Sids: if you can sleep at night, you're not going hard enough
#Exalted
bleak hazel
May Blossom's subsidiary deal was being the App 5 smokeshow Dynast infiltrator, so this is in theme for her
next delta
It's the heroic shark man being stymied from saving the unconscious people due to a divinely binding legal agreement?
velvet raft
Hm, how much does OSOI rely on Stealth, actually? Let's take a look.
bleak hazel
basically only for A Likeness of Absence and the reflexive form activation
velvet raft
Hm, not so bad, then
bleak hazel
you know this is a way more stylish introduction to the Battles Caste
sorry Sidbook, 2e had worse lore but better set dressing
velvet raft
Ye
bleak hazel
velvet raft
Hm, not so bad, then
Especially if the intent is to enter forms through Burn Life anyway
bleak hazel
that's a really good depiction of Harmony of Blows too
velvet raft
Man, Thousand Blades into OSOI has style
bleak hazel
since the way that move works is that you have a choice of X things to do and choose both, simultaneously
velvet raft
Oh, wait, the Strength charm isn't compatible with knives
Sad
That does incentivize taking dex and then a bit of strength, I suppose :(
bleak hazel
man, this has given me so many more ideas for vibes than 3e Sids has
I feel 3e to some extent was just assuming you knew all that already
luckily I can just discard all the actual contents of the book
velvet raft
Yeah, I think that's a bit of a consistent issue with 3e
I raised how empty Adorjan's writeup was in the exalted discord, and there was a general consensus that emerged of "this feels like it expects me to know what she's about already, huh?"
Obviously the lore in the books is sufficient for new players, but it often does feel very summary
next delta
To be slightly fair, the books are pretty big already
velvet raft
Oh I know
Old White Wolf was a book mill
It was a bad scene
Nonetheless I do think the synopses we get are sometime focused on the wrong things
I dunno, I think y'all know that my opinions about 3e are overwhelmingly positive with caveats
lament owl
Epic abyssal tip: you can just say “for my dark masters charge it so” after you do any old weird shit
Why did I drunk text you? Perfected Principle Of Consumption made me do it
bleak hazel
whether that refers to the Neverborn or the Sid standing behind you racking the slide on Pattern Spider Touch depends on the day
I still sometimes think it would be cute if PPOC was vaguely spider themed and the Sids pulled some of the inspiration for the style out of dead neverborn
especially since at least one primordial has died to Pattern Spider Touch
lament owl
Oooooooo
bleak hazel
CMOS is the "consumption" SMA, so they parallel by accident
dense verge
i think my endings sid i have around uses resplendent destinies she already otherwise kind of fits because she kept breaking the ones she didnt by being too bluntly honest
bleak hazel
Rival has one that's a smartass young merchant prince and he likes it a great deal because it lets him talk shit to basically everyone
the lake shaman one requires him to be a lot more reserved than he'd like
prisma sun
I still also really want to make Gentle Yet Inevitable
Which is a Sid who's job is being the most dedicated auditor in Heaven
Bureaucracy, Ride, Dodge, and Resistance focus
He has a triceratops, he pops the charms that allows him to walk in a straight line, and then he marches straight towards you with ill-intent (delivering invoices and IRS notices)
"Boy I do love dodging Heaven's decrees in my fuck-huge castle. Thank god I can live in bliss thanks to the surity of my walls"
The humble ineffable Sidereal:
velvet raft
Given Sid Ride, is his triceratops also a god?
velvet raft
It's a big highlight of Sid ride to me
I have an unhealthy preoccupation with Essence Induction Technique and Sid Ride just does it better
prisma sun
Athletics also makes this funnier ftr
buoyant summit
Given Sid Ride, is his triceratops also a god?
Sorry what?
prisma sun
because it lets you do Feats of Demolition at range.
So he just starts walking at your fortress and it Just Explodes.
INCREDIBLY funny combo actually
velvet raft
Sorry what?
There's an Essence 2 Ride charm that lets you turn an animal familiar into a god
prisma sun
With Abyssals out
He can meditate on the back of his triceratops
and use Int for Ranged Feats of Demolition
bleak hazel
yeah, Sids can put a bridle on a flea, turn the flea into a god and then stand on top of it and fly around using it as a mount, regardless of size
prisma sun
I forget, does the mount become a god or a godblood
prisma sun
Gentle Yet Inevitable and his buddy-cop auditor: Tritok the Trampler
bleak hazel
I also suggest the brawl charm that lets you meditate in place for an hour and them drop a meteor out of the sky to tear down a castle, or similar
at least at higher essence
prisma sun
I forgot that's Brawl
bleak hazel
yeah, Easily Accepted Proposition Stance
bleak hazel
Int + Brawl to deus ex machina, enemy can take [sux] damage to block
so either you blow people up or you set random wandering tyrant lizards on them
and then the athletics E4 charm is the one you use for demolition
Pull Down The Sky
you only actually need six athletics charms for it, seven to get the most benefit from Burn Life
bleak hazel
OK, if you have all the Sid strongth charms you can hit E Strength 20 for feats, which is gross overkill
honestly these should be cooler than this
bleak hazel
minos prime
prisma sun
bleak hazel
I do think the minos prime fight is an extremely good one for Exalt martial arts
partly because he genuinely does boot you so hard that you need to take a second or two to figure out what the fuck just happened
chilly sluice
while I was looking through Abyssal Athletics recently, I also love how they get a charm where you flash step up to someone so fast it scares the shit out of them, and later everyone else who can see it too
bleak hazel
hell, Snake Style even has Minos' ranged snake throw
there are a lot of good blink strike charms but the best one is clearly Jumping Spider Strike
I adore Jumping Spider Strike
chilly sluice
Jumping Spider Strike is very good, yeah
it's hard to beat jumping someone across the horizon
bleak hazel
it also lets you feat of demolition basically anything with zero investment
just take a nice 5 range band run-up and get 9 autosux, then full excellency with strength 3 and spend some willpower and you'll be at 20 sux on average
nova yew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCK3O9vEXY
Love v2 doing the jacko pose
prisma sun
I do also love
The Sid resistance charm that allows peak comedy
Where you put all knockback suffered onto an ally.
bleak hazel
OK I forgot about the third mode of Jumping Spider
where you sit down and meditate on the haters and losers and as soon as they come within extreme range you Get Them
chilly sluice
so how permissive is "an unobstructed path"?
bleak hazel
yeah, I don't think you get to move through walls
chilly sluice
yeah but can you like curve or something?
as long as there is a opening?
bleak hazel
but there's nothing stopping you using the meditation mode from inside concealment, as long as you can burst through it when you zoom
since you don't have to be able to see your target
chilly sluice
it's also just comical how if you do kill your target, you just straight up pulverize them
prisma sun
Also I realized that Thrown lets you do the Naruto Log trick if you want
bleak hazel
Jumping Spider Strike and only Jumping Spider Strike has the Bloody Mess perk
bleak hazel
does have certain benefits in negating various "when you are incapped do sneaky thing" charms
but mostly it's just for kicks
(literally)
wise ocean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MswUN-k_x84
since it's a sid the doppler shift of the theme rapidly approaching needs to be diegetic
velvet raft
Man, Melee would be a really good entrance to OSOI
The focus on Perception generally
bleak hazel
I generally prefer CMOS to OSOI but man does it have some fun tricks
Black Shards Fall Like Ice practically justifies the entire style on its own
velvet raft
Echoes of Infinity, amusingly, makes the Perception-to-Parry charm relevant even if you have dexterity
bleak hazel
does it?
velvet raft
Would the bonus dots of perception not count towards your parry value?
