Exalted

[marsh garden]

lol

I've heard it's good!

did you just not really click with the first set?

[velvet raft]

Exigents just never super interested me

[marsh garden]

fair

[velvet raft]

I kinda like the vibe conceptually but

[marsh garden]

unrelated to exigents, the thing that motivated me to actually go finish up the backstory for abyssal yeetmaster was the realization that the perfect character portrait already exists

and it's another mf from arknights

can you guess who?

[velvet raft]

You know it's funny, I like eigents conceptually, and I like pregens in other games, but for some reason I have trouble finding the energy to look seriously at the exalted pregens

[marsh garden]

the only improvised artifact in the game is a fucking wheel, even

a steering wheel with thrown

[velvet raft]

hahahaha

It's true, she has perfect Abyssal vibes

[marsh garden]

she's got super pale skin and unnatural vitality

and she's the weird immortal captain of a crew of bastards

[bleak hazel]

exalted is not really a pregen game for me

[marsh garden]

and the underworld is pretty sea-themed in 3e

[bleak hazel]

I might play a foxbinder at some point but it would require some fairly heavy refluffing

[prisma sun]

I gave my abyssal villain an anchor goremaul

[marsh garden]

so it Just Works

fuck yeah

[bleak hazel]

I'd sooner go for an Architect and bust out the neutral MA

[marsh garden]

anchor goremaul is a vibe

[velvet raft]

hoho

[wise ocean]

I wish axes and polearms had better MAs, I want to play a halberdier exalt sometime

[coral wraith]

Eh, (splat) Melee always works

[wise ocean]

but it's so sauceless 😔

[bleak hazel]

embrace sidereal melee

very solid + goes into your SMA of choice

[coral wraith]

A good artifact also solves this

[bleak hazel]

a CMOS halberdier clash build is technically quite effective, although heavy weapons can be a bit painful so I tend to make my polearms reflavoured longfangs/staves rather than reflavoured direlances

[marsh garden]

i like hungry ghost, and i'm told that devil-prince is real good

they also work together pretty well, thematically

you're an unhinged finger-eating axe murderer

your other martial art is about people being scared of you taking their fingers

[marsh garden]

oh, who's the bleak warden? jailer guy, yeah?

[bleak hazel]

DPS is one of the strongest normal Arts, I think

not quite thousand blades/bear/righteous devil/single point tier but nothing should be

[velvet raft]

Yeah, Exigent of a jailer god

[bleak hazel]

and it's up there with things like Crane and Mantis as rock-solid combat suites

[wise ocean]

aye, the artifact is going to be "counts as axe and spear for MA compatibility etc" but Damn

[wise ocean]

to be fair, sid, you're extremely accurate

[velvet raft]

So at a glance, I'm sort of contractually obligated to like the Chosen of Masks best

[wise ocean]

takes away the downside other than the +1 defense

[bleak hazel]

sids really like weapon accuracy because they multiply the effectiveness of accuracy dice with TN reduction

so you're unusually accurate because you have accurate weapons

Sids are very much light/medium weapon enjoyers

I would recommend strongly that any artifact you make take the MA compat of one existing weapon type at any given time

messing with compatibility is generally above the power budget of all but the most juiced 5-dots

and even that needs to be fairly carefully vetted

spear is easy though

halberd can be either longfang or staff-that-does-lethal

[wise ocean]

considering the dearth of axe and spear MAs I can't imagine it'd be that OP, which is mostly why I was considering it

[coral wraith]

Oh, I meant like "the artifact is a mini MA", but that also works

Like eg. Threnody Engine

[velvet raft]

This shit rocks

[bleak hazel]

devil-prince + white reaper is not something I would particularly like to see comboing on the same attacks and defences

axe + spear are both doing quite well for themselves lately

Ccham, White Reaper, Golden Janissary and a stack of the new Agents ones when they show up

[wise ocean]

ah, devil-prince works on axes as well? thought it was an EB-style "sword MA and also the new sword we added"

[bleak hazel]

also takes hatchets

[wise ocean]

neat

[velvet raft]

Tragic lack of Big Axe

[bleak hazel]

which means you can chuck them and take people's fingers off at range

[velvet raft]

