was worth, lol

[bleak hazel]

doesn't decrease the power of the charm at all but I feel it makes it play better

[fierce star]

I am so sorry it ended up turning into a recursion nightmare lol

[bleak hazel]

Solaroid Craft does this too, honestly

I never bothered sitting down to figure out the limit for Abyssals, I just did a bunch of rolls and when it was clear I was getting anywhere between 30 and 70 sux per roll I went "you know, this is probably fine for 5-dots"

[tulip folio]

They have 'enough'

[winged swallow]

@bleak hazel

a craft project to create an effigy, she gains necromantic
motes equal to her extra successes, maximum 10, which
last until she next uses this ritual. Once per scene, she
may draw (Essence) necromantic motes from an effigy
within medium range. Effigies created with basic proj-
ects are destroyed. Those made with major projects are
undamaged but can only be tapped once per scene.```

Sworn to the Grave final does add a limit in for effigy

"maximum 10"

[bleak hazel]

ah, I may not have gotten the final version of the PDF, mine lacks that

that's still incredibly good, but at least it's not one round BOSS

[tulip folio]

Still a Lot Of Extra Motes.

[winged swallow]

yeah

but like

not Game-Breaker

[tulip folio]

Oh yeah, it's now merely 'very good'

I also gave Burning Soul a couple of minor charms but they're designed to not really supplant 'an actual player character doing things' as they're very limited in scope.

[bleak hazel]

if you have Baptised in Royal Crimson and a fully charged effigy, you can get BOSS down to 5 nm

there has to be another ritual for 5nm

you aren't guaranteed to do it with the reflexive roll, so if you want absolutely guaranteed super mode you need some from the third ritual

[tulip folio]

Voidbringer Cleansing Protocol (10m, 1wp; Simple; Until End Of Scene; Essence 3): All characters within any number of compartments within Burning Soul of her choice are flooded with flame and steam, being subjected to a Difficulty 5, 5L/turn environmental hazard until the end of the scene. Blighted creatures instead take Aggravated damage from this environmental hazard.

'til All Are One (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Burning Soul doubles 9s on a roll to repair damaged objects on structures. She instead doubles 8s if the roll is to repair herself.

Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Burning Soul may discern the nature of anyone who crafts within her workshops or stands before her reactor core.

Where they either are about repairing things (but not crafting new ones) or only affect people within her halls. So yeah, if you let the other guy onto your ship you can activate the ally-unfriendly fire but most of the time you won't be doing that. XD

[bleak hazel]

skull diary does it

thank you skull diary

[winged swallow]

thank you skull diary

[bleak hazel]

guaranteed +7HL super mode if you drop

you are at -4 wound penalty though so best do something about that

[prisma sun]

Do Deebs do Falcon Style well?

I'm still thinking Dragonblooded Air Aspect Harpy

Like "Falcon Style but I have wings and can fly"

Man I forgot Wings gives you a -3 penalty to attacks while flying

[tulip folio]

Yeah, wings make 'fighting while flying' really difficult.

[spring lynx]

well, i think it's more that "trying to fight makes flying with wings really difficult"

[tulip folio]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hEGa-SMaRwfVHmfMyLE2hPNe2qavDmGkNGSe2L9IaKk/edit?usp=sharing Okay. One Autocthonian Airship done! She's got a a throughline 1-5 charms and 2 that go off from the main path. She's not got any weapons by default as she's a Cargo Airship but she's damn good at being a cargo airship/mobile forge.

[prisma sun]

Hrmmmmmmmmmghhhhh

Does Harpy Am Suck

[tulip folio]

I think the next one will be the explorer/sorcery ship.

[prisma sun]

This is even the art for Falcon Style..........

What IS happening with the crystal guy

[tulip folio]

I think overall, wings are a bit overpriced with that penalty to attacks. Like, I get why they did it, to avoid 'I hover up here and attack you' but I think they could have knocked it down to like 'ranged attacks' or something.

[dense verge]

crystal-itis

[winged swallow]

ez houserule, ig

[prisma sun]

I do like how it does not factor in unarmed attacks

in the rules description

[prisma sun]

Also

I didnt know elemental bolt attack can be used with archery and thrown

[tulip folio]

Hmm...we have a lot of evocations that upgrade charms. Have we ever had an evocation that goes 'Upgrade X spell in this particular way'?

[prisma sun]

A few I think

[prisma sun]

I am tossed up between having Lost Egg be adopted into Peleps for V'neef

Since i think im deciding hes gonna be a Western Islander and not Eastern

Seagull Across the Clavacle

[tulip folio]

Moetic Science Arrays
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Any one Spell this Evocation enhances
Powerful arrays of Orichalcum and Adamant shape the power flowing from the Moetic Core, helping the pilot work sorcery on a grand scale.

The Pilot receives the following bonuses when casting some spells:

-When casting Aperture of Rarified Breath upon the <Name of Airship>, the spellcaster may restore the airship's stores of water and fresh air for up to three days for the entire crew.
-When casting Infallible Messenger within the <Name of Airship>, the messenger will briefly reappear in front of its summoner after dissipating, allowing it can convey a return message from the recipient of up to five minutes in length.
-When casting Travel without Distance, she may benefit as if the spell was her Control Spell, as long as they are transporting either to or from <Name of Airship>. If she already has Travel without Distance as her Control Spell, she may bring the airship with her when the spell is cast, along with all people within it.
-When casting Wheel of the Turning Heavens upon the <Name of Airship>, the Airship's crew are immune to the effects of the spell.

Slightly modifies each of these spells to make them more useful for 'We are explorers in our airship'.

||Yes, it gives you a Radio with Infallible Messenger and Travel without Distance gives you a Transporter Bay||

[tulip folio]

The general design plan is like 50% Enterprise 50% alien flying saucer.

[fierce star]

good lord. You say you're making a crafter who needs to be making stuff for other people and all of a sudden you have seven different craft skills you need.

[bleak hazel]

this is why I strongly recommend crafts-as-specs

what Exalt type is this?

[fierce star]

Sovereign lol

fortunately the GM's letting me go with crafts-as-specs otherwise things would be

messy

[bleak hazel]

well, you take Craft (Thing) and then Craft (Artifacts) and honestly you're mostly done

with specs maybe you go standard + artifacts + architecture + geomancy if you intend to reach E4 for Rainbow Palace Dominion

[fierce star]

There's DBs in the party so me and the puppeteer are using the advanced/E2 start

so it's not too unlikely? unless the game dies

[prisma sun]

V'neef Alaba is an oddity among oddities. Unfortunately for his House, he is the only witness so far to be found regarding his early life. His biography, as added to the House's records, reads as such:

"I was born on the Big Island to my Mother And Father and my Sister And Sister And Brother And Brother And Sister were all also born from my parents too but I was the only one who took the Second Breath which caused a big storm and so my mother's mother and father's father both decided that I must leave the Big Island to go to one of the Small Islands when I was big enough so I rode the winds to the Small Island where the Wind said hello and asked where I would like to go at which point I said I would like to go to any other island so the Wind carried me to five other Islands and then the Large Boat arrived with my new Brother and Sister and their friends Captain Horat and Cathak Zolok found me and said I must be descended from the Scarlet Empress and I could not disagree because I did not know my Mother's Mother's Mother or my Father's Mother's Mother's Mother so I agreed to come to the Biggest Island and now I serve among the Merchant Fleet and I am quite happy."

He is a "Person", according to him, appearing as a cross between a seabird of prey and a human. He possesses strong wings, which he uses to scout ahead for merchant vessels that he serves upon. Though lacking in proper education and derided for his bumpkin ways, he is popular as an novelty among the other Dynasts for his exotic and feminine looks and his genuine good nature. He is followed by several tutors who are running themselves ragged to teach the startlingly ignorant Lost Egg a childhood's worth of education as quickly as possible.

[tulip folio]

Here is an odd pondering: If you could adjust where exalts fall in 'their capabilities in various areas/who's best at what' without worry of 'fanbase rebellion', is there anything you'd tinker with?

[winged swallow]

i feel like the problem is that it would always be subject to fanbase rebellion to some extent lol

[tulip folio]

You've got a magic wishing rock or something. 😛

[winged swallow]

wow

i used a magical rock to destroy the fanbase

excellent

[tulip folio]

Hahahah

[fierce star]

alchemicals get half-price evocations and double artifact dots. Solars and Abyssals can learn SMA up to the Form but no further. DBs can learn a single SMA up to the form and no further. Lunars can cheat their way to access solar circle, void circle, or SMA but only one of the three and it has drawbacks. Sidereals reduce the essence requierments for SMA by one. Exigents vary on exigent type.

enlightened mortals still exist

[winged swallow]

i think alchemicals should be as good at crafting as solars, there i said it.

chosen of the great maker, dammit

[fierce star]

ye

[tulip folio]

I think that Dragon Kings and Enlightened Jadeborn should be 'Functionally Exalts'. Like not literally in-universe exalts but just for sanity and 'if you give them player character rules, people will want to play them', treat them as exalts (Complete with Excellency to make the math work good) rather than dancing around 'well they're not quite exalts but they're essense using beings and...' XD

Especially since 3e has a lot of 'Non-Exalted X' in rules stuff (Presumably because they wanted to avoid slapping Abyssals too hard before they made rules to deal with that).

[tulip folio]

...in non-airship artifact stuff for once - Do you think it would be too silly to steal some decisive combat charms and put them on a spellcasting artifact? So you can get some 'benefit to decisive attack' charm stuff for them?