I know they don't apply to charms outside of OSOI
But I thought they would show up on a static value like parry
bleak hazel
they don't count for charm calculations, I think this qualifies, but it is a slight grey area
velvet raft
FWIW, the Strength-to-attack charm specifies bonus dots not counting
Whereas the Perception-to-parry charm does not
bleak hazel
huh
velvet raft
I'm not certain
bleak hazel
oh yeah, before I go do work: BOTBM siddie all-in
velvet raft
But it doesn't seem like a charm calculation
bleak hazel
you need 5/5/1 in Join Battle and in Greater Sign of Mars
JB at 13 dice with stunt + full excellency, lesser sign for +5 noncharm dice, greater sign at full excellency for another 15 or so init
hold on to your 37.8 average init however possible until next round, then BOTBM for an instant win against about 18 health levels
velvet raft
XD
velvet raft
Only that
prisma sun
Misc is always doing fucked up algebra in here
bleak hazel
there are way easier ways to do about 18 health levels to a guy
this is only if there is some Fucked Up Shit you need to deal with
velvet raft
But this one is funny
prisma sun
Does Falafle have any defense against fall damage
velvet raft
Falafel is in the class of enemies where STs are specifically encouraged to add niche defenses the devs didn't bother to put in
bleak hazel
22 and change health levels
that is a fairly important breakpoint because a max ox-body Solar has 22 HL
23 with Giant
so if you truly all-in and have enough bullshit to hold out for one round, you can put it all on black
velvet raft
But hm. Melee into OSOI with something big and heavy while ignoring Dex altogether, or Thousand Blades into OSOI with ten bajillion knives but I have to take Dex. Critically important question.
bleak hazel
just have dex, lets you use medium weapons
and melee has the nice upside of a Perfect Defence and easy full def flurries
velvet raft
Light weapons only, tragically
prisma sun
I forgot the charm was literally Dead Spouse Defense
velvet raft
Well, unless going melee
bleak hazel
yeah, melee doesn't care
prisma sun
I kinda memory holed that as the meme name
bleak hazel
you want enlightenment anyway because it lets you use the non-versatile ones too
and it lets you use the two most powerful sid melee combinations
sword and board or two medium swords
sword and board useful here because you can polish that sucker up and have a convenient mirror
velvet raft
I would love to do thousand blades w/melee and use a big swords, but then I can't go into OSOI
prisma sun
Thousand Blades feels like what you're building the character around tbh
I can't imagine just Dipping Into it
with the investments you need
velvet raft
I would just not be doing it if I went the melee route
velvet raft
They are definitely a joy for people who like mechanics
bleak hazel
you can apply 5000 brain rotations to them but you really don't have to
excellency makes number go up, charms do fun stuff, end of
prisma sun
Sids are for tricky mechanic perverts
buoyant summit
I don't know if I will be able to take my own character seriously if they can meditate for an hour to drop a meteor on a castle because they're good at punching people
bleak hazel
the one thing I spend my life wrestling with is Martial Arts compatibility, but you really don't have to I just have an addiction to overcomplicated combos
prisma sun
You're thinking really western-style about how martial arts works
bleak hazel
the important thing about Sids is that all their coincidental bullshit is like broad-spectrum sympathetic magic, it's not just Random Shit
prisma sun
This is Wuxia
bleak hazel
a Sid is a master martial artist because they have enlightenment in constellation Y which governs [long list of things]
prisma sun
Yeah
buoyant summit
And for every other splat, that tree is 'good at punching people' not
Being Sephiroth
bleak hazel
you are good at punching people
velvet raft
Oh, yeah, Sids sort of embody the whole Martial Arts And Crafts trope
bleak hazel
Sid Brawl is fucking monstrous MMA combos on top of the like, two odd charms
velvet raft
Where like, a lot of your charms make you really good at things which are conceptually related to the ability in question
But yes Sid Brawl has a lot of "I hurt you now"
bleak hazel
it's just you cover the entire space of Kengan Ashura in the space of 2 essence levels and then start getting a bit abstract with it
velvet raft
Yes.
bleak hazel
Iron Siaka exists, yes
velvet raft
One notable thing with sids is that if you don't want to get into the abstract stuff, you generally take a few highly potent charms from a given ability and then do other stuff, and this is largely a good thing.
bleak hazel
iconic bluesid from 2e
buoyant summit
Blue is... Journeys?
bleak hazel
hits things and hits on girls, generally uncomplicated human being
her basic thesis is that if all the monsters have been beaten to death with a giant mace there will be Serenity (tm) and she can clock off
buoyant summit
lol nice
velvet raft
Like, if you just want to Dodge Good, you take Absent Self and Graceful Crane at Essence 1, Duck Fate and Auspicious Serendipity Whatsit at Essence 2, and the repurchase of Auspicious Serendipity at Essence 3
And that is, collectively, a really excellent package of Dodge charms
bleak hazel
and then you also take avoidance because you're a fucking siddie, and that is the lower limit of getting weird with it
buoyant summit
Is that a Battles thing or?
bleak hazel
avoidance is too good
velvet raft
Awareness is where the bird charm is
bleak hazel
Feathered Cloak Trick is a random E1 charm in the House of Endings
so actually a purple thing
prisma sun
Blue is... Journeys?
Blue are Serenities
buoyant summit
Wait Misc then how tf did you do it yesterday?
prisma sun
Just remember that in Exalted, red-light districts are blue-light districts
velvet raft
It's a charm in Awareness
velvet raft
Sids can also take charms from other houses
bleak hazel
a) it's in the House of Endings, which is the five awareness abilities
b) no charm is caste-locked
bleak hazel
you just have favoured prices for your own caste charms
buoyant summit
Ah
buoyant summit
How long does becoming Bird last?
bleak hazel
swapping between my cartoon lunar mask, cartoon dynast mask, cartoon solar mask and my own face
"do you like this one, this one, maybe that one?"
until you turn it off
4 motes committed
buoyant summit
Yeyyyy they can use it to travel places
bleak hazel
my favourite move with it is not actually one Rival will use
birdstrike
you fly around at extreme range from the ground, find your target, uncommit Feathered Cloak Trick and immediately move into Jumping Spider Strike
orbital shock drop siddie
velvet raft
The bird can, amusingly, also use Unweaving Method
velvet raft
It can never use martial arts, but
bleak hazel
you can do that with just the skywalking charm from CMOS but a guy just wandering around in the sky is rather more conspicuous
bleak hazel
it is funny how many major targets can be vaporised by the orbital dropkick
I think someone stacked enough damage boosts on it to kill MHS in one go once, but that's a silly gimmick build
I forgot about this conversation
considering they didn't have either GSOM or LSOS on that I think you could make a slightly less silly version of it that could seriously risk killing a target of their calibre, but not the all-in instagib ambush
Anys Syn just catches this with Heavenly Mirror Technique, steals your best damage adder and vaporises your face, she is not a good candidate to all-in
dense verge
many ideas bouncing in my head, not enough time. ive got a version of rakan in my head that im pretty sure is only loosely resembling even the post-rewrite version that the devs have, but if i ever used him in a game i'd have him pulling bullshit with the Quicksilver Dreams SMA he has. do Doombot bullshit where the sighting of him in a teahouse is a eidolon pulled from a dream to act as a lure so he can have a pleasant chat with morally fragile sids.
prisma sun
Anys Syn just catches this with Heavenly Mirror Technique, steals your best dama...
She's probably impressed you tried it though.
bleak hazel
I admit the idea of a Sid combining five styles to produce some kind of insane mythical combo and using it while falling from literal heaven is pretty fun
move that needs at least a sentence-long name
prisma sun
Song that appears one character at a time on screen with a BAM sound
feral cipher
thinking about theme music for my Abyssal again
https://youtu.be/_AjJZEcMdww?si=oFpL9j2Df2SLH4sC
bleak hazel
obviously beating Raksi in a fight is not the insane part here, the lunar elders are a little undertuned, but it's quite hard to do it in one shot and then immediately avoidance out
the haters and losers mode is Reflexive so you still have your action to immediately leave
prisma sun
STELLAR ART: EARTH ABIDES THE DECREE OF HEAVEN
I should categorize all the secret moves my exalts can use
King Hu has "King's Edict"
Drifts now has Stellar Art, obviously
nova yew
thinking about theme music for my Abyssal again
https://youtu.be/_AjJZEcMdww?si=...