Only Hungry Ghost can do Big Axe

[wise ocean]

yeah, I thought it was basically "hungry ghost, WR, GJ - okay so everything here sucks except WR"

hungry ghost is funny but its only independently useful charm is at the very start

[marsh garden]

even though it's literally the only MA with sword in its name, it's not sword-locked

which is really funny

[velvet raft]

I dunno, Hungry Ghost looks pretty good to me

But you gotta be a Hungry Ghost Stylist

[marsh garden]

I'M SO MAD

THERE AREN'T ANY GREATAXE OR GREATHAMMER MAS

WHEREMST

[velvet raft]

There's Earth Dragon

For big hammer

[marsh garden]

i thought ed was regular hammers?

[velvet raft]

Nope, tetsubo

[marsh garden]

huh!

[velvet raft]

Also supports heavy armor

[bleak hazel]

earth derg extremely strong

[marsh garden]

i know what I'll be deebing if i deeb, then!

[marsh garden]

also yh knew that one

[marsh garden]

isn't that only for dbs and sids?

[velvet raft]

To be tbh I'd suggest people just treat big axes and scythes as the same thing

[marsh garden]

bc it relies a lot on earth aura

[bleak hazel]

what if we bypassed all the traditional flaws of deebs by simply having absurd giga soak + smashing, so we don't care that we can't block because we can just dunk

honestly earth dragon is not that aura dependent

there's a bit of it in there but not huge amounts

[velvet raft]

Use White Reaper, it's fine

[bleak hazel]

still, I prefer it on deebs and sids

[wise ocean]

it's just a lot of Tech, imo

beginning charm is terrific, and then it's "ehhh" until you eventually hit the giga multiattack one and then the capstone
lot of tech tax to get to those

[bleak hazel]

they are the natural candidates for IMAs

[wise ocean]

even the capstone is mostly an "this is extremely funny if you hit it" thing than a Useful Charm

[bleak hazel]

other terrestrials can't even learn them unless they're like architects and get neutral MA base

[marsh garden]

that's why hungy + prince!

[velvet raft]

They actually don't pair well

[marsh garden]

oh fr?

sad

[velvet raft]

I've looked at it and they mix awkwardly despite some elements that seem like they should mix

[marsh garden]

tragic

[velvet raft]

Among them, they're both styles that want to be in their form

[wise ocean]

... come to think of it, hungry ghost, white reaper, and golden janissary all share "there are 1-2 really independently good charms in these and then a lot of Situational Tech" as a thing

HG is "kiting enemy tech," WR is "battlegroup tech," and GJ is "doomoid tech"

[marsh garden]

huh

janny uses axes?

oh spears

you were talking general trends

[wise ocean]

technically GJ is also kiting enemy tech because it has great rushes but ymmv

[velvet raft]

White Reaper is pretty good even for 1v1s, it's just less specialized

[wise ocean]

oh, sure, but everything in it is poking you and going "yeah man you really hate battlegroups huh"

[marsh garden]

me when i invert onslaught

[velvet raft]

I do think my character in mortalgame will pick up some white reaper if she can

[bleak hazel]

Downside to my E5 crane build is that once I have PAOC Form I have to go exchange student with some of the other MAs and learn how to onslaught negate

[marsh garden]

...okay your talk of mortalgame has reminded me

[bleak hazel]

so unarmed WR dip likely real

[marsh garden]

i have the dumbest idea

[velvet raft]

But yes @marsh garden here's my answer to you at a quick review

[marsh garden]

mortalgame start, goobers in creation doing what you do

arc 1 you do some heroic shit

and die in the process

smash cut

you are an alch

[velvet raft]

Abyssals?

OH

[marsh garden]

Everyone Is John

[bleak hazel]

I'm not sure adding White Reaper Form to Crane + SFS actually gets you anything other than halo aura farming though

[velvet raft]

Wait you're all one alch?