[bleak hazel]

it's Sidereal time to be extra cracked, I see

[winged swallow]

let's be honest, they probably deserve it

but good golly a sidereal finishing an sma by e4 would be a little terrifying

[bleak hazel]

oh that's not the bad part, the bad part is E2 SMA

let me load up the first four charms of CMOS

[winged swallow]

the implication being that if they have finished at e4

[bleak hazel]

hello Lunar, you barely have a perfect defence at this level

[winged swallow]

then they must surely have more horseshit before even that

[bleak hazel]

yeah, but the real gigaspike is going to be E2, the capstones are mostly just nice-to-haves

unsurprisingly

anyway

[winged swallow]

oh god

[bleak hazel]

I would cut the Solar castes up and recombine them into three new ones, each with one bit of the Solar Deal: one has Craft, one has Occult (for Solar Circle Sorcery) and one has Bureaucracy and War (for godkinging), entirely to satisfy the part of me that insists that really all the Iconic Solar Things are just Twilight things

[winged swallow]

the e2 ways of exaltation

[winged swallow]

i weirdly don't hate this

i'm not sure i entirely agree with it but

[bleak hazel]

I can't even decide what castes to cut, this is purely me making design decisions on a whim

[winged swallow]

cramming Eclipse/Zenith into one

[bleak hazel]

aside from all the giant downsides, it also means you can have a perfect circle (perfect triangle?) with a number of solars that is much easier to run for

[winged swallow]

True Actually

Dawn, Zenith, Twilight. boom.

[tulip folio]

Triangles? SOLAR ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!

[winged swallow]

wow

i haven't heard an "illuminati confirmed" bit in a while

[bleak hazel]

Exalted is great for unconspiracy theories

[winged swallow]

i crisped up briefly like that one rango scene

[tulip folio]

I spent last night playing the original Deux Ex again. XD

[bleak hazel]

there's a secret group of worldwide manipulators who live in heaven and masterminded the usurpation! if you learn about them they'll wipe your brain!

the actual conspiracy is presumably "the Solars did the Usurpation, Big Red has been a Zenith all along"

[winged swallow]

fucked up

[tulip folio]

Imagine how messed up the poor guy is who encounters both Alchs and Sids and gets double mindwiped about the scene. XD

[winged swallow]

god. sidereal with games of divinity form at e3.

[bleak hazel]

he hasn't quite reached "dignified and enlightened old master" by that point so it's just whatever dance moves are hot in Yu-Shan's club scene right now

[tulip folio]

I'm not sure I'd go with '1 essence lower' but I do think I'd basicly go 'no, sids don't need a lead in for SMA. Make solars do the fucking full martial art first but sids being sids can Do Sid Martial Arts'.

As right now sids have some 'kinda dodge around it' charms but those charms also leave like 'I want to be Medicine Sid and didn't turbofocus either a martial art or melee/archery/thrown/brawl, just got a pretty average level of them' a little out in the cold.

[bleak hazel]

I would lightly fuck with the Enlightenment charms to also give you five dots in [SMA of choice]

that's about it

oh yeah, and maybe introduce a 1/character Warmaiden Enlightenment in the battles charms that lets you force compatibility between your MA and any SMA, but doesn't work with the other Enlightenments and can't be stacked

[winged swallow]

me when im enlightened

[bleak hazel]

that would probably need another paragraph of restrictions on it but hey

I'd also change the requirements on SMA to allow you to go into SMA if you have all E3 charms of a normal martial art, because some of them end at E4 and it's inconvenient

[tulip folio]

Less 'specific exalt' thing and more just 'general bookkeeping' things - If you introduce a new special martial arts weapon in a book, you have to list any prior martial arts it's compatible with. XD

[bleak hazel]

so what we're saying is that we'd like a brief errata and some mechanical cleaning and polishing

we're boring

[winged swallow]

god damn it

it keeps happening

[wise ocean]

as someone who's played not a single hour of exalted so far, I think the whole system needs to be reworked for a tacmap instead of range banding

[bleak hazel]

oh, yeah - thing I personally would do if I had infinite dev time is go into Lunars and a) introduce a Lunar-OK keyword for animal merits so big scary creatures can exist without breaking, say, Tyrant Lizards completely and b) refit their entire charmset with Versatile Charms

[tulip folio]

Look, it's a very minor thing but I get very annoyed when I go 'Oooh, cool new martial art weapon. What can I use this with?' and the answer is 'the martial art that introduced it and no other one.'.

[bleak hazel]

they would have a great many Versatile Charms

but I think having the ability to go "no, no, stop" lets you do stuff like nix Bear Style Legendary Size

[tulip folio]

Eclipse but for animals 😛

[bleak hazel]

yeah

whitelisting good

(alternatively, just go through the corebook and nerf the legendary size beasties, then tone down grappling lethality like 20%)

[tulip folio]

Oh I'd also hit falling damage with a nerf hammer.

[bleak hazel]

abolish Getimians

for no reason besides mild vibes being off

their vibes may redeem them in future

[winged swallow]

i thought you liked gets

somewhat

[tulip folio]

Falling off a roof shouldn't be scarier than a daiklaive for several characters. XD

[winged swallow]

ah well

they kinda fixed that in abyssals

[bleak hazel]

well, not really, they just let you use existing anti-fall-damage stuff on HTH

[winged swallow]

it was about stunting to avoid fall damage, a sidebar

god where is it

[bleak hazel]

my take on Gets is that they'd be way better if the initial pitch wasn't "anti-Sids" and they lost the whole "inherent fatebreakers with a charmset built for the War on Heaven" because that's just Sids 2 and we already have Sids 1

"daoist internal alchemy from alternate timelines" is a cool enough deal to begin with

[tulip folio]

my moderately spicy take is that HTH shouldn't be a kill tool. It's a 'Look, you got yeeted several range bands, that bought us time/got you out of the scene' trick already.

[bleak hazel]

they can still have lots of fate fuckery, just, you know

not quite parallel with the Sids but in the exact opposite direction

Essence Gets annoy me

(the Essence example Get is quite fun, I like him)

[winged swallow]

oh huh, that is from core originally.

[tulip folio]

My take on Gets is that they should work on Narrative convention, rather than fate. They're enforcing the story of the alternate timeline they're from over reality.

[bleak hazel]

they seem to have inherited the old habit of people homebrewing Sid charms where they just write some horrendously broken stuff and then don't notice because fatewarping

[winged swallow]

raksha-ass

[bleak hazel]

because their charms aren't meant to be niche and weird and sideways, so they just do stuff like "blow up a direction" or "pick up a mountain and whack you with it, destroying the entire city that was on it" with single button presses

[tulip folio]

In fact, how about we shove the Gets off into alternate realities based on failed timelines you can visit with a magitech APC. We'll call them...lostbelts...or something...

😛

More seriously/unironically, I think the Big Get Thing shouldn't be tinkering with fate. It should be making a location that's trying to enforce their reality over creation's. It's not a threat to heaven in the sense that they're gunna bust down the gates and take over.

It's a threat to heaven in the sense that there are weird beings trying to make a different world spiking up.

So a Get could make a city that never was built appear, born from the dreams of their world, fighting to exist against the tide of fate going 'No, this doesn't exist'.

[fierce star]

after ex1 and ex2 sidereals deserve some cracked, as a treat

[chilly sluice]

Is that not what they do?

I thought recreating the things they achieved in their timeline was a big thing for them

[bleak hazel]

I seem to remember Ex1 Sids being fucking invincible

I think they've had little a cracked as a treat already

[fierce star]

Yeah but their fluff sucked iirc

it has been a long time since I read ex1 sids though so I bow to your expertise there

[tulip folio]

To some extent but they've got a lot of weird baggage like 'My belly is full of pattern spiders' and 'internal alchemy' and 'Oh we also do Fate Stuff'.

I'd sorta double the fuck down on the Reality Marble/Lostbelt side.

[winged swallow]

their spine contains their own personal loom of fate iirc

[chilly sluice]

Yeah

[bleak hazel]

Is that actually in Essence or was that just the original pitch from pre-Ex3 core?

I don't recall seeing it written down since

[winged swallow]

i don't recall

and i am also not really in the business of taking what is in essence to be true for future ex3 stuff

for several reasons

[bleak hazel]

I'm going secondhand here since I was too busy being single digit years old for 1e

but as I had it explained to me, they just built a 2e-style 2/7 filter out of Impeding The Flow + Joy In Adversity Stance + a few other bits and statistically regenned more motes than they spent shutting down all incoming attacks

[tulip folio]

I kinda hope Essence Single Pulse turns up in ex3. Essence Single Pulse is cool.

[bleak hazel]

so they had to get extremely unlucky to actually take damage

[tulip folio]

(Which is totally why I looted chunks of it for my 3e Single Pulse)

[bleak hazel]

First Pulse, you mean?

[tulip folio]

...yes.

Clearly I invented a bullshit martial art about putting your hands in your pockets and quickdrawing unarmed attacks called Single Pulse 😛

[winged swallow]

what is the difference between shaping (mind) and psyche

[tulip folio]

If I had to guess, the difference is retcon vs mind control.

Psyche is 'I made you think this'

Shaping(Mind) is 'Reality thinks you always thought this'

But it's a weird/fine line

[winged swallow]

FatG just says

“Shaping effects are any magic that transforms a character’s body, mind, soul, or fate.”