It’s peak for all of us huh
bleak hazel
I should probably name the insane Form Charm shuffle that Rival does in order to go from a standing start to Crane Form up, full defence on and lunging for the throat with a drawn daiklaive in a single turn
it's not any kind of instant kill move but it is an impressive feat of exalted arms by any measure
normally that's two turns just of warmup
prisma sun
Smith "Empty Soul Technique"
Korit "Dragon and Demon Dance"
Creature "Ascendent Speaks"
wise ocean
I've only developed a couple of large anime secret techniques, but the one I'm fondest of out of that is [LOST ARCANIMA TECHNIQUE - DEMISOLAR HALBERD]
aka "the coronal nuclear cutting torch"
bleak hazel
I am tempted to make some kind of filial piety joke with Rival's downright insane reaction time
since the sword that enables him to do that was the bequest from his micromanaging sifu/prior incarnation
feral cipher
It’s peak for all of us huh
Watch The Line Go Up, Line Go Up, Up Up Up Up, Until It Breaks Right Through, Blows A Hole Through You
is pretty spot on for grave's due
bleak hazel
I was thinking "Myriad Labours of the Dutiful Son" since what it lets you do is fight everyone, simultaneously, at once
get jumped by five deebs and you just instantly spool up and start dueling five guys simultaneously at their own range brackets, since Crane includes counterattack-ranged tech
onslaught's a bitch but so is constantly eating Withering gutshots before each attempt to go for a decisive
wise ocean
I read that as "withering gunshots" and now I want a dual-wielding threaten/charm-based pistolero MA
prisma sun
I read that as "withering gunshots" and now I want a dual-wielding threaten/char...
Wuthering Gunshots
bleak hazel
that's just Righteous Devil
prisma sun
Heathcliff Is Back Baby
bleak hazel
it has a whole bunch of presence stuff
honestly if I could figure out a good way to get the form shuffle and adequate Overwhelming while using Brawl I'd do that instead so I could unify all my charms on just punching
but Sidbrawl Form is way worse at this
wise ocean
RD doesn't quite have the right vibe for blackhat gunslinger who blows in from out of town to collect his devil's due and strike down the local law, though
i'm thinking the classic old-school western Texas Red deal
bleak hazel
I feel that's included in the classic RD package, though
it's the Man With No Name martial art right to the point it was founded by a man with no name
the aforementioned Righteous Devil
wise ocean
🤔
Perhaps I just need to think of it differently, I was like "this is the one shot one kill Arizona Ranger I am the law style"
bleak hazel
Righteous Devil Form gives you an intimidate aura and the capstone is BURN, SINNER, it's absolutely about doing High Plains Drifter things more than being the honourable lawman
chilly sluice
Flintlocks
Flintlock flamethrowers
wise ocean
https://tenor.com/view/full-stop-heathcliff-full-stop-office-heathcliff-heathcli...
my deeb just has the Sniper Outis gun/vibes
fierce star
One day I should forward port one of my ex2 characters to ex3; an absurdly slutty fire aspect cynis fuckboi who was, despite all that, a true believe in justice and righteousness, wandering from place to place to right wrongs and avoid his immediate family. He used golden exhalation and golden janissary in ex2, so that's easy enough to be righteous devil and golden janissary in ex3, just have a firewand with a bayonet. It'd be even more suboptimal, though, I think
buoyant summit
I should probably name the insane Form Charm shuffle that Rival does in order to...
Hundred Hands of Waiting Violence
In my Abyssals pbp I'm bringing up (mostly jokingly) the idea of stealing FAFLs warstrider for our one pilot
prisma sun
This is what my one player did
He stole a Warstrider from the Mask of Winters
wait no
Silver Prince
apologies
velvet raft
@buoyant summit So like, here's a sample Extremely Straightforward Battles that I did just to get it out of my system https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sMG1f2Y0gpCjaOK3NNGX9uuwl3gQFaQDNiWC896N0EQ/edit?usp=sharing
It's min-maxed and you could shift a bunch of stuff around to suit your tastes, but the basic plan is "be an idiot who's good at social stuff, never do anything with Dexterity, take aim actions in combat and then stab people with a very large sword"
dense verge
stealing mechs is a time honored tradition
velvet raft
I kinda hate this build but I had to get it out of my system
next delta
That's so many Permanent charms. Do Sids get more than most other splats?
buoyant summit
Part of me wants to make the graduated version of my heptagame deeb so my sorcerer-prince mantle build can do funky stupid bullshit
velvet raft
It's a bunch of calculation-changers
chilly sluice
That's so many Permanent charms. Do Sids get more than most other splats?
they get a lot of stat substitutions
velvet raft
To never use Dexterity for anything
chilly sluice
for calculating your values off weird stats
bleak hazel
Rival has a lot of the same stuff without the stat subs, I'm getting complicated with him but only because I want to
velvet raft
Sid Melee is relatively straightforward
coral wraith
Grinning Mask is honestly not even that complicated either
buoyant summit
I dont think I'm gonna invest overmuch in calc changers if I make a Sid
velvet raft
Sids can definitely seem more complex than they are
coral wraith
Avoiding-The-Truth Technique is their most maxibrain charm so far
velvet raft
I dont think I'm gonna invest overmuch in calc changers if I make a Sid
Yeah, I don't actually recommend it! I just kinda had to get this out of my system
Delighted Maiden Mien is deceptively good if you have high appearance because there's weird stuff out there that targets Guile
But it's a lot of charms down the drain
chilly sluice
the Dodge charms are so funny
just dodge out of awkward social interactions, it's fine
dodge out of the way of your enemy having ammo
coral wraith
Duck Fate
chilly sluice
also the one that makes it so people can't be mad at you for the scene
velvet raft
I ended up dropping Delighted Maiden Mien for Avoidance on Red Evening Sky since it is such a Red Evening Sky sort of charm
"I was never here stop talking about me"
Really I'd like to fit both but I'm not sure what I'd move
And Ascending Destiny Mien does some of the job already
ruby geyser
the bit from Keychain of Creation where Secret lands in a pool of mud then walks out completely unscathed and when questioned just says "Dodge charms" lives rent-free in my head
chilly sluice
that's how it works
limpid badge
the bit from Keychain of Creation where Secret lands in a pool of mud then walks...
the bits of the siddie moving via the gutters of the comic is what sticks in my memory as like. yeah that's siddies.
that's what you should be doing
bleak hazel
Nemen Yi was an exceptionally good siddie, yeah
buoyant summit
Thinking of applying to another game that's on Monday to increase my chances...
bleak hazel
a good find: Old Realm, in all its squishy mayan-korean nonsense glory
(open it on a white background, it's jank)
bleak hazel
main issue with using it to write down the names of spells is that it doesn't have a V sound and obviously it doesn't map exactly to Roman letters, so something like Travel Without Distance is written in the old sourcebooks with pictograms that come out to something like
TaRaWaLe
WiDoUTu
DiSiTaNaE
but it's workable
possibly the "modern" dialect of sorcerous old realm just sounds like the first age one with a head cold
prisma sun
Old Realm has no V
That's why he isnt called Sol Invictus anymore
"But what about Ve-" Wenus and she encouraged it
buoyant summit
the Divine Maiden known as Elbow
buoyant summit
If I get in the other Monday game I'm applying to I'm doing an Endings Sid who was a member of a family of servants to the Arajana in Gem who were all slaughtered when Rankar VII took over
fierce star
so I Just realized infernals actually, by implication, renders a bunch of previous characters of mine illegal
mighty rover
oho?
fierce star
Familiar
Infernals with Demon-Thrall Goetia (p. XX) can claim First Circle demons as familiars.
this implies that characters without that charm cannot claim first circle demons as familiars
fierce star
hmm, is 5 charms too few to put into one's supernal/apocalpytpic/primordial
it probably is. I probably don't need the soul hierarchy and inner world charms at chargen.
spring lynx
this implies that characters *without* that charm cannot claim first circle demo...
does it, though
fierce star
well, yes. If textually infernals need a specific charm to have first circle demons as familiars, then implicitly if you are not an infernal with that charm you can't have a first circle demon as a familiar
prisma sun
I feel like they're just adding that because not a lot of first circles have familiar dots
Because like, yeah
If Neomah or whatever don't have a familiar dot rating, you RAW can't take it
fierce star
Neomah would be better as Retainer, anyway; the demons I've usually seen taken as three dot familiars are stuff like sesseljae, perronelles and agatae. Less 'you could have a person do this' and 'you have this for specific mystical reasons and/or a mount'
prisma sun
Well yeah, but this is just a blanket rule to everything that's come before it
Though I do think having a demon was meant to just be doing demon summoning
So it makes sense Infernals can do it without an XP cost because they live there
bleak hazel
this is at least someone's Battles sid
prisma sun
I've made a few characters like this
bleak hazel
Rival is a little too straightlaced but he might have reached this point if he wasn't put on the straight and narrow immediately upon exalting, just because his skillset is 50% Battles and 50% Serenities
my only current character who fits this is an SSC spy in Lancer, and at least a plurality of his brain viewed getting his arm torn off by a mech as an interesting new challenge
fierce star
That's at least a third of my DBs tbh
bleak hazel
there is at least one Sid charm that lets you use any positive tie towards you as a tie of desire, so you can inflict this on people
marsh garden
question: do y'all have any candidates for Southern-region noble houses that had a measure of authority at some point in history, and still exist now, but are now ineffectual or irrelevant (and ideally mad about it, but that's probably a given)
i'm not sure what part of the south to dig for lore on, and this would be a useful qualifier to narrow things down
fierce star
Noble locally or noble Shogunate-era or Noble dynastic houses? You could look into Paragon, I believe there might be fluff for what it was like before the Perfect showed up
marsh garden
any of the above, i don't know enough to specify
this will (hopefully) change
is paragon a city or something else? and where should i direct my search for it?