[marsh garden]

YOU ARE ALL ONE ALCH

[velvet raft]

snrrk

[marsh garden]

DISCO ELYSIUM VOICES

EVERYONE IS JOHN

[bleak hazel]

You kind of need to get the WR multiattack and that's expensive

[marsh garden]

the process went wrong! the creation wasn't perfect!

and the souls aren't one soul, but still their disparate parts

[velvet raft]

Yeah, it's less that WR form is great

[marsh garden]

and yet it worked, and you are an Alchemical Exalt

[velvet raft]

And more that halos make WR charms a lot better

[marsh garden]

i would have a blast with that

[wise ocean]

not unless you're fighting a BG, no

[velvet raft]

And halos are a WR form thing

[wise ocean]

I genuinely think the best way to deal with WR is the graves tech where you just go "I am Fighting a BG, time to turn the fuck up" and use the reflexive condition

because it's so permissive

[velvet raft]

give us a secret technique that lets us gain a smaller number of halos in another form, you cowards

[marsh garden]

oh shit yeah i've heard masks is super interesting tech

wild that she gets quadcasting

[velvet raft]

I'm contractually obligated to go for a person who can use Mastery

[marsh garden]

is she celestial?

[velvet raft]

Yes

[marsh garden]

thought so

[marsh garden]

i like that it's an MA that rewards onetricking!

[buoyant summit]

You know what would fuck as an idea for 'an' Alchemical

[velvet raft]

Well dang

[buoyant summit]

two Alchs of the same Caste who've always manifested from the stream of souls as twins

[marsh garden]

huh

[velvet raft]

That's a cool concept

Alternately, make them orichalcum and soulsteel :D

takes off sunglasses to reveal another pair of sunglasses

[marsh garden]

that's really fun

can she stack that?

[marsh garden]

or like, keep doing it over and over i mean

[velvet raft]

It's once per scene unless she upholds her current mask's principle

[marsh garden]

i like that that encourages shenanigans by enabling shenanigans

[velvet raft]

Also from the same charm

So she can be Kamen Rider

[marsh garden]

be the right kind of abrupt and erratic asshole and just

keep swapping faces

[velvet raft]

She is, tragically, a little bit undercooked in terms of the variety of her masks

[bleak hazel]

Her charm trees are limited by what mask she's currently wearing, so that's basically a kit swap charm

Like Alchs, but with even fewer charms up at any given time and easier swapping

[marsh garden]

i imagine she's fun if you're willing to brew up more kits based on the assorted masks in books

[velvet raft]

I do think they intended a certain amount of superhero vibes here

[marsh garden]

...i said assorted, but

[velvet raft]

Since this is The Clark Kent Charm

[marsh garden]

wow there are no fucking masks

i thought there was one in a lunars book

and one in arms

but i guess it's just the abyssals one?

[velvet raft]

FWIW you don't need the masks to be external artifacts or anything

[prisma sun]

Theres also the Deeb mask charm

[marsh garden]

oh i'm sure she can just make more

but

i thought there were more external masks to take inspo from

[velvet raft]

Ah, yeah

[buoyant summit]

Would you say a Divine Minister is a suitable 3-Dot Mentor?

[bleak hazel]

each mask is basically just a charm tree with a mask theme attached

[buoyant summit]

for a Machine Saint

[velvet raft]

Ye

[bleak hazel]

so you don't need artifact masks to steal

[velvet raft]

Anyway, Chosen of Masks seems ideal if you want a partially-completed kit to flesh out more

Which I do not

But I like the overarching concept

[bleak hazel]

there are some interesting compatibility things going on with a lot of exigents

masks has the masks, Mysteries has mastery + full native charm compatibility limited by the fact the resource he spends on mastery is quite limited and his native charms, as a giant nerd exalt, are not exactly Solar Melee

so he can bust out a really scary suite for a short period of time

[velvet raft]

He seems like he's supposed to be Sherlock Holmes: Exalted Edition

Chosen of Seals is pretty cool

[prisma sun]

https://tenor.com/view/seal-concerned-look-around-sad-confused-gif-13135059842887918234

[velvet raft]

I'm just an MA addict

[prisma sun]

MAs are fun

I do think people should just add weapons to styles

And not feel anything in their souls

[buoyant summit]

Our GM is letting us use a grand beamklave with Golden Janissary

[marsh garden]

beamu...