Core meanwhile says this abt psyche

“Psyche: A power with this keyword is an unnatural, hypnotic, or sorcerous power that magically influences, controls, or cripples an opponent’s thoughts or feelings.”

is this not really just the same thing then

[bleak hazel]

yeah, it's very foggy

Shaping (Mind) is usually on Sid stuff where you have to resist fate-insists-it-always-worked-like-this and psyche is usually more direct and targeted magical mindwhammy, but it's not a hard line at all and it's basically just "here's your two defensive keywords"

[winged swallow]

i just need to know for writing up artifacts and like

The Solar Reforging

[fierce star]

hot take shaping shouldn't be a keyword, instead it should be four keywords one of which is psyche

sometimes i don't even think about these things before sharing them, half the time they aren't even my real opinion, I really should stop that probably

[tulip folio]

Hmm...what's people's thoughts on the artifact Piercing Epiphany in Alchemicals? It looks kinda cool and the big capstone looks potent for being only E3.

Piercing Epiphany
Cost: 10m, 1wp Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Resonant
Duration: One scene
Prerequisites: Efficacious Removal of Obstacles, Reassessed Priority Defense
Revelation’s Needle filters the wielder’s perceptions for but a moment, and the spear’s touch burns away deceptions and chicanery with the clarity of adamant.

The wielder rolls (Perception + [Melee or Thrown]) to see through magical deceptions, illusions, and similar trickery. This is opposed by the roll used to create these effects, or at difficulty 5 if no such roll exists. No roll is needed to see through effects whose user’s Essence is lower than the wielder’s. This doesn’t effect purely mundane actions that are enhanced by magic like an Excellency.

The wielder can destroy ongoing illusions or deceptive effects that she’s seen through by piercing them with Revelation’s Needle, which may require a difficulty 3 gambit in combat. This Evocation can’t negate sorcerous workings or permanent effects, though they’re suppressed for a scene.

Reset: Once per session unless reset by reaching Clarity 10. No reset is necessary if the wielder uses this Evocation while at Clarity 10.

Resonant: With Essence 4, the wielder can use this Evocation to destroy sorcerous workings that create illusions or other deceptive effects. Doing so requires a (Perception + [Melee or Thrown]) roll with (Clarity) bonus dice against a difficulty of the working’s (Circle x 3). The wielder can only use this effect against a Celestial Circle or Solar Circle working once per story.

Though I also have an element of 'so what effects are magically created and which are mundane but enhanced by magic?'

[tulip folio]

Also working on that second airship. Where it's about Sorcery/Exploration more than direct combat. It can only carry a fragment of what the other one can but it's a good bit faster. It's also very durable against environmental damage, as the 0 health levels restore given a few minutes/without needing active repair.

In combat it's not really any tougher than another Artifact Ship (Which you know: Artifact Ship already tough) and it lacks weapons (Though it's got defensive positions for combat spellcasters to cast safely from).

The big things you're really buying this for is 'It's a fast airship that also counts as top-tier sorcerous means for doing sorcerous workings' ||Also: Yes, it's a Flying Saucer||

[fierce star]

is it going to have an evocation that lets you probe people for information

[tulip folio]

Not yet but being able to drag information out of people without dealing with 'Language Barriers' or 'I don't want to talk' could be fun. Would have to look over some existing charms to see if there's any 'I am reading your mind' examples.

I wonder what counts as 'anti-ship combat sorcery'.

I guess that's basicly any 'I blow shit up' spell?

[fierce star]

I'd say that, yeah

[tulip folio]

Okay, so this ship having no weapons but positions for combat spellcasters means this thing barrages pretty well.

[tulip folio]

Activate Warkaster Chambers
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Terrestrial Sorcery, Tenfold Reinforced Shields
Energy crackles and endless mathematical runes flow across the barrels of the ship, crew drawing from its powerful moetic core to fuel a torrent of magecraft.

The <Name> gains the following benefits:

-Spells cast from within the <Name> extend their range by one band (Or by 25%, if they do not use Range Bands)
-Spells and Energy-Based Attacks suffer a -2 penalty to hit the Boundless Discovery or those aboard her (Including attempts to Broadside the ship).
-Broadside actions made with Combat Sorcery cost 1 less Momentum.

Resonant: This charm can be flurried with Shape Sorcery, or activated Reflexively at the start of Naval Combat.

Special: If the Pilot is not within the <Name> but the ship is within range to support, this charm may still be used. If so, the first two benefits only affect the Pilot and ends if they move, including involuntarily.

[bleak hazel]

question for those who know about Alchs: what's their equivalent to Cosmos-Sustaining Demiurge, if they have one?

Blight Duct Tape seems like a thing they should have

[winged swallow]

i

don't think they have one?

nothing to permanently seal stuff away

Thermionic Orthodoxy Array has the Order-Asserting Emanation submodule which extends environmental Shaping effect immunity out to Short range around the Alchemical - including the terrain itself.

i can't find anything else

which is kinda weird

you'd think they had something, even just like

a higher essence charm or submodule

sure seems like bustin' down the seal of eight divinities might actually help save autobot

go my sidereals

go my Joybringers

[raw owl]

Well, if they could deal with the blight zones, they wouldn't be in this situation :p

[winged swallow]

not necessarily true

sidereals can plug up bordermarches and shadowlands but we still deal with those

[raw owl]

Sure, I just meant that it might have been an intentional omission from their charmset

[winged swallow]

i suppose, yes

it just seems a slightly silly one

In My Humble Opinion

[bleak hazel]

to quote... myself, twenty minutes ago

[winged swallow]

well, i suppose you could technically Design the Charm, since they're all pieces of artifice.

lol

is that why you asked

[bleak hazel]

yeah, I was just thinking "wait, this works on Blight, unlike the other wyld restoration charm in Sids" and then "surely Alchs have this"

Conning Chaos Technique is very specifically wyld-only

and Wyld-Shaping Technique is obviously the same

I do not believe Solars have a generic fucked-biome-removal-charm, although presumably they could develop one

which I think leaves Cosmos-Maintaining Demiurge as the only default piece of wide-area blight management tech

also while looking for that, I found this

I know they can just sail wherever in a boat, but I think this means you can just go "fuck it" and pull open a hole to Cecelyne or the Underworld wherever the fuck you want?

at least in Creation

[prisma sun]

It needs to be a specific warded place

I think

Oh wait

No yeah this is just able to go wherever

[bleak hazel]

it's at the right Essence level, but the sail-to-heaven charm requires a bit more stuff

I quite like the idea of "fuck this, we're going to hell"

punch open a hole in reality and throw someone into the endless desert like that one fight scene in Doc Strange so you can throw down without wrecking the place

[prisma sun]

Anime budget saving background

[bleak hazel]

Got to make sure you can portal to the Interdimensional Welsh Quarry at the first sign of trouble

sidereal falling out of a hole in the sky to find a selection of tokusatsu fights, an episode of Doctor Who and a few retired actors from Blake's Seven already occupying that bit

[winged swallow]

lmfao

[fierce star]

... man now I have a gonzo Get idea I wonder if it'll be plausible to play

tl;dr a Get from a creation where mass media came about and didn't die with the first age (or just was actually invented, given I don't think the first age had mass media in ex3 actually). They weren't an exalt or even a real hero if you were to ask them. They were just the most famous tokusatsu actor in all creation.

[bleak hazel]

I do not think this actually works, since I believe the difference between reality and the get-fake-timelines is meant to be the existence of the Getimian, or at least not much beyond that

[fierce star]

Damn

oh well maybe someone will run a modern shard game ported into ex3 at some point lol

[bleak hazel]

I believe this is an attempt to stop everyone going "isekai exalt! isekai exalt!" but I do not believe it'll work

[fierce star]

I just quite like the trope of 'actor mistaken for a real hero, has to step up and do it'. Why yes, Galaxy Quest is one of my favorite movies of all time.

I suppose one can do that with a normal sidereal in regular ass creation, given the nature of sidereal exaltations, but it doesn't quite taste right in my head

[bleak hazel]

or any other Exalt, for that matter

[fierce star]

I guess it could, yeah

[tulip folio]

Hmm...still pondering this. The whole 'Hey so which sort of stealth effects are mundane and enhanced by magic and which ones are magically created?'

[prisma sun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T--URl-g_4

This song really makes me wanna write Scrimshaw's Lunar Mate more

Do Spirit Shapes change with Lunar incarnations?

[tulip folio]

I think they do? There's likely a higher chance of them being similiar but reincarnations are not really the same person entirely.

[prisma sun]

I imagine Lunars are the most "you change with an reincarnation" due to Change being the thing

[tulip folio]

Yeah.

[bleak hazel]

pretty sure spirit shapes are a personal thing

funny as it would be to have a Lunar who has a spirit shape that's an extinct animal from the First Age

Exalt, turn into thylacine, look down at self and wonder what the fuck this thing is

[tulip folio]

Got it, so you won't have Eye and Seven Despairs spotting a Platypus Lunar putting on a hat and realizing its his former lunar mate 😛

[bleak hazel]

I think there was a previous edition vignette where a wyld-mutated Lunar rampaged around Thorns until Winters stopped it in combat personally, gave it a kiss and packed it off to Ma-Ha-Suchi, which I believe is all we've got for Deathlord Lunar Mates

Wyld Chimerism is also no longer a thing, but I suppose there's nothing stopping an individual lunar taking too big a hit of the fae juice

[tulip folio]

It's not accurate but I can't help but see Eye as Dr Doofenshmirtz XD

[fierce star]

It's accurate enough to be meme-funny

[tulip folio]

"Behold! The Undead-inator!"