(thanks, by the way)
fierce star
Paragon is a city in the south/southeast ish, I forget it's political status in ex3 other than it's ruled by the Perfect, a mortal man with a first age artifact that has turned him into a sorcerous tyrant-king
he brands people with his mark and if they break his laws they start suffering the results
it's not a great place to be but it's one of the more fair tyrannies in creation. Still a tyranny, though
I'd stay for more but it's 2 AM where I'm at and I need to go to bed, but good luck with your research
marsh garden
goodnight, and thank you
marsh garden
...huh
does Paragon no longer exist in 3e?
there isn't a single mention of or even allusion to it in across the eight directions, and there's only a single note in the corebook - its name in the glossary, referencing page 95
which also doesn't have a single mention, just a map with its name on it
prisma sun
I mean it exists
Its right there
It just doesnt have a write up
Across the eight directions generally went with lower stakes and more mundane stuff
merry arch
yeah, it doesn't have a write-up in across the eight directions either so you'll have to source info from 2e if you follow through with your character being from paragon
marsh garden
yeah but this map is the only indication that it exists, not even "yeah paragon's here too" in the near south writeup
prisma sun
Well then yes it still exists
marsh garden
unless there's something in another book
prisma sun
It just doesnt have a write up
limpid badge
I mean, there's all the 2e stuff you can use as inspo for doing it in 3e
like just cause there's nothing in 3e doesn't mean you can't use it- just fill in the blanks~!
marsh garden
i will have to ask my goobers if they have any 1e and 2e content books, then
marsh garden
i don't want to fill in the blanks, i want to over-research a single city that has half a book and an incredible but dubiously-canon loredump on a forum that only exists in the wayback machine
or, y'know, just a regular write-up
limpid badge
alas. alack. do work. condense the brain poison.
marsh garden
i like knowing about a setting!
i'm happy to yap and be yapped at, but my first instinct in a tabletop is always "what can you tell me already?"
right, in any case, what 2e books would i be looking at for paragon?
limpid badge
The South book should have the most done up for it
Here we are
Just, you know, be prepared with a scalpel and cruft-removal pieces.
marsh garden
limpid badge
Exalted sure made Some Choices, in the day
marsh garden
i am expecting a great deal of casually deranged racism
and/or general White Wolf Fuckery
limpid badge
You Are Prepared Then
marsh garden
however, i always appreciate the warning
it's nice to know when i need to brace
also, completely unrelated
i gotta say, "fecund" just does not look like a fucking positive word
it's emotionally and visually adjacent to fetid and feces, but no
no it means fucking fertile
that always Feels Wrong
prisma sun
Exalted in general had a little less random racism
But more like
Weird sex shit
And whenever it seems like they wanted to write a character actually doing anything the first thing they did was get in a car accident
prisma sun
Many character motivations and events beyond their initial set up are Not Good
limpid badge
Deus started as "Irresponsible Ancient Solar (Asshole)" and ended "Mr Rapist (Worst Man To Ever Live)"
marsh garden
i see
coral wraith
oh
limpid badge
i am trying not to undersell the amount of edgy writing they poured into one character. the first age books are bad.
tulip folio
I think about the only person who doesn't come off as a shithead in them is like...Brigit.
Who is Only Functional Solar and the other solars bullied her for not being as cool
limpid badge
yeah,,,,, yeah,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, yeah,,,,,,,,,,,,,
tulip folio
God, remember how Eye and Seven Despairs 2e Backstory was like 'Banished From The Solar's Party: I Became A Deathlord For Revenge'
He became an isekai meme
marsh garden
wait for real?
i guess i gotta start learning about the dweeby dipshit 2e backstories for the deathlords
or maybe not, since i'm playing an abyssal and want to take them seriously
tulip folio
wait for real?
Yep!
He was bullied by the Jock Dawn in his circle
And became a deathlord to get revenge
marsh garden
oh my god
tulip folio
And spend a lot of time crossdressing to charm that dawn's reincarnation so it will be more perfect when they destroy them?
Look, 2e Eye is a lot and I don't want to try to unpack it
...actually, Dancer in Light wasn't a bad 1st age solar
He was dumb as a fucking rock
But he wasn't bad.
limpid badge
i guess i gotta start learning about the dweeby dipshit 2e backstories for the d...
i really wouldn't bother? like. it just makes them Worse Characters and Bad Villains. Bishop is a pervert, Princess Magnificent is an incompetent, Lion is a jobber, Eye is an isekai revenge lead, Dowager is Ow The Edge
marsh garden
ah, fair
limpid badge
the 3e renditions of them are like, actual characters that might be fun to use in a story
marsh garden
the way you phrased it sounded entertaining, but these do sound rather bland
tulip folio
Princess Magnificent got a bit of a villian upgrade in 3e. Like in 2e she was kinda bad at being evil, not her fantastic serial killer modern self
She basicly existed to be 'deathlord for abyssals who want a deathlord but don't want to really get involved in evil schemes'
coral wraith
Bishop is also an interesting fella in 3e
marsh garden
who's the princess magnificent, again?
limpid badge
Princess Magnificent got a bit of a *villian* upgrade in 3e. Like in 2e she was ...
She was there to look pretty standing next to the Lion and together they were deathlord team rocket
limpid badge
who's the princess magnificent, again?
rewritten into Black Heron
marsh garden
i recognize that epithet, but i as a second epithet of another character
ahhh
it's her disguise persona, yeah?
that, it sounds, is just her old 1-2e personality?
tulip folio
Yeah. They basicly took her 2e persona and made it her public persona
Not her private one
limpid badge
Yeah, exactly
marsh garden
that's neat, i like that a lot
good way to salvage
the heron was one of the deathlords i was enticed by
tulip folio
That said, I don't think the PM side is entirely supposed to be fake. She likely does care a good bit about her deathknights. She's just also a serial killer who gets lost in the chase.
limpid badge
bishop had a monster form that was studded in dicks for no particular reason other than "wouldn't it be fucked up if a priest was kinky"
tulip folio
More 'there's a lot more to her than just that side'
marsh garden
ended up picking the Watcher
tulip folio
bishop had a monster form that was studded in dicks for no particular reason oth...
'It's exalted, all our priests are kinky!'
marsh garden
because the presentation in his introduction is "they all love their DKs but this guy is A Dad About It"
limpid badge
Walker?
limpid badge
Walker is great, he's who I picked for my dear Bloody Hand
tulip folio
Dowager just got fucking annilhated in 3e. Both literally and metaphorically. And it's for the best.
marsh garden
i love the presented dichotomy of being super earnestly religious
but like
not at all wanting his gods' goals
and being salty and self-destructive about it
but only to himself
tulip folio
She wasn't even interestingly evil in 2e. She basicly spent her entire unlife making Creepy Child Soldiers because...I dunno, gotta have a hobby?
Her modern Lady Macbeth In The Third Act is a lot better
limpid badge
its because White Wolf in the Aughts Loved Bad Descisions
marsh garden
oh, i vaguely remember Shoat of the Mire from an exalted yap i heard some years back
as like
a dowager project
where she just takes random children and makes the most dogshit exalted she can out of them
and just throws them at things until they die
limpid badge
yeah that's a way of describing it, but the less said the better
tulip folio
Lion is basicly the same soulsteel fridge in 2e and 3e. They just like to...get some wins...less Skeletor than before.