[velvet raft]

TBH Mastery would feel pretty fitting on Bleak Warden

[buoyant summit]

You just made us realize we could look at BeaMu to see what a Built Stupid Adamant can do that isn't just combat lmao

[bleak hazel]

if you don't use additional weapon options on an MA to combo it with stuff it shouldn't combo with or to cheese something like, say, long range thrown smashing attacks on a close range only style, you can basically do what you want with custom weapons

[velvet raft]

And he's one of the best fleshed-out in terms of having a complete charm set

[bleak hazel]

grand daiklave that works with white reaper? go wild

(I prefer "this weapon counts as [weapon type]" for the purpose of martial arts compatibility" to listing out styles since it makes it easier)

[marsh garden]

oh, i just did

The Rotting Sun is compatible with Fire Dragon Style, but can't combine Fire Dragon Charms with other Martial Arts Charms unless they're compatible with both short swords and meteor hammers.

for an artifact i'm working on

[buoyant summit]

I don't think a grand daiklave working for Golden Jan does anything too stupid

[bleak hazel]

is that the one that does disgusting amounts of ping damage whenever you pull it back?

(the meteor hammer, that is)

[buoyant summit]

oh, VBoS

[bleak hazel]

simply do not mix it with VBOS and you're fine

[marsh garden]

i'm changing the ways that works around, but yeah

[velvet raft]

I think people should feel free to reflavor MA weapons

But enabling new combinations is a bit more fraught

[merry arch]

she's got some fun charms for social influencing but she's got horrible resolve/guile. mostly just cos it's fun to flurry instills/threatens while punching bigly

[marsh garden]

Fitful Spark Paroxysm
Cost: 2m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Gutter-Star's Despair
When the wielder Reflexively retrieves Liala with its Special tag, it detonates with a scream and an eruption of pyreflame. This is a one-time environmental hazard with difficulty (Appearance or Charisma) and Damage (lower of Essence or 3)i against all enemies within close range of the hammer, or Damage (Essence + 1, maximum 6)i against battle groups and characters with hopeful Intimacies. This withering damage is unsoakable, but the wielder can only gain a maximum of (lower of Essence or 3) Initiative.
current place i have that evo

[velvet raft]

And potentially steps on the toes of the best reason to do unarmed

[marsh garden]

not sure if it's too over or under-sauced

it's meant to just be an evil bitter motherfucker that hurts people for not being as jaded as it is

[velvet raft]

... god damn it I would play a Chosen of Seals with Mastery in a second

[merry arch]

I will likely take another stab at making her scarier but rn that soggy little they/them dusk is living in my head rent free

[marsh garden]

SOGGY DUSK AGENDA

go forth, my friend

make shitty loser dusks

[bleak hazel]

unfortunately none of my characters are soggy

Telek is a guilt-ridden mess who is putting up a semi-decent front of being the big cool dynast

just has to go through the Apocalypse Now hotel room scene every morning before putting on the beautiful silk robes and picking up the giant jade dragon spear

[merry arch]

yeah they're gonna be bullied incessantly by their circle. I've already talked to the other prospective players and pretty much everyone that could be chosen is like "yeah I'm gonna bully them mercilessly" or "I'm going to perform unethical medical experiments on them"

[bleak hazel]

(Telek is also not an Azimuth despite the fact he's going to end up with a lot of combat investment, because he is Potential Exalt)

[marsh garden]

my circle is kind of the opposite of that, with the exception of one of the sids that keeps being a menacing endings about it, whose hand is only stayed because she's a gold radical very firmly on vacation

the other sid is super new to the job and both extremely optimistic and extremely adjusting

[velvet raft]

From Chosen of Slaughter anima effects: dang, that ain't bad at all

[marsh garden]

but i do want to play a pathetic loser that gets bullied by their circle

oooh

that's a meaty as hell reflexive jb

not even needing to kill em is great

[velvet raft]

... haha, chosen of slaughter gets a reflexive clash that has to be a disarm, because it's biting the weapon

[merry arch]

ye everyone is gonna be studying them like a science experiment, pushing them around, or trying to goad them into greater acts or bloodshed. bearing in mind that they're a former pathetic little sickly scholar turned Dusk a matter of only days ago

[marsh garden]

it's peak

tell your group that i love them

[merry arch]

🫡

[merry arch]

I'm gonna be eating a fuckton of limit in roleplaying someone actively learning the rules of Death's chivalry in real time

[velvet raft]

Charm type: Shark

[marsh garden]

i love this too

[marsh garden]

...okay, i'm confused

is the e3 one a second rebuy

or part of the e2 rebuy

it looks like it's just part of the e2 rebuy, right?