[velvet raft]

Doof is far too functional to be Eye and Seven Despairs

[raw edge]

Along that vibe, I'm amused by the idea of a Lunar really identifying with, say, leopards but not recognising their spirit shape as one because they'd only seen leopards depicted in the Creation equivalent to mediaeval bestiary

[tulip folio]

Take the 'your heart form has extra mutations' to make it the animal you think it should be.

Tenfold Reinforced Shields
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Whatever the E1 ends up being.
Like the walls of a metropolis, the gleaming golden shields of the <Name> are resolute, holding fast against anything creation can throw at them.

As long as the <Name> has any -0 levels of damage remaining, its shields make it immune to Boarding Actions and protect all within the ship from Environmental effects.

Individual characters attempting to enter while the shields remain without the permission of the pilot, including dematerialized characters, require a feat of demolition with difficulty (Pilots Essence + Intelligence) and a minimum Strength of 5, or comparable destructive force. If breached this way, the shields will seal again too quickly for more than a few people to enter alongside him.

Also back to playing with that exploration ship. I wanted something that helps a bit in boat combat but also helps in non-combat stuff too. Getting this evocation makes your Floating Base a lot safer from assassins and other attackers.

They need to rock up with a battering ram or something to get inside.

[coral wraith]

What are some creative uses of Avoiding-The-Truth Technique? It's such a unique charm but I'm having trouble forming use cases in my head, so concrete examples would help;

Avoiding-the-Truth Technique 
Cost: 3m; Mins: Lore 3, Essence 1 
Type: Supplemental 
Keywords: Mute 
Duration: Instant 
Prerequisite Charms: None 
The Sidereal speaks the truth but is not believed, inflecting her words with a tenor of unspeakable dread that makes listeners refuse to believe them. 

When the Sidereal makes a spoken influence roll or up to 10 seconds of normal speech, everyone who hears her believes she’s lying and gains a Minor Principle reflecting this. Characters whose Resolve is higher than the Sidereal’s Manipulation can spend one Willpower to resist. If a character with this Intimacy makes a roll against the Sidereal’s Guile that could reveal she wasn’t lying, he suffers +1 target number. 

This Charm can contest lie-detecting magic like Judge’s Ear Technique; the Sidereal uses her influence roll to oppose that Charm’s roll, or a (Manipulation + Lore) roll at −1 target number for normal speech.```

[tulip folio]

Br'er Rabbit stuff and tainting the truth. If you tell people something they now know it's a lie and thus it throws things away from you.

'Hey, who killed this guy?'
'I did'
'...well, we don't know who did it but we sure as fuck know who's innocent because of how badly he lied about doing it'

[coral wraith]

lmao

[tulip folio]

Generally the way to look at it is 'if this is a lie and we accept that fact, what is the logical truth?'

'Who paid you to attack me, assassin?'
'It definitely wasn't your brother'
'That son of a bitch!'

[coral wraith]

Good shouts Iki, I'll keep that in mind

[tulip folio]

And now I go back to doing up Artifact Ships. XD

[coral wraith]

[tulip folio]

Activate Warkaster Chambers
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Terrestrial Sorcery, Tenfold Reinforced Shields

Energy crackles and endless mathematical runes flow across the barrels of the ship, crew drawing from its powerful moetic core to fuel a torrent of magecraft.

The <Name> gains the following benefits:
-Spells cast from within the <Name> extend their range by one band (Or by 25%, if they do not use Range Bands)
-Spells and Energy-Based Attacks suffer a -2 penalty to hit the Boundless Discovery or those aboard her (Including attempts to Broadside the ship).
-Broadside actions made with Combat Sorcery cost 1 less Momentum.

Resonant: This charm can be flurried with Shape Sorcery, or activated Reflexively at the start of Naval Combat.

Special: If the Pilot is not within the <Name> but the ship is within range to support, this charm may still be used. If so, the first two benefits only affect the Pilot and ends if they move, including involuntarily.

Extra Range Spells (Though if you're not on the ship you lose the extra range if you move to avoid making it too good at kiting)

[prisma sun]

Few romances of the First Age could claim to be grander than that of Unassailable Cliff and Oasis Among Sands. Their marriage was inscrutable in it's efficiency. Unassailable Cliff one of the greatest architects and Masons among the Exalted Host, and Oasis Among Sands one of it's foremost destructors. For years, would he build grand towering spires, glittering redoubts, and bastions that could not exist outside of his care. And with her cunning and strength, she would siege and conquer and them. With soldiers of clockwork and volunteers among gods and spirits, the two danced this dance. Attack, defend, conquer, rebuild. Each new edifece built with the lessons learned from the last. Working towards the goal of Unassailable Cliff's Perfected Fortress, a castle so ingenious and impregnable that even the greatest minds would never conquer it with a thousand thousand years of planning.

I gotta go to work but I am now doodling The Divorced Abyssal And Lunar pair

[tulip folio]

Hmm...the more I read the ship combat rules the more I feel like they're missing bits. It feels weird that there's no provision for like a Tyrant Lizard to savage a boat.

[fierce star]

That'd be like part of a boarding action, I think?

[velvet raft]

The ship combat rules are one of the most ignored parts of the system for a reason.

Sail as an entire ability did always strike me as a little conceptually narrow, tbh.

Ride to a lesser extent.

[tulip folio]

Yeah, which makes 'I kinda want to make some Cool Airships' tricky. Trying to mostly avoid the ship combat rules overall and making them more about being a Cool Base/making you better at things related to the type of airship they are. XD

[next delta]

It's for the best

I think the essence ship combat is serviceable (though maybe ships are too squishy)

My main complaint about the 3E ones* is that it is completely separate from regular combat which is really awkward for the type of fights I'd want out of Exalted ship complaint

* I've heard there are other problems like the math not being good

[fierce star]

abyssal sail at least has a couple dozen 'be dread pirate' and 'do spooky water shit' stuff, but... yeah

[tulip folio]

Yeah, I ran into a very silly thing with this most recent ship there.

'If a ship has combat sorcery, it gets this bonus on barrage against other ships'
'Oh cool, so how does a mage attack a ship if he's not standing on a ship himself? As clearly combat sorcery is good against ships'
'Fuck you'

It was amusing to be going through the airship ideas and going 'Okay, how about something for handling towers and other static defences that...can't work with the naval combat system as it requires everyone be moving about constantly as Good Moving is literally the resource you spend...bugger'

[prisma sun]

The Sidereal offered her his help, and bestowed on her blessings and panoply in abundance, including a puzzle box that would remove the pallor that hung over her mate. Even with this boon, he implored her to beseech her Circle for help for even with her experience and determination, the fortress would be too much for any one assailant. So it was that Oasis' companions launched a lightning raid on the Redoubt, the Lunar using every last drop of will and skill to avoid the defenses and blast through the garrison. Even as her Circle was wounded in the approach, she pushed on, undaunted. 

When she finally stood in the throne room of the mighty citadel, the two lovers exploded into argument. Each unknowingly bewitched by the Curse, they lashed out, until finally Oasis In The Sands had enough, and pulled forth the puzzlebox. As the lid parted open, Oasis had no time to react as the blade pierced her heart. 

A squadron of Dragonblooded Assassins, accompanied by bound Demons and Elementals, rushed out of the sorcerous box, cutting the two lovers down in moments. They each died, staring into each other's eyes from across the chamber.

The Redoubt would be conquered in the Usurpation, but the fractuous nature of Creation and the ensuing Balorian Crusade would eventually see it lost to the Wyld. Some say it stands to this day, for the only true flaw in it's design was that it's defences could not stop the one whom the architecht loved most.```

[tulip folio]

Pondering interesting Tells for a cat lunar sorcereress. Going Full Catgirl would be kinda silly. Maybe just Cat's Eyes?

It would let her have some mutations that stick about in various forms.

[wise ocean]

Always falls on her feet, somehow

[raw edge]

Resting Blep Face

[tulip folio]

I wonder if an artifact that just Gives You Flight would be reasonable/what dot value it would be. Yes, I'm literally pondering a witch's broom.

[fierce star]

There's the wings in arms?

I think arms anyway, away from books

[tulip folio]

Right, Arms. Goes to check

...4 dots, 10 motes and a willpower?

Christ

Oh and it also boosts solar charms that this character wouldn't have.

Fucking Arms.

[prisma sun]

I think the reasoning for making flight expensive is that it can nullify most people not specifically equipped for dealing with it

[tulip folio]

Oh yeah, it just feels rather expensive as a 4 dot artifact when just 'Naturally having flight' is a single background dot more and doesn't come with 11 motes and a willpower locked away at the same time.

[prisma sun]

Yeah but it also comes with a permanent -2 penalty to everything I guess

[raw edge]

You could borrow the rules for Wind Blades maybe

[tulip folio]

Wind blades would be fitting, yeah

This lunar is either going to have an Actual Broom or a Unicorn Mount. XD

The nice part of a broom is that since it's an artifact you sit or stand on, not one you hold in your hands, a cat can sit on it just fine 😛

Dangerous Anathema

[raw edge]

No flying mortar and pestle?

[tulip folio]

Sadly 3e removed most of the non-firewand guns, so she can't fly about on light artillery

😛

[winged swallow]

you telling me you wouldn’t use a dragon-sigh wand as a broomstick to fly about on???