2e Lion is basicly 3e lion if they discovered they had to go fight the ninja turtles every week
limpid badge
and besides now my dear friend Val has made her own Shoat of the Mire that is an excellent take on the concept and is, as we say, shoated
limpid badge
@fading cypress when u wake up show off ur shoat bc she rules
merry arch
no she made a shoat of the mire because 3e shoat of the mire is a neat character concept to play around with
tulip folio
I hope she's gone hog wild
limpid badge
yah~!
marsh garden
that is indeed shoated
limpid badge
I hope she's gone hog wild
dearly departed darling creature (creating legions of the dead)
merry arch
she's a little frankenstein's creature stitched up necromancer that speaks in riddles
it's cute
tulip folio
I think part of it is that 3e made the Deathlords much less overwhelmingly bullshit. Like, Lion is in contention for one of the scariest NPCs in all of 3e and despite that, is less bullshit overpowered than they were in 3e.
And since they're no longer so 'Can just start walking to the imperial manse and nothing can stop them', there's a lot more room for them to be Actively Doing Productive Things without asking 'why hasn't the game ended yet' every 15 mins.
marsh garden
i love that her 3e personality is that she's trying to be cool and mysterious and the high priest of her necromancer mom but uh
she's just a huge dickhead fifteen-year-old
merry arch
yup lol
marsh garden
and can't stop herself from ruining her aura
she's trying so fucking hard to aura farm and just falls flat on her face because she calls someone a wanker
tulip folio
For context on how powerful they were in 2e and how uniniteresting it was, this was a deathlord's stat sheet:
Essence: 10
Charms: Every single solar charm. Every single abyssal charm. Every single ghost charm.
Motes: Unlimited.
it's peam...
marsh garden
For context on how powerful they were in 2e and how uniniteresting it was, this ...
okay, on the one hand. this is super fucking funny
on the other hand
yeah not exactly a way to engage with that, is there?
they're like e7-8 now right?
tulip folio
Yeah and now have much more Specific Capabilities
marsh garden
i remember the lion being e7 and having surprisingly few charms
tulip folio
Lion is still a soulsteel fridge of a ghost
marsh garden
like only 17?
tulip folio
But they're not like 'this can never lose' bullshit.
Also: I love the Twin Monarchs in 3e just fucking piledrivering dowager through the Calendar of Death and scaring the shit out of all the others who went 'wait, we can die again? WE CAN DIE AGAIN?'
limpid badge
and then the answer is No, you may not die with your vow uncompleat and all the deathlords going "oh that's worse than dying" when Dowager came back
marsh garden
other than the dowager reverse-decimating the entire fucking planet, what big wins have the deathlords gotten in 3e?
or uh
rather, what new-to-3e things have they done, if any yet?
tulip folio
Okay so the two big ones are Stygia and Thorns
marsh garden
ahhh, thorns is new? neat!
tulip folio
Oh, new to 3e
limpid badge
Silver Prince's entire shtick is that he's winning by playing the long game
tulip folio
Nah, thorns isn't new. It's just no longer '30 seconds away from rebellion' any more
marsh garden
ah ic
so it was previously One Protagonist From Liberation and now it's more stably under the lion's control?
tulip folio
They havn't really gotten a lot of new wins but it's more...the wins they have are less 'One player character wandering by' away from collapsing under them.
marsh garden
makes sense
limpid badge
Mask-of-Winters has Thorns
marsh garden
oh oops
limpid badge
Lion has mostly been Conquering The Underworld
marsh garden
RIGHT
tulip folio
Lion is a large reason Stygia was taken.
marsh garden
that's the whole entire reason they got sauron'd
tulip folio
Stygia was the seat of the Twin Monarchs and Capital Of The Underworld
Which considering there's a lot more people who have died than people alive, is pretty important
marsh garden
this tracks
tulip folio
The Twin Monarchs get more screen time in 3e as a very clear 'hey, want your deathknight to have a cool Hades/Persephone boss instead of an asshole? Death's Chivalry time!' role.
Skullstone is also...it's not less evil but it's less 'The evil is going to be banished some time soon'
2e Skullstone was much more Jackbooted Thugs Dragging People Off To Be Soulsteeled.
marsh garden
sorry, i recognize that name but only barely
which is skullstone?
that's someone's place of power, right?
tulip folio
It's Abyssal Tortuga.
tulip folio
It's Silver Prince's domain
marsh garden
tulip folio
And it's in creation
marsh garden
right, he makes his citizens swear oaths to him
tulip folio
Yeah. In 2e he was a lot more Banana Republic Leader.
In 3e he's a lot better at actually ruling.
marsh garden
and it's a necrocracy
tulip folio
Yep!
To give him some credit - His 2e version is likely the deathlord that changed the least for 3e as he was always more interested in playing with his boats than ending creation.
He also got one of the few really good moments in an absolutely dogshit adventure called Return of the Scarlet Empress.
marsh garden
oho?
tulip folio
Where he sees hell invading creation and goes 'Fuck it, Mobilize the Fleet To Defend This Entire Direction. Including parts that I don't rule'
As he had the very reasonable logic that A) You can't rule it if the demons get it first B) If everyone thinks he's the cool savior of them from demons, they'll work for him later.
marsh garden
in fairness to him, this has immediately made me more interested
he's right
is this not a thing in 3e's chronology (yet/ever)?
tulip folio
Which is why when i was working on a demon I made a joke about it in her intimacies.
marsh garden
what's the reclamation and why aren't they doing it?
if you don't mind yet another explanation
tulip folio
'Hell invades reality to reclaim their place as rulers'
And the reason they're doing it is a bit meta.
It was a bit too all defining
Everything infernal had to be About The Reclaimation
And if the Reclaimation ever triggered like in that adventure, every single splat becomes about Stopping The Reclaimation
Instead of their own stories
marsh garden
that's a super reasonable explanation
tulip folio
It's the same reason the Locust Crusade isn't returning. The Locust Crusade being 'That but with Alchemicals instead of Demons'
Also the Locust Crusade rubbed Alchemical players really the wrong way as Alchemicals are generally potrayed as the exalt that the least dickhead
marsh garden
ahh, it was "alchemical exalted try to conquer creation"?
tulip folio
And there was an entire adventure about 'The commiebots are invading, grab your second excellency and defend creation'
Which nobody liked
marsh garden
oh nyo
tulip folio
I have my own thoughts on how I'd do a much more interesting alternative to it but that would be a big rant
I'd basicly set it up with Foo Fighters and Sightings of Airships in the Night. Play into Flying Saucer mythology. The Alchemicals are trying to learn about creation and understand it without immediately jumping in Essence Cannon First.
So it makes 'Go Play Exalted Star Trek' an example Alchemical Plot. You're still outsiders but you're outsiders who are making individual instances of contact with places.
The Locust Crusade going straight to 'start a war' was the least interesting way to handle it.
It also adds some fun paranoia where even if nobody is actively trying to start a war, you've got people worrying about rumours of technologically advanced people watching creation...potentially planning untoward things!
foo fighters...
tulip folio
The band are named after the flying saucer thing 😛
marsh garden
i'll have to go read up on the alchemicals
tulip folio
They're basicly weird lights that people saw in the night sky
Alchemicals are a personal favorite of mine.
tulip folio
Overall, 3e has mostly handled things better. I have my complaints here and there but on balance, 3e has done a lot better.
marsh garden
other than, i have heard, solar charms in core
tulip folio
Honestly, even my fluff issues come mostly from core.
3e stepped back deliberately on the tech disparity.