[velvet raft]

That's how I would read it

Chosen of Slaughter definitely has a well fleshed-out set of charms

[marsh garden]

nice

glad that it's not one with obvious pain-point gaps

[merry arch]

they're having pretty much the worst week of their life and it isn't getting any better. they were supposed to be going North to meet the lover and then they got lost in the labyrinth and got spat out somewhere in the West.

[marsh garden]

a long, long way from home

who's the rest of the gang?

[merry arch]

nothing solid yet, but there's someone thinkin about making a lunar sorcerer, manipulator, and doctor. then another person is making a apoc medicine abyssal Frankenstein dollgirl

[velvet raft]

This is an amusing image

[bleak hazel]

Janest has an absolute ton of art

she is kind of the edition postergirl so I guess it makes sense

[chilly sluice]

Janest punch

[velvet raft]

Her charmset's pretty rad, really

[limpid badge]

i know im gonna try and get arby innnnnnnn

[merry arch]

yes Arby too

[marsh garden]

arby?

[merry arch]

hell's soggiest princess having the worst time ever

[marsh garden]

excellent

i wish her all the worst

[fierce star]

I wonder if the infernal I'm fiddling with isn't soggy enough for being a dawnoid

[merry arch]

reveler needs a sog to commiserate with

[marsh garden]

continue to drip all over the floor

[fierce star]

since it seems like most good dawnoids are quite soggy

[velvet raft]

She has the meats

I'm still pleased with Chains for a non-soggy dawnoid

[merry arch]

I think u can make a good dawn without them being damp, but gap moe is a very fun way to undercut the Dawn stereotypes

[marsh garden]

i didn't set out to make Hope a dusk! it was just that or day for athletics, and i needed to only be good at ruining everything i touch

[fierce star]

wait a goddamn minute I recognize that princess maker 2 screencap

that's from the something awful let's play

i'd know lizzie shinkicker anywhere

[marsh garden]

lmao

[fierce star]

this makes it even more horrifying (great LP by the way highly reccomended read)

[limpid badge]

u understand

Slavering Horror-Maw
Unrelenting Hellbound Might
Six-Demon Senses
All-Hunger Rapacity
Instaitable Horror Gourmand
Unyielding Devil Will
Hardened Demon Flesh
Hardened Demon Flesh
By Pain Reforged
By Agony Empowered
Scar-Writ Saga Shield
Scar-writ Saga Shield
Beast of Proud Bearing
Black Iron Flank
arby chose violence

[fierce star]

but yeah my azimuth, Liangxiao, has the following defining intimacies:

Tie: Her Father (Love)
Principle: "Dad raised me to be a better person than he was. When we meet again, he'll be proud."

And major intimacies related to genuine heroism and diong her best to be a Good Person, while actually understanding what that means and how her actions effect others.

[marsh garden]

OH THAT'S REALLY CUTE

[fierce star]

Mind you she is blind, armless, scarred, hungry all the time and tastes people from a distance

so like. She definitely hits the Freak (TM) Vibes (TM) visually

[limpid badge]

this is contrast arby azimuth's defining intimacy
I am so. So hungry. It scares me.

[fierce star]

and then she's just an actual good person under all that because her dad was absolutely not and wanted her to not grow up to be like him, because he was a gangster working for the god of addiction.

[merry arch]

im starting reveler with some chronic illnesses (consumption, anemia, hemophilia) cos of being ghostblooded and they're generally just. very fucking frail

[limpid badge]

reveler starts with flaw Sickly where people go hey pleaguey get away from me

[marsh garden]

i'm still chuffed by

i love having a bad time

it's my favorite

[merry arch]

yes exactly

[velvet raft]

Man I really want a chance to play Hao-Guntur

[merry arch]

babythey's clothes are stained with blood from coughing