[tulip folio]

It is tempting, when you put it that way.

[winged swallow]

you LITERALLY have a built-in rocket booster

[raw edge]

Sekhem, let's go!

[velvet raft]

Reflavor the flaming hoverboard from Heirs.

[tulip folio]

doing up a variant of it that's moonsilver (Since this is for a lunar) and doesn't link into dragonblooded specific mechanics could be fun.

[tulip folio]

Hmm...Lunars don't really have a sorta 'element' for ranged effects, do they? I guess Wyld Energy or something? They steal a lot of fae stuff.

[winged swallow]

moonlight beeeeeeeeam

[raw edge]

The best they've got is "spitting poison" and "sound/music" (Lion's Roar Rebuke in strength, and the handful of moonsilver musical instruments), I guess?

[raw owl]

could do some stuff with gravity/tidal forces?

[tulip folio]

I was pondering like 'part of the night sky', as they tend to have a lot to do with night

Darkness and stars etc

[velvet raft]

Fighting evil by moonliiiiiiii

Oh god

Lunar whose deadly beastman transformation is a magical girl form

[tulip folio]

Activate Deadly Beastman Transformation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4xQZH-4CUU&ab_channel=Lemonpop968

[velvet raft]

Actually does it make any sense whatsoever to be a flying guillotine martial artist with DBT?

Because sailor moon.

[prisma sun]

I mean it's not like mutations can't not help in a fight even if you're rolling Int

[velvet raft]

She adds (Strength) to the raw damage of her
withering attacks.
Does this work because it would be very funny

[prisma sun]

Does it specify melee or ranged or anything

because if not, then yes

[velvet raft]

It does not specify so yes that is very funny.

Add Witch-Beast Pact for the animal friend.

Fuck I might have to build this idiot

[bleak hazel]

DBT is a strength charm, right?

I think that works RAW - I'm pretty sure you can't use Strength charms on anything that doesn't use Strength to calc damage, but I believe FGS still does

[tulip folio]

Resolute Hope
Orichalcum Razor Parasols

Seemingly thin batons, these weapons can generate a powerful energy shield that is the last remnants of the loyal alchemicals of Erlik. When the city fell to the blight, they rallied to evacuate the people. Maddened blight drones swarmed over them, buzzsaws and screeching scrapcode assaulting the defenders. Despite that, they stood resolute, channelling their essence into barricade generators. When the corrupted Colossi of the city assaulted them, the barricade shook...but each time it would shatter, a champion of the city pushed forward and breathed his full life into the one thing keeping the mortals evacuating safe. They held for an entire day before the last champion fell and the slaughter began once again.

It is unknown how many of these energy shields remain, taken by the grateful survivors of the city as talismans in worship of the champions who gave everything to save them. They can be found across Autocthonia, whenever the refugees of Erlik have fled.

Autocthonian artifact fluff up. How's this seem? Energy Shield/Razor Parasol that's part of a full set of them.

[wise ocean]

"full life" since double entire is repetitious, seems good otherwise

[tulip folio]

...I'm also realising there is a lunar blast thematic option I'd not considered. Moonlight Greatsword. XD

[prisma sun]

https://tenor.com/view/bloodborne-ludwig-guiding-moonlight-gif-5220904500856857901

[tulip folio]

It's kinda weird that the autocthonian book goes 'oh yeah, spells are exactly the same. They just don't know what a hawk is so firehawk's origin is a mystery.'

I'd have expected a lot more 'eh, refluff it as you will'

Got pondering if it would break anything to element-shift some attack spells. Like a Cold Firehawk or a Banefire Flesh Sloughing Wave.

[bleak hazel]

deebs have an E3 sorcery charm to boost spells that match their element, but otherwise I don't think that affects much at all

[velvet raft]

That charm can be very vague in its effects.

[bleak hazel]

digging up evidence of the Spoken in the Age of Sorrows

[velvet raft]

(AIUI the aquatic species thing is still very contentious.)

[mighty rover]

Conqueror Haki is real tho

[winged swallow]

and the domain expansion

[velvet raft]

Well yeah of course

[fierce star]

and t-rex is just stuck with the kaioken

[empty creek]

Carnotaurus gets the Kamehameha

Just because the mental image of it doing that with those stubby arms amuses me

[tulip folio]

Pondering evocations. Does this seem interesting:

Madman's Luck
Reflexive
Until Next Turn
Gives a bonus to evasion against multi-target effects or to rolls to avoid environmental effects.

The bonus becomes non-charm if you're inflicting them on yourself (Either by catching yourself in the AOE of your own effect or willingly walking into the danger).

So it helps avoid AOE blasting, multi-attack charms, battlegroups and environmental threats but not 'I just stab you. In the face'

[raw owl]

"willingly walking into the danger" seems like it could get fuzzy

but conceptually that's really fun

[tulip folio]

Yeah, I'll likely word that better. The intent was like 'Hey, I see there is a trap there. I'll just walk straight through it'

[tulip folio]

My thoughts is that it's for a combat magic artifact where the original owner was much more interested in 'fucking about' than 'careful tactical considerations'. A roaming force of chaos Lunar. XD

[raw owl]

https://youtube.com/shorts/3qgA202Tkvc

sidereals i assume

[bleak hazel]

I think they actually have the inverse of that

charm that makes enemies feel the "correct" level of dread about opposing you regardless of what your current persona is

the example is "god runs away from unutterably terrifying washerwoman, has no idea what's going on, washerwoman is Anys Syn in disguise"

it's mentioned it also works the other way around and makes you seem harmless if you are harmless even if you are disguised as Dr. Murderblender, so no pretending you're secretly more badass than you are

[prisma sun]

I feel its the correct display of someone with a resplendent disguise of like
Dung Collector

[tulip folio]

Hmmm...the tricky thing with 'combat magic artifact' is that there's so few that directly improve combat magic right now so working out what is cool to include/not cool to include is tricky. XD

[tulip folio]

Do you think 'extra range' on a spell is fine? Some like obsidion butterflies measure the AOE in range.

[prisma sun]

https://www.tumblr.com/regal-bones/763323799202578432/swordtember-2024-2023-2022-you-can-support-me-on?source=share

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

**SWORDTEMBER **2024, 2023, 2022

You can support me on Patreon for £1 and help me make stuff like this!

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Tumblr · Oct 3, 2024, 1:31 PM

Some of these are Very Exaltedy

[tulip folio]

Master of Devastation
Cost: 2m per +1 or -1; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
This charm supplements a spell, increasing or decreasing the Difficulty for an affected character of your choice to resist or recover from that spell. There is no limit to how much the difficulty can be decreased but it can only be increased as much as the weilder's dice cap on Static Values.

Multiple characters can be affected this way, though they must each be paid for individually.

Resonant: Sorcerous Motes beyond those required to cast the spell can be spent on this evocation (For example, if the caster generates 17 sorcerous motes for a 15 mote spell, they have 2 free for usage with this charm)

Playing about with the 'nuke stuff' spellcasting artifact.

'Excellency but for things that roll difficulty to resist instead of an attack roll'

As that's something a normal excellency can't boost

For stuff like Thunder Wolf Howl or Cantata of Empty Voices.

[velvet raft]

Ooh, I like it

Who is this for?

[tulip folio]

This is going to be a Moonsilver artifact. So for Lunars and also I guess solars becuase you can't keep things from solars no matter how much you wish you could 😛

[winged swallow]

you can

Special: Solars cannot attune to this artifact, because fuck you.

[tulip folio]

Hahahah

[velvet raft]

I really don't understand why they made Solars resonant with everything.

I guess they wanted to give players more visual variety?

[winged swallow]

if i had to guess it's because they didn't want the core rulebook to be Just Orichalcum Artifacts?

idk

[velvet raft]

Yeah

[winged swallow]

maybe to big up their Strongest Exalt thing

[velvet raft]

Everyone decked out in gold is a very specific vibe, too

[winged swallow]

although being real, i have never thought about the core artifacts very much if ever

except adorei, i guess??

[tulip folio]

I wouldn't be surprised if part of it was they wanted solars to be able to get artifacts from Beating Up Dragonblooded instead of like ever second 2e solar, having to work out how they found Yet Another Hidden Solar Tomb. XD

[velvet raft]

The volcano sword is cool

[winged swallow]

i think like

resonance is perhaps a bit..

hm

like played up?

[tulip folio]

I think the non-weapon/armour corebook artifacts are pretty cool. Though ironically none of them have evocations. XD

[velvet raft]

I think I'd just give them orichalcum and jade and call it a day.

[winged swallow]

at least one of the non-weapon core artifacts is crazy busted

[tulip folio]

The Shadow Belt?

[winged swallow]

yeah

i am also personally of the opinion that artifacts above 2* should have some evocations

[tulip folio]

I do find it funny that I stole part of the shadow belt for an evocation for one of my artifacts but I also went 'Yeah, no. This can't be E1, no cost'. XD

Ghost-Lit Path
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Mute
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Heart-Rending Innocence, Ghost-Lit Sight
Fading away like a ghost in sunlight, the wearer steps into the realm of the dead.

The wearer becomes dematerialized until the end of the scene. Effects that allow one to see and target ghosts can see and target the wearer, even if they would not work on other dematerialized beings.

'No, you have to be higher essence, there are 2 prereq charms and it's got the weakness that you're dematerialized exactly like a ghost, so anti-ghost tricks can work on you and there's a tea that only costs Resources and can let you slap ghosts.'