In 2e there was a lot more...He Man 'Oh yeah, this guy has a laser rifle and he's fighting 3 guys who have swords'
As First Age Stuff wasn't just Magically More Powerful, it was generally a fair bit more Technologically Advanced.
marsh garden
oh right, if you're willing to indulge a bit more, what all were the differences between the walker in 1-2e vs 3e?
tulip folio
oh right, if you're willing to indulge a bit more, what all were the differences...
much dumber
Take Walker and make him kinda a blockhead
You know how the Abyssal book has a deathknight of his who keeps getting told to basicly 'broaden your skills, stop being such a stereotype of a dusk'?
she's a joke about how he was in 2e
marsh garden
ahhh
tulip folio
Where he basicly couldn't understand that exalts could have skills outside what their caste says they're good at.
marsh garden
the one that he keeps sending on missions to teach her not to just facesmash everything and run in screaming?
marsh garden
oh no
tulip folio
While 3e goes '...no, no. She really needs to learn how to calm the fuck down'
marsh garden
she was one of the reasons i chose him as my boss, so that's fun
tulip folio
the broad strokes were the same in 2e
But he was 'mercenary(doesn't get non-stabbing things)' vs 'mercenary(Gets how all his people fit into a mercenary company)'
marsh garden
ahhh, that one line about his deathknights is a very specific callout of 2e
tulip folio
Yep!
marsh garden
it seemed a bit awkwardly-placed to me lmao
tulip folio
He's also a lot more of a True Believer in 3e. In 2e there was basicly 'Deathlord(Trying To Backstab The Neverborn)' and 'Deathlord(Destroying Creation For the Evuls)'
marsh garden
just like "yes is that not how a general, captain, and overall competent leader would treat their New And Rare prized supersoldiers?"
so it was a very conspicuous sentence
tulip folio
3e went with 'Deathlord(No, he just genuinely believes this is a righteous cause)'
marsh garden
i really enjoy that there are three or four archetypes of deathlord, yeah
tulip folio
I also find it fun how he's such a true believer he's ended up basicly useless to the neverborn plans because he's found a purpose to his unlife.
marsh garden
the one-and-a-half of the bishop, walker, dowager, and kind of heron
tulip folio
Heron in 2e was Deathlord(Trying to backstab)
3e Heron is more of a mixed bag, very much by design
marsh garden
who are "believer but bad at it, believer but bad at it, true believer (ow), probably not a believer but really good at it"
it's a fun bag
i love these bozos already
tulip folio
I've shown it off before but I got art ages ago for my Deathknight who was grabbed by Heron.
Ivory was fun in that she just did not care if creation got ended or not. She had no strong feelings either way and was content to not bother people more than she had to but also: She was so fanatically loyal to Heron that she would go 'Well, I guess we're ending creation now!' without a moment's questioning if her boss told her they were on team End Creation.
marsh garden
as my plans for him stand right now, Hope Without Kings is a lethargically depressed desperate people-pleaser full of immediate post-mortem trauma
who the Walker has foisted off onto the party infernal in the hopes that some swashbuckling shenaniganry and misadventure will fix the Problems Disease
we can only hope that it works
tulip folio
...man, 3e is never going to bring back the Ereta'een with the tech changes. Pity. XD
The Ereta'een was basicly classic Alien Greys. They were a pre-human species that Autocthon liked because they were physically weak but invented a lot of cool shit, which appealed to his 'I am abused for being a small primordial but I'm very clever' aspects.
They they proceeded to abuse that trust by trying to use their advanced technology to enslave autocthon.
Spoilers: Do not bring tech to the 'primordial incarnation of tech' fight.
They didn't have a good time
marsh garden
oops!
tulip folio
They're the reason that creation has soulsteel under the earth!
Not just what the deathlords and abyssals make
Autocthon turned their own inventions back upon them
marsh garden
ahhhhhh, OG soulsteel was them getting sqonched and turned into soulsteel?
which is presumably part of their enslaving engine?
tulip folio
Yeah.
The solars later worked out how to make it themselves in the first age
And the Deathlords made use of it when they turned up
2e Exalted had a good number of non-human, non-spirit species about. Most of them were pretty hidden/wiped out but humanity was only one group among several
The main ones were the Dragon Kings and the Jadeborn.
marsh garden
are the only prehumans around the dead, in 3e?
or has the game just not gotten around to stuff on that yet
tulip folio
The Dragon Kings and Jadeborn have been briefly mentioned but they're very 'off in the background'
velvet raft
I feel like they're just adding that because not a lot of first circles have fam...
I agree with Voy on this — it feels more like an explicit allowance to be able to get any First Circle demon as a familiar, and use them with familiar charms
tulip folio
Doing up a Quick Character Jadeborn Soldier and realizing I can do a funny
||Wait, isn't this the Sid Five Jade Fury, just not stackable? Yes, it is. Jadeborn have always been able to do this sort of shit. In 2e they were Permanent Effects you picked up individually but were very close to the Sid version then, so the 3e version is also very close to the sid version!||
velvet raft
hahahaha
tulip folio
velvet raft
Opinion poll: which Deathlord is most likely to let an Abyssal choose their own name, and which Deathlord is most likely to immediately regret doing so
I'm thinking of the "bone daddy" image
tulip folio
I think it would be Faffles.
Faffles is perfect Straight Man fodder
Faffles doesn't care enough to pick your name for you.
But is also a dour and serious enough person to react to the terrible name
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xkXdfdzwCZbYb1Dwekt72qg_Uw8Mq81Ayv1eg_NWEr8/edit?usp=sharing Tinkered with the Unenlightened Jadeborn. They're much more on the 'Godblooded/First Circle Demon' end than the Mortal End. Also fluffed up a bit about how you might find them working for various lords and satreps if they're very rich.
velvet raft
Faffles doesn't *care* enough to pick your name for you.
Abyssal: "I will be The Mouse of Doom"
Falafel: "Whatever" oh my god this is going to be the worst working relationship of my life
velvet raft
@tulip folio I think I've cracked the code on the chains. Using them with strength via melee works fine, and then that can be supplemented with Bear and Mantis-style unarmed martial arts once a grapple is established. Also actually takes advantage of the Dusk's multiple combat caste abilities. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18T_4aXqo5iHW_tDuwF7us6dMQ-R_cWFdRpeqq_QcDYw/edit?gid=655784735#gid=655784735
We use Soulmetal Silken Armor + Wraith-Forged Plate to overcome potential conflicts
velvet raft
I'm not sure the result is better than just being a dex build but it is the result I want
velvet raft
Alright I'm pretty pleased with this
velvet raft
Oh hey Infernal artifacts hit yesterday and I didn't notice
@fierce star Hey check this out
tulip folio
Boo, I wanna use it to slam people into things 😛
velvet raft
Bestiary chapter on the 16th btw
fierce star
Oooh that's a fun two dot
velvet raft
So there's a lot of minor artifacts here, 2 or 3 dot miscellanea
First 7 pages of the PDF
Guess which one is the first artifact with a full set of evocations!
tulip folio
Yay, I like muscellania
velvet raft
Or, well, it has two
tulip folio
He made an immovable rod
Damn wizards, no sense of right and wrong
velvet raft
We got the needle
It's a sewing needle
It sews space
Alright, weapons
Brazen Harvest is a goremaul
It causes plants to spring up around it when attuned
fierce star
Also found out you can only do savage attacks with unarmed attacks, not with anything with the grapple tag, raw
buoyant summit
hmm, is 5 charms too few to put into one's supernal/apocalpytpic/primordial
I mean a third of your chargen charms seems reasonable
velvet raft
Also found out you can only do savage attacks with unarmed attacks, not with any...
Yep, I was noticing that earlier today when thinking about the Abyssal
buoyant summit
my only current character who fits this is an SSC spy in Lancer, and at least a ...
:3
wait wtf what does this imply about Sancerre's thoughts about Laurie
tulip folio
It causes plants to spring up around it when attuned
A second plant growing goremaul? Man, there's a few of them
velvet raft
It causes plants to spring up around it when attuned
As a start, it lets you Collect Herbs For Money
It can also cause plants to grow on an opponent's armor and weapons and grow walls of plants
It's sort of a debuffing artifact
tulip folio
Now I want to play a character that dual weilds both of them. XD
velvet raft
Isn't the one in Alchemicals a Grand Goremaul?
Next up, Scar Upon Perfection, a Daiklave that is all about destroying beauitful falsehoods. Feats of demolition, penalizing or destroying equipment, punishing people for vanity or for having a high Appearance stat
Extremely good Malfean artifact
tulip folio
Isn't the one in Alchemicals a Grand Goremaul?
Yep, despite fluffwise being a staff it's huge enough it's a grand goremaul
velvet raft
Next! Mourning of Itreyoun, a suit of silken armor with evocations centered on hypnosis and inspiring fascination with the wearer.
tulip folio
Always fun. It's full of 2e social charms 😛
velvet raft
Second Sister is a 4-dot breastplate, which has its own health levels. It can absorb hits using these health levels, and has a counterattack.
Emerald Sunset! Our first 5-dot, an orichalcum powerbow.