And even then it's still very bloody good/possibly a bit too low essence. XD

This being a Lunar Artifact, I'm thinking I might add an improvement for those 'You can give someone mutations/turn them into an animal' charms.

Letting you trigger them when someone is either incapacitated by one of your spells or suffers a crippling effect to reduce the damage.

So you can Obsidion Butterflies through a battlegroup and leave a horde of confused snorting pigs in true circe fashion. XD

[tulip folio]

Okay so I'm pondering a couple of Lunar Specific Evocations with this:

Cruel Silver Rebuke
Permanent
Prereqs: Insidious Lunar Transformation
You can use Insidious Lunar Transformation on anyone taken out by an attack spell for, even if the spell would normally kill them. If she would affect a single person this way, it costs 5m. If she would affect a battlegroup, it costs the normal amount but affects all characters in the battlegroup.

Water Shaped By Container
Permanent
Prereqs: Insidious Lunar Transformation
When you use Insidious Lunar Transformation, she may make the transformation one of mind, not just body. This allows any of the following:

-She can grant the affected figure the instincts related to their new form. She may pick dice pools or static values that the target will use at the normal value, instead of the lesser value. The dice limit for this is the Lunar's Occult and it will not stack with any Excellency (So if they get a +3 bonus from it, they'd need to spend 4 motes for +4 dice on an excellency to overule the transformation, not add to it)
-She may have the target's intelligence also be affected. They will not lose intimacies but will have them through the lens of what the form is capable of understanding. This will also have mental dice pools be affected by the transformation, instead of only physical ones.
-If she uses Endless Masquerade Affliction, she may use the animal transformation rules even when granting a human form. A powerful warrior trapped in the body of a fragile courtier will find his arms failing him when trying to use his blade.

So the artifact is for most people a Blasty Sorcery Artifact. For Lunars it's also a way to go 'Oh yeah, I can Beat Your Ass so hard you become an Ass' as they bring some extra Circe into the mix.

[tulip folio]

Do you think it's unreasonable to look at general 'boosts decisive damage' charms and use them as patterns for Evocations (Only for Spell Decisives) for a blasty artifact? I'll price them at 'per target affected' to not make the AOE get super value out of it.

[fierce star]

I think that should be fine

[tulip folio]

Was pondering as well, very few in-charmset damage boosts work on spells.

[bleak hazel]

👁️

[wise ocean]

new DB just dropped?

[bleak hazel]

moth is one of the Agents of Heaven devs, unsurprisingly, so Immaculate Grandmasters can in fact now drop the hammer

(presumably a grandmaster knows all of one of them and some others through to form, not literally 60 MA charms)

[mighty rover]

Where was this posted?

[bleak hazel]

Sufficient Velocity Exalted thread, which dates back to late 2e and is nearly three thousand pages long

[mighty rover]

the ancient writ

[bleak hazel]

qualifies as first age artifice on its own at this point

over the years I have read most if not all of it

some fun homebrew demons and plot beats buried in there that I like to steal

[winged swallow]

ohohoho

fuck yeah

very cool

[prisma sun]

This is so cool for Immaculate Solars

[tulip folio]

Oh, five dragon form is itself not a form.

[bleak hazel]

no, just a form upgrade

[tulip folio]

Yeah, I was just confused for a bit as it improved wood dragon form

And I was going 'wait, unless you're a sid you can't have two forms'

I do feel it could probably use a name that doesn't include 'form' in it for clarity. XD

[winged swallow]

Abyssal Lore is so funny to me

it’s really grown on me

puts my hand on your shoulder, and spends for A Lesson in Sorrow "Did you know that historic reports from the Shogunate-era sorceror-engineer crews that maintained your city said that none of this will last.. more than two months from this date forward! Isn't that exciting?"

spends for Fatal Flaw Scrutiny "Ah, and your plans to fix it? They won't work, your 'head engineer' has been lying about his qualifications this whole time."

skips off into the sunset

[empty creek]

literally

[tulip folio]

Back to tinkering with that blasty magic artifact and pondering how these seem for the exalt specific charms that are part of it.

[limpid badge]

hello. I’m making bloody hands

[wise ocean]

just a little bleeding

[limpid badge]

I’ve just decided she gets nosebleeds when she hears Whispers

[velvet raft]

@limpid badge I have a friend who’s in a long-running Exalted 3e paid game on startplaying, and they’re looking for more heads. Is that the kind of thing I can post here, or should I suggest the actual GM post it in non-massif games?

[limpid badge]

We kind of only want regular members of the community to post paid games.

Like, it’s something we let folks do when we know they aren’t going to treat our community like an advert board, yaknow?

[velvet raft]

Yeah, I gotcha. Mainly I'd be sharing it since a friend is in it, but understandable.

[prisma sun]

Do you know when it is?

[velvet raft]

I'll direct message you.

[velvet raft]

… I’m AFB, can someone remind me whether it’s possible to take an SMA charm an essence early with that one hearthstone?

I have a vague recollection that SMAs are not applicable with all effects of this type?

[bleak hazel]

It's in a slightly grey area but I think most people agree that that particular hearthstone doesn't work there, no

[tepid flower]

RAW, it does; the Glory Sphere itself just says "not sorcery", and the actual SMA rules just say that Supernal and the equivalents other Exalts have don't work.

It probably shouldn't, but it's up to the ST. I'd probably allow it, since that would be the one SMA charm you're getting for a long time.

[velvet raft]

Yeah, mainly I'm considering it in the sense of "can an Essence 4 sid grab PAOC form with this bullshit?"

[bleak hazel]

up to the ST but probably not

my current Sid really wants PAOC Form but gets literally no use from any of the subsidiary forms because of how Crane Style works, which is mildly inconvenient

not sure PAOC Form is worth 50 entire xp, even if it is really cool

[bleak hazel]

some fun 1e art of Holok

[tulip folio]

Too old for nail care too

[bleak hazel]

Deadly Starmetal Offensive

gives you starmetal claws

[tulip folio]

Pondering if an evocation is too mean

Witch-Queen's Malice
Essence 2
Permanent

If you're inflicting a Shaping effect on a character you took part in incapacitating (Not just naturally asleep), any attempt to prevent or cure the effect must succeed in a (Willpower) opposed roll-off, with you getting (1/2 essence, rounded up) automatic successes. If the effect already involved a roll off, you instead gain (1/2 essence, rounded up) automatic successes.

Some amount of 'can punch through shaping defences but only if you've already beaten them down. So you can use it after a fight to mess with a guy but can't just throw them about freely'.

Being able to smash shaping defences is a pretty big thing but it only works in places where if you wanted them dead, they'd be dead already.

[tulip folio]

Hm...trying to remember the name of the charm that I'm pretty sure exists.

It's an abyssal one that is basicly 'I see you're doing a social action. I am going to clash your social action with my own to attempt to negate it'

[bleak hazel]

I can't recall where that is in the Abyssal book but there's a similar one on the Sidereal book artifact "the Enlightened Abnegation Sabres"

[bleak hazel]

more devs chatting in the Exalted server about the infernal book - lots of demons apparently, and no bishop-style SMA tutor so I get to have fun times teasing Sutarankal with the prospect of teaching the living dojo an SMA move in exchange for favours

steadily hammering my redsid build into something usable and I think I have my full "primary" combat suite with 13 combat charms plus my artifact's autounlock evo, but I'll want more than that for the other cool bits of Crane Style and more ox-bodies

I think that's reasonable for end-of-E2, albeit maybe pushing it a little

understandably, launching straight into Crane Form and full defence/attack flurries from a standing start is expensive in both charms and motes (18m, specifically, which is affordable but only for big deal fights)

[tulip folio]

Judicious Editing
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Resonant, Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: <Some Stuff>
The bearer of the <Artifact Name> has final editing rights over their own story and wields it to support the tale going as they would like.

When someone speaks, the wielder may make a special (Social Attribute + Linguistics) roll against the target's Guile. If successful, she may remove or re-order up to (Essence) words from the spoken sentence. If this causes the sentence to lost all meanin or to argue against an attempted influence (A change from 'I swear he was not killed by my hand' to 'he was killed by my hand' would no longer support attempts to convince others of one's innocence for example) then any influence roll automatically fails.

The speaker is not compelled to believe he spoke the words genuinely, though most will assume they misspoke rather than their words being deliberately altered.

Reset: Once Per Scene

Resonant: With an Essence 4 repurchase, the wielder can pay a five-mote surcharge to warp an influence rather than merely negating it. For example, a target who admits to his guilt not only will not convince others of his innocence but the original roll will instead become an influence that convinces others of his guilt with his own words.

Slightly Odd Social Defence.

[fierce star]

Oh that's spicy

[velvet raft]

Any discussion of what Infernals are going to be about?

[bleak hazel]

not sure, wasn't carefully reading the whole thing, it's a little way up in the other-exalts channel

it's mentioned that Infernals have "limited ways to get around the 5-day walkathon" which I hope means "no ways" because I quite liked that being totally ironclad

[tulip folio]

Like all I'd give Infernals is 'easy way to at-will portal there or back'

Still do the walk

But you don't need to walk to the walk

If that makes sense?

[bleak hazel]

and it also prevents you engaging in Silly Nonsense where you summon a demon, the demon starts walking five days in the past to get out of Malfeas in time and then Past You, in Malfeas, can see this, skip the transit time to beat the demon out and end up with an actionable retrocausal communications channel

which is not something that's meant to happen in Exalted

[bleak hazel]

yeah, that is more what I'd expect

[tulip folio]

...I could see a very fun like:

Low essence: Portal to malfeas (Walk included). Portal can be used to leave back to the same location (Still with walk) so you can visit and return in 10 days.

High essense: Portal can now go from malfeas to anywhere not actively warded in creation. Letting you travel anywhere in creation in 10 days regardless of distance. So rather than going 10x faster, they get to just to 'Time = 10 days', even if others could get there faster by just zooming in a straight line if it's not super far

[bleak hazel]

given very few places will have Anti-Infernal Wards up specifically, and general-purpose Magic Ward as a kind of minecraft-server territory claim is not an established setting element, I might be more Cecelynean there and say "to any place of desolation"

so you can only port into someone's base if the base is like, a bunch of tents in a desert

then you just walk into town from the nearby scrubland

otherwise yeah, I like that

Infernal Yellow Path

infernals are the non-Sidereal splat that also gets to play with the Interdimensional Man of Mystery schtick, so both of them should have the ability to go to Next Location with ease

[prisma sun]

What's the 5 day Walk-a-thon?

[bleak hazel]

so literally any transit into or out of Malfeas requires five days of travel over Cecylene, the endless silver desert

[tulip folio]

It takes 5 days to get through the desert that surrounds Malfeas. It always takes 5 days.

[bleak hazel]

doesn't matter how fast you go, 5 days

walk, crawl, fly

[tulip folio]

No matter how fast you move, no matter what magic supports you.

5 days

[prisma sun]

Well, Sidreals seemingly can sidestep that

[bleak hazel]

if you summon a demon in creation, that demon recieves the summons and starts walking out of Malfeas five days in the past, so having a way to break the ironclad limit lets you time travel, which is cheating

[tulip folio]

I don't think they can? Sids can do a lot but it's one of the really hard 'no, even exalts don't get to mess with this'

[prisma sun]

A few charms mention just popping directly into Malfeas

[bleak hazel]

they let you go to Malfeas, they'll still take five days

although you might experience that as a split-second of teleport-interstitialness while the world ticks on for that long

[tulip folio]

...considering the sids being the sids, does this mean sids have a standardized travel pay claim form for 'walking through endless desert'? XD

[bleak hazel]

there are many funny variants on the five day limit - there's a Sid relic chariot that lets you jump to hell in one mighty leap, so you just fall for a week

a previous edition had an elder essence solar-or-infernal Brawl charm, I forget which, that let you punch someone so hard they ended up in hell and had to lie insensate in an uninteractable crater in the desert for five days before they could get up and walk into the city

[tulip folio]

Teleporting to Malfeas gives you a 5 day version of The Jaunt. That's kinda horrifying.

[bleak hazel]

very possible

[coral wraith]

don't like that.

[bleak hazel]

I still want to make the Journeys who is steadily building towards NRS + Oedanol's Wheel + regen from Resistance so at E5 he can pick up a city in his chariot and orbital drop it onto Malfeas

with a five day helldivers pod loading screen

[velvet raft]

FTL signalling XD

[bleak hazel]

for when you want to do a sick takedown on an Elder Alchemical or get Gem out of the way for good

[velvet raft]

Anyway I remain extremely nervous about Infernals, I guess.

[coral wraith]

Why?

[velvet raft]

Because 85% of their 2E lore was incredible, and the Essence version of them was borderline unrecognizable.

[tulip folio]

It's a tricky area as they're a mixed of 'a lot of people didn't like them' but also 'some people (Like me) really liked some aspects of them' and even more 'they were fucking weird'.

Infernals were designed really late in 2e.

So they were built in an experimental time

[velvet raft]

And in particular I really hope they preserve the “sympathy for the devil(s)” vibe that pervaded Infernals.

[tulip folio]

And I really like some of those experiments

[bleak hazel]

A few people have tried to convince me that the old Exalted-for-missed-potential deal is included in the new Exalted-for-feeling-shafted condition but I really don't think it is

very different vibe

[coral wraith]

We are talking about the people that have overall made a range of really good splats so far after the original developers left

[bleak hazel]

the Essence ones at least skew hard towards "green fire ra ra fight the power, vive la revolution" which is just.... not what I'm in Exalted for

[coral wraith]

I think they've earned a measure of trust

[tulip folio]

I don't think people are thinking Infernals will be bad, more that they...won't be what infernals were about/what people liked about them.

If that remotely makes sense?

[bleak hazel]

admittedly that's purely my personal vibes preference, since Lunars exist, but still

[tulip folio]

Not a bad flavour but not what I wanted to eat etc

[velvet raft]

I’m neither optimistic nor pessimistic about this. But I am nervous.

[coral wraith]

There's no evidence of that besides Essence, which afaik was made by a different team of people

[bleak hazel]

they still have the same basic pitch, so we'll see if they do a better job on them + gets

[tulip folio]

Well, we do know they're becoming Ability-based exalts. that part is a known factor/a massive change. So I can understand the hesitation.

[coral wraith]

Trust the process, imo, nothing is set in stone until we see previews

[bleak hazel]

since Essence Infernals were white bread with no toppings until the recent expansion and Essence Gets are steadily evolving into monstrously overpowered Sidereals-But-Without-The-Brakes nonsense

[velvet raft]

Attribute would be way more fitting.

[tulip folio]

Yeah, I'd like attribute as a good middle ground of the old style and 'look, we can't just do that again'

[prisma sun]

They're Solars so they're not gonna be Attribute I feel like

[bleak hazel]

then again all of Essence clashes with my desired vibe, so fingers crossed

Fabula Ultima is not a good thing to hybridise with Exalted

[tulip folio]

Sure but in 2e they were not ability-based/they had the least solar-like excellency. Like no other exalt had a focus that not-solar.

[velvet raft]

In 2e they had spirit charms and the funkiest of excellencies

And losing those funky excellencies is …

[bleak hazel]

2e infernals were Yozi-Based, and that admittedly had its jank as well as its fun parts

[velvet raft]

Itself not good for them.

[bleak hazel]

I can see why they'd get rid of those, at least, since it very rapidly evolved into "yeah, I have a max excellency in everything, but to go up other charm trees I need to buy a bunch of useless duplicates"

[tulip folio]

I can 100% understand why they can't do the excellency like they did before. It was a fun experiment but kinda weird/not easy to line up with others.

But I'd really like that sense of 'I have a broad, multi-application excellency'

Hence my leaning towards attribute

[bleak hazel]

but I will be very interested to see what happens to the whole trifecta of thematic excellencies, psyche-warping Permanent charms as tree roots and Acts of Villainy

[tulip folio]

Which is broader but not endlessly broad

[velvet raft]

I just like excellencies that speak to having a role rather than a skillset.

[bleak hazel]

because if all those are gone or majorly attenuated there's not a ton left

[tulip folio]

I so hope Acts of Villiany remain. Those are #1 on my list of 'things I want to see return'.

As they were like...genuinely really great game design

[bleak hazel]

admittedly my Infernal vibe of choice is pulp-novel supervillain, which is reasonably close to green sun rock star, but you can't just do that

[tulip folio]

They were not just weird, they were excellent for mixing fluff and mechanics together to make your limit more interactive.

[velvet raft]

The other big thing for me is that Infernals posits a really interesting relationship between the Infernals and the Yozi, one which exposes a … how to put this?

[bleak hazel]

also I really want to put my whole supervillain lair in my internal soul-world just so that the obvious matte painting backgrounds are diegetic

"yeah, ran out of soul to put the rest in"

[velvet raft]

A fundamental patheticness to the entire Infernal project, the lashing out of a group of entities who have been redefined in their own pain.

[tulip folio]

The infernals being broken people serving broken gods was a fun part of it.

[velvet raft]

The Yozis in Infernals had pathos, and the Infernals themselves are tied up in that pathos in one sense or another.

[bleak hazel]

I think they're still basically being deployed as firecrackers made of spite, but the Althing is "bottom-up" now, which possibly precludes my favoured interpretation of the Infernals being juggled between a hundred conflicting third circle agendas depending on how they do it

[tulip folio]

I also enjoyed the element of Cronenberg-esce body horror to infernals. Not even just with offensive charms. An infernal trying to help you could be a fucking terrifying thing.

[bleak hazel]

I imagine they will still be able to do that

[tulip folio]

'Hey, I'm going to heal you' turns you into a screaming cancer chrysalis which absorbs all your injuries before sloughing off

[bleak hazel]

the eXistenZ stuff was pretty core

[tulip folio]

Infernals had a lot of 'This is my Sad Blorbo, Pinhead' to them 😛

[bleak hazel]

I didn't really have a hook I wanted to jump on for infernals until I watched Diabolik

which is great infernalvibes

[tulip folio]

Diabolik is great

[bleak hazel]

and also totally free on youtube, got to love 60s media

[velvet raft]

And insofar as Infernals were like … themselves parts of and extensions of the Yozi, their strivings for good and for ill reflected conflicting notions of who and what Malfeas (and any of the others) can and should be.

[bleak hazel]

infernalizing

wait, ||living, furious gold statue|| Shintai

or whatever they are now

Devil-Body

[velvet raft]

Unintentionally, the Yozi took a step of extreme vulnerability in inviting these people in to participate in Them-ness.

And I love that as an underlying dynamic.

That you don’t just have the power of Adorjan, but are in a real sense part of her and in dialogue with her.