The description shows lines from three different acts of a play, in which Ligier and a figure named "The Prince", who ... fall in love, and then in Act 2 Ligier says, "I can make you a cool bow, BUT THE COST-"
And the prince is like, "ANYTHING, I AM AN IDIOT"
Ligier: "Are you sure that sounds like a dumb thing to say"
Prince: "Anything of mine is yours!"
Act 3, Ligier has turned their son into a bow. Surprise!
The bow lets you flurry threaten with aim as its attunement bonus, and has quite a few evocations
tulip folio
Act 3, Ligier has turned their son into a bow. Surprise!
shock
velvet raft
Ligier, looking at a complete buffoon
The evocations have a bunch of anti-demon and anti-sorcerer tech, which given the Prince seems to have been a sorcerer, uh
May imply something about how the boy felt about his parents
It also has demon-controlling tech, so maybe not
wise ocean
Possibly spicy for threaten abyssals?
velvet raft
Possibly, although it's orichalcum and has a lot of resonant benefits
The threaten + aim stuff does play into the evocations
Lemme share the final evocation, this is cool and very, very slick for Infernals
Wonderful synergy with the fact that as an Infernal, you can have a 2CD on hand
lament owl
Question: what is the resonant material for Infernals?
Is it just orichalcum?
velvet raft
Orichalcum and materials of hell
lament owl
Ic ic
velvet raft
In our sample artifacts we've got "voice woven", "malfean lead", "hell-metal", and "nightforged"
So yeah, Archery Infernal here we go
And that's the chapter!
A lot of the wordcount actually goes to that bow at the end
6 pages or so
buoyant summit
So my gm in the Heptagame has dropped the bombshell of the Station of Sacrifice on us
And the only thing I can think of that doesn't feel like a copout is my artifact sword <XD
tulip folio
Lemme share the final evocation, this is cool and very, very slick for Infernals
...wait, if it's Ori and affects demons...
Ori Alchemical Peeking Out Of The Seal With A Divine Minister Preparing the Fusion Dance
tulip folio
Alchemical: "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this but you leave me no choice. GATTAI!"
Other Exalts: "...what the fuck is happening?"
velvet raft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Lu67T9TQk
I think we all need to recognize that a Colossus Alchemical fusing an upper soul of Autochthon into a huge bow is the coolest thing possible
fierce star
the station of sacrifice is a 2e thing, I suppose the heptagram might still use it, but I feel like in ex3 as an educational thing it'd be more like
a token sacrifice to show intent
but in ex2 'being a dynast' would absolutely be valid if it's something you care about
I had a sorcerer back in ex2 who sacrificed over the course of the game his sight, his voice, and his freedom over the course of mastering the three circles
velvet raft
I have no memory of the station of sacrifice, was that the term for how every sorcerer has to give something up for each circle?
buoyant summit
As I understand it, it's the final trial to gain entrance into the Heptagram
This is the wording the GM used
buoyant summit
but in ex2 'being a dynast' would absolutely be valid if it's something you care...
Gonna look at their cool sword, the one gift they've ever received, have something break in them on realizing their mother probably intended for them to sacrifice the sword, the symbol of their mastery and interest in the martial arts, and go,
"I am Midura, and I am of no House."
buoyant summit
To fully realize the impact of this I will again impress upon you
This is the one gift they've received from their mother
ever
They got to fucking name it
fierce star
nice
velvet raft
Searches "armor chains" on safebooru
Half the results are Joan of Arc from Fate/
Bah, far too much cheesecake
I thought "armor" would protect me but that was short-sighted
Some of these definitely should not be counted as armor >_>
fierce star
that's boorus for you
god skin tones are the worst thought
I'M A WHITE AMERICAN NERD OF SCOTS-IRISH DESCENT AND I HAVE A BETTER TAN TAHN SOME OF THESE 'dark_skinned_female' IMAGES
9or male, take your pick)
(I usually play female characters so that's the art i look for the most)
fading cypress
<@186198146630680576> when u wake up show off ur shoat bc she rules
@marsh garden hiii hiii this is my shoat, she's a 4'8 goblinoid abyssal, i love her so much, she's dowager's strongest age regressor, speaks in rhymes with a welsh accent, heals by grafting people's meridians (and flesh), and ofc she raises and staples together people or bits thereof for her army yaaaaay
wise ocean
la shoatura
velvet raft
For a second I read "army" as "arms", which made sense given the art
fading cypress
oh ash im shoving élise into exalted
she's a moonshadow abyssal
wise ocean
as expected
is her mother still trying to get her killed
velvet raft
I made the first abyssal I really feel interested in earlier
Rogue Abyssal knight who has gotten really into being an abyssal and the chivalry of death and thinks the cause of Oblivion is dumb and the Neverborn should be shoved into a pond
fading cypress
shoated af
merry arch
we love shoat she's so charming
fading cypress
as expected
is her mother still trying to get her killed
no but the sava abyssal did trap her sister's soul in a sword so that'll be fun when she finds that out
merry arch
(I've transposed Sava as The Black Heron)
fading cypress
this is one of her intimacies too
next delta
It's a bit silly you can try to end the mirror counterattack spell early by attacking it directly. But it has 20 health levels, goes away after one counterattack and counterattacks if you attack it anyways
fading cypress
i need to finish up infernal lorelia
next delta
It is funny that the distortion is the opposing sorcerer yoinking the poem-mirror and getting its effects so long as they keep a grip on it though
velvet raft
It's a bit silly you can try to end the mirror counterattack spell early by atta...
It's schmuck-bait to be tbh
next delta
Close your eyes and throw a rock at it
dense verge
thinking about my not-a-lunar and deciding her weapon of choice is dual wielded falxes
wise ocean
go my hornsent
dense verge
reska is kind of a hornsent type beat come to think of it
buoyant summit
go my hornsent
Divine Beast Dancing Lion is my Full Moon's battle theme lmao
dense verge
village got burnt by a zealous immaculate after they didnt turn her over to the realm after exalting as a dragonblood
out in the threshold
buoyant summit
oof
prisma sun
village got burnt by a zealous immaculate after they didnt turn her over to the ...
Well even a zealous immaculate wouldnt do that i think
Usually zealous immaculates become nicer the poor
velvet raft
Depends on the zeal
dense verge
hm, fair, but i also think of her village as having been heathens on the edge of the Realm, primarily doing luna-worship, someone pulled a knife on one of the monk's guards, things escalated
velvet raft
We've always had examples of zealous immaculates who are especially ready to burn down villages and murder people
prisma sun
Luna Worship isnt forbidden
dense verge
Also true
prisma sun
All the incarnae are acknowledged as powerful gods, but they try to keep worship to specific holidays and shrines
dense verge
More trying to find a space of, distasteful, astray, but not necessarily completely opposite to Immaculacy
velvet raft
I mean, if they're persistently worshipping Luna outside of the scope of the Immaculate Order's tenets
dense verge
The kind of people they see as a flock to guide to the path but the people don't want the guiding, old ways are good thank you very much The Realm
velvet raft
And they're in The Realm
They're gonna have problems
One of the signature immaculates back in the day was a guy who was known for killing other monks who had doctrinal disagreements with him
dense verge
Threshold village already disliking the Realm as imperial extractivists, runs up against a monk that won't take "No" for an answer when he says he needs to take a kid away either to the priesthood or the army
velvet raft
The Immaculate Faith is about as nice as any religion — which is to say, it can be extremely nasty at times — and explicitly values the lives of mortals less than Dragon-Bloods. The Immaculate Order is an exceedingly nasty variation thereof in a lot of cases.
dense verge
He offered them a cow! A whole cow and a literacy program for a kid. He was being reasonable.
velvet raft
Dynast voice: "Ungrateful peasants. He should have lined them up and exploded them one-by-one."
next delta
The main thing the Immaculate Order provides is it does a pretty good job at keeping the local spirits in line. And I guess it is pretty syncretic
Otherwise, yeah, not great
dense verge
He also fucked the diplomacy with the village all the way up and followed through with the rest of the burning more out of a sense of shame, the same kind of shame where you slide a broken vase out of view when you know you broke it
Zealous, but an asshole even by the standards of the Order
is where im landing for the monk
velvet raft
Yeah, I can believe that
dense verge
A few ill-tempered men killed in an argument, no one is allowed to know I did this, place the official story as the village as being seditious and plotting a rebellion, or similar
Inflexible, Zealous, gregarious, and at his core a coward that can't own up to failure
nova yew
Currently in our abyssal game we have received the glorious order and command to put on a grand and glorious festival in thorns, one they previously had every 11 years, to prove to neighboring cities that not only are we not dead, we’re thriving
We have all began preparing and organizing people and talking to the one local god n shit. But uh, we haven’t…told the Heir we’re doing this yet
So
That’s fun
lament owl
Suprise party :3
dense verge
surprise party!
nova yew
We’re not explicitly hiding it from him but he just does not know we’re doing this
chilly sluice
I'm sure the Red Iron Rebuke loves being surprised
nova yew
I’m certain he does
dense verge
look, nobody likes a party grinch, he cant cancel it after its been prepared
nova yew
And hey
Maybe he’ll enjoy it
This will be his first, he missed the last 2!