[tulip folio]

It did a really fun bit of sorta...it didn't undercut their power but it humanized them without making them Just A Person. They were not just the mythical primordials, they were also fundamentally flawed beings who's flaws contributed to their own issues.

Like how the Green Dancer was this core of Malfeas that wants to be happy but the rest of him won't allow that because he's wallowing in his pain.

[velvet raft]

And who had also gotten a deal at least as raw as they had imposed on everyone else, to no one’s seeming benefit!

[bleak hazel]

I liked that they removed the "yozis are made of your charms and you can do psychotherapy to them by inventing new charms" stuff because it got very metaphysical in an unproductive way, but they were fun characters

I imagine I will still be stealing lots of stuff from EarthScorpion's Malfeas when I come to do 3e infernal games, just because it was really neat

[tulip folio]

I really hope the infenal book gives a level of mentor listed that is just 'Oh yeah, there's a third circle demon you sometimes have tea with for advice'.

[velvet raft]

I think that was too well-defined for sure.

[velvet raft]

That would be fun!

Anyway the reason I’m nervous is because I have high hopes.

[tulip folio]

As I feel like the lack of non-malfeas power for 3CDs and their not-complete-alignment with how humans think would make them fun high dot mentors.

[velvet raft]

Infernals, Alchemicals, and Sids are pretty decisively my faves (in no particular order).

[tulip folio]

They can provide advice and guidance but they can't really just turn up and save your ass.

[tulip folio]

Pretty much my favorites yeah. Lunars are sorta 'big hit or big miss, not much in between' for me.

I like the nature/shaman/witch side of lunars but I'm remarkably uninterested in Animal Shapeshifting, which makes them a very sometimes thing for me. XD

[prisma sun]

Sids, Deebs, and Lunars are my favorite trio

[velvet raft]

But I also think if Cecelyne has a chosen who is Infernal Misc and he wanders around building organizations with cybernetics theory that should have some meaning to Old Lady Hierarchy.

[tulip folio]

I'm really hoping infernals let you mutate people.

They were good at it before.

And they were great for all the 'I am an evil warlock/supervillian' stuff.

That said: Man I really wouldn't mind if they removed one of the silliest things there.

They had a charm that let you turn people into demons but then they had this entire thing saying 'Oh yes but it sends their soul to the afterlife, functionally killing them' because the devs seemed worried about players doing 'Hey can my Now A Blood Ape human Exalt?'

let me torment people with their inner sins devs, not get 'spawn broodlings: Demon edition' 😛

[tulip folio]

Get in a fight with an Alchemical about which sort of cybernetics you plan to implement.

Something I'm curious about?

What will the magical material for infernals be

As in 2e it was 'any, as long as they corrupted it with vitriol'

[velvet raft]

https://tenor.com/bbtBf.gif

[tulip folio]

But I imagine they'll do something different

But there isn't really a 'hell' magical material.

[bleak hazel]

I believe we know this, they're Ori-only

no idea vis-a-vis Vitriol

[velvet raft]

I'd love something matching the verdigris/copper/brass visual theming

[bleak hazel]

this actually happened in the real world, since Cybernetics eventually split into information theorists, who went off to build computers, electromechanical engineers who went off to build gunsights and management cyberneticists who went off to build Cybersyn (and their distant descendant once removed, McKinsey)

[velvet raft]

Like I always envision the Green Sun as being less radioactive green and more this copper flame color.

Which is one of my favorite colors.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1313652165604147273/1330252190106783867/dsc_3228.jpg?ex=68c27525&is=68c123a5&hm=5659b766f494d452e90ff253a2799eb2ed35928502e82d8e025fa53cd6defda9&

[bleak hazel]

hmm, what's the easiest Form to enter

purely for whiteroom purposes

Maiden-On-The-Shelf aside

[velvet raft]

Bruce Lee Solar: "the easiest form to enter is no form"

[tulip folio]

Maybe Reaper, if there's a battlegroup in the battle you can just do it reflexively by Being Near Them.

[bleak hazel]

shut up Bruce Lee Solar, you do not have infinite withering counterattacks because you refuse to get into Crane Form

I'm trying to see if there's anything that's similarly reliable to Sid Melee's "aim or full defence" easy switch among the normal MAs

I don't think there is

the primary downside to this cunning plan I have is that in order to use Sid Melee's onslaught negator or Serenity In Blood I need to parry with melee, which means no Crane counterattack

and if I want to benefit from Ways of Exaltation I need to punch while attacking or defending with Crane, although that's no big deal since all that really costs me is 1 non-charm parry from the medium sword

[tulip folio]

How's this seem btw? The intent is that it's a limited use social defence that can also let you just Be A Dickhead sometimes.

[bleak hazel]

very mean, but seems about right for E4 and 20xp

[bleak hazel]

you know, this is the only game where me trying to make a combat monkey build is threatened by actual-playing Misc constantly wanting to grab more noncombat investment at any given point, because they're often single flashy charms with big payoff, especially in Sids

whereas putting together part 8 of 20 of your carefully planned combat engine has less immediate juice a lot of the time

must resist temptation to Craft

[tulip folio]

Yeah, combat charms has a lot of 'well, it increases my chances but isn't really a Big New Cool Trick'

(Though not as bad as Solars, who are disgustingly full of 'It's optimal but boring')

[bleak hazel]

at least most of Crane Style has the juice

I have decided that I'm probably not getting all of PAOC on anything less than the Elder version of this guy, because it means I waste 60-70xp on forms and useless-for-my-PC form prerequisites, but once I have finished Crane I'll probably dabble

the bits that I'd like to optimise out are Melee charms 6 through 10 and Crossed Wings Denial, which is not that bad over five essence levels

eagerly awaiting Wings Spread To Sky

[tulip folio]

Man, I'm really getting an appreciation for the Enlightening Abnegation Sabers.

Pity they don't work with Even Blade.

As hook swords are some of the only non-even-blade swords

[bleak hazel]

yeah, they are one of my favourite artifacts

and they have the juice, too, that tech where you can use Larceny charms on Disarm gambits lets you really bully people

[tulip folio]

Nesting Sparrow Defense + Abnegation Sabers would be fucking hilarious

'I clash your attack with my disarm. What can I do on a disarm? What can't I?'

'You attack me, I steal your name and your motes and your init. Good turn.'

[bleak hazel]

take their name, their sword, their dignity and 3 points of their physical prowess into the bargain

fight over

I'm also pretty sure the EAS can get the init cost of Disarm down to zero, so you just have to hit

[tulip folio]

It's very tempting for Glacier Jade to go 'Hey, can I get a version of those sabers that is Literally A Saber (Chopping Sword)'. She's very Wuxia but in a troublemaking asshole way who's larceny favoured.

[bleak hazel]

they even replace the Larceny roll with the attack roll so you can save on Excellency, it's great

I am always a fan of daos

not a fancy sword, a sword for hacking things into bits

[tulip folio]

Yeah and it fits Jade's general 'mongol' theming, as the Dao came about after the mongol invasion.

[fierce star]

My favorite 'this is a weapon of war, it is made to kill the enemy ' sword is probably the katzbalger, but dao are more thematic for exalted

[bleak hazel]

Whenever I want to be practical I just end up making spearmen, although this is Exalted so you get to twirl that thing around like Revolver Ocelot anyway

at which point you want one of those long-bladed spears that can also cut, so you can do Adeptus Custodes moves

[wise ocean]

at some point I want to make a halberd + tower shield Guy who is THE WALL, probably a Resistance Abyssal

but I don't think the style for that is out yet

[bleak hazel]

The Sid Companion will have Crimson Panoply of Victory Style, the house style of Battles sidereals, and that has a whole heap of form weapons

Spear, shield, bow, khatar, other unspecified

it is apparently all about flowing between different combat forms, but I suspect a lot of people will be using it to build polearm + shield fighters and treating the bow as a backup

[tulip folio]

bow as an extra on an otherwise melee style is nice.

At least, assuming it's bow as a ranged weapon.

Which feels like it shouldn't need to be said but well...100% of bow styles right now are melee only. XD

[bleak hazel]

I have a feeling it will have form weapons for each of the Battles abilities - The Spear, The Shield, The Quiver, The Gauntlet and The Banner

but we don't know what the last one will be, if anything

[tulip folio]

Kinda sad it's katar instead smashfist, which would fit gauntlet better but eh, I guess Katar felt more 'martial arts'.

...I could see quarterstaff for Banner.

[bleak hazel]

smashfists are the device for the Brawl Supernals to style on people with and that's about it, I believe

[fierce star]

Aren't there styles that use gauntlets?

[tulip folio]

Gauntlets sound dangerously close to armour 😛

Martial arts don't get that

[bleak hazel]

the only style that uses the caestus is Centipede

(and Thousand Blades, in case you want Thousand Fists)

[tulip folio]

Still surprised that Smashfists didn't just end up 'Unarmed but Artifact'. It's amusing that you can wear metal gloves and hit people unarmed as long as you at no point attempt to hit people with the metal gloves.

[bleak hazel]

admittedly it is probably good that you can't just freely mix whatever MAs you like while still having artifact stats, but sometimes it does irk me, yeah

[tulip folio]

...I think a lot of the martial arts I've written list smashfists and god kicking boots because I keep forgetting they're not the artifact version of unarmed.

I am smrt

[bleak hazel]

my personal bugbear here is not unarmed, it's that more MAs should list improvised weapons

[tulip folio]

100%

The '1 init per attack with improvised weapon' does make them a bit tricky to justify at times