Due to “being in the dungeons”
chilly sluice
I'm sure he'll love to see it
wait...
nova yew
Lmao yeah
velvet raft
Oh @nova yew lemme show you the intimacies for the Abyssal I’m messing around with https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1161699000836165714/1449047508121555084/image.png?ex=693d7a27&is=693c28a7&hm=a374f289845d7bea5dd77128e9aedb861e53276569d3ae57b97cadf50c7ed543&
I feel they may strike a chord
nova yew
Holy shit
marsh garden
holy shit that's a lot of intimacies
velvet raft
I like filling the whole block
velvet raft
Her name is Here With The Chains and this is her look
velvet raft
Could be? The art was labeled as original
marsh garden
ah
velvet raft
Oh I should source
marsh garden
real good hat though
velvet raft
One moment
bleak hazel
I feel that at least two of those defining ties are actually principles
if you could remove the brackets and add a filler word or two to make a proper sentence, it's a principle in my book
velvet raft
Fair enough
The belligerence one was a principle at first but I mostly thought a Tie was more amusing
nova yew
Her name is Here With The Chains and this is her look
The opposite of fucking iron chains apparantly
Gk you made a foil
velvet raft
She literally beats people with soul steel chains that shoot out of her armor so
She is Here With The Chains
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18T_4aXqo5iHW_tDuwF7us6dMQ-R_cWFdRpeqq_QcDYw/edit?gid=655784735#gid=655784735 this is the sheet
bleak hazel
I know they only have nine trees but there's a lot of stuff in here and I feel some sections have a lot of rather dry interludes between the juicy bits
I think Sids are just right, apart from Medicine
Alchs too
but Lunars predate the development of good formatting tech for this stuff
prisma sun
Oh I mean from like a game design perspective I love and hate Charms
chilly sluice
I assume Alchs are also just more condensed because of submodules?
bleak hazel
yeah
they have far fewer charms because most of the charm trees are neatly appended to the bottom of a base charm
fierce star
hmm. Legendary Size, Overwhelming Passion, Thousand-Armed Titan, Body-Warping Blight; Pheromones (Love) ***, Imposing Features, Musical Voice. Sounds appropriate for a kimbery-themed nadir.
also yeah i'm gonna be honest submodules and keys are the best things to happen to exalted splat design since they booted the first devs
chilly sluice
it does seem like very useful tech for reformatting charm upgrades and repurchases
what's next after Infernals btw?
even though that's probably still a ways off
Getimians?
fierce star
Gets and Liminal slimsplats
chilly sluice
I am still pretty interested in Gets
dense verge
dear lord Lunars have too many charms
Now you know why I made a deeb instead
velvet raft
Sids benefit from a small number of high value charms covering the “essentials”
Which gives them room to fuck around a lot
bleak hazel
their trees are really short, yeah
Dead Spouse Defence is the third charm in, all Versatile
velvet raft
A lot of the bulk of their trees is The Weird Shit
But they kinda need short trees because of the high XP costs of going heavy on martial arts, IMO
bleak hazel
yeah, they are very XP hungry still, but I feel you get more out of it
velvet raft
Yep
bleak hazel
it's easier to get the 3 things you wanted from an ability and go "there we go, done"
especially since the excellency is so incredible that you don't really need basic double 9s or reroll 1s charms
velvet raft
Alright, revised, I realized two of the defining ones were the same, really
Here With The Chains has this sort of idealized view of what should be the order of the universe in which Sids (who she has never met) and Lunars and Abyssals all have important roles to play, and also Solars are there she guesses.
nova yew
She literally beats people with soul steel chains that shoot out of her armor so
its funny too because iron chains, on the other hand, hates chains and actively avoids them as a motif.
girl has a fucking trauma response to those
youve made the anti iron chains break minds
velvet raft
Fuck I swear I didn't make a foil on purpose
XD
I started with wanting to use Chain-and-Armor Mortification, and slowly she developed into Death Knight, emphasis on Knight.
fierce star
CAAM is just a really fun charm
I still want to play my abyssal resistance + archery character that uses the 'nail yourslef into the armor' charms plus the crossbow that surgically attaches itself to your arm
bleak hazel
this is slightly self-indulgent of me but I kind of love it whenever there's a celestial exalt who has no idea how Sids work
normally Arcane Fate is more "you must be this supernatural to ride" but every so often you just get a Solar or something who is like "huh, he's funny" for two stories into the campaign
velvet raft
She has heard they do important work for Fate and that sounds like part of the idealized balance of all things
velvet raft
CAAM is just a really fun charm
It clicked for me when I realized is that while CAAM can't be used with Strength + Brawl, it can be used with Strength + Melee while the grapples themselves are done unarmed using martial arts charms, of which Bear and Mantis have a lot which act on ongoing grapples.
So Here With The Chains hits people with chains until she sees an opening, drags them in, and then tears them apart with her hands — all of which feels suitably Abyssal to me
nova yew
Fuck I swear I didn't make a foil on purpose
i love her dont worry its just really funny
velvet raft
XD
nova yew
have you seen the art of iron chains gk?
velvet raft
I'm not sure
nova yew
Her name is Here With The Chains and this is her look
(cus this art is quite cute)
nova yew
I'm not sure
my doodlessss of this freak
nova yew
she is right now binding ghosts to help with party planning (by that i mean helping with the logistics of our dire agricultural situation considering we live in a fucking shadowland)
the plan is to bless the fields to make evil crops instead of no crops
which will at least be edible
prisma sun
Waking Smith of Scrimshawed Bones has heard nothing but Chains and has begun making Chains because people reminded him Chains exist and are enjoyable to make.
nova yew
lmao
buoyant summit
My Abyssal is also 'planning a party'
A Roman triumph featuring the ruler of a sentient crab afterlife as the main setpiece who we're pinning with the death of the ruler of another afterlife that our Deathlord is getting blamed for
velvet raft
Waking Smith of Scrimshawed Bones has heard nothing but Chains and has begun mak...
Here With The Chains approves.
nova yew
party planning is eternal i guess
prisma sun
"The intricate interplay of chain upon chain build a sense of unity in the building, each loop a small bit of iron but yet each one working in concert with it's brother and sister in an interplay that stretches far beyond what each loop can perceive, the interconnectedness allowing each one to raise ships or buildings with ease even as they lay ignorant of their position in the grand scheme of things and oh, oh how it is to create the link of the chain, each must be identical, for none can be weak, so you must not only tirelessly perfect the first ring but to do so without flaw hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of times, for to learn to make a chain is to learn to master anything in this world, be it martial arts or literature or war, you must not just learn how to do something perfect but to continue to do so without flaw immortally, to crash hammer upon anvil, to inspect all possible avenues of flaw, tools, workplace, forge, heat, metal, oil, water, cloth, for if even a single droplet of liquid or a single crack forms in a tool you can doom a castle to fall..."
velvet raft
Here With The Chains approves even more
prisma sun
He will keep going until he is stopped
dense verge
chain lover
prisma sun
First and Forsaken Lion, in a voice of dead thunder: "Bro can you shut the fuck up for five minutes"
nova yew
HAHAH
limpid badge
the plan is to bless the fields to make evil crops instead of no crops
evil crops are good for you
nova yew
Evil crops good and healthy
fierce star
Eat the mutated fish
nova yew
Lmao
The people of thorns will love my evil dark grain and sinister sesame and ornery onions
dense verge
people love my empire for growing corn in a sub-polar environment
nova yew
Lmao
velvet raft
Huh, never realized that there’s basically a Devil-Body spell at Void Circle
Birth of Sanity's Sorrow is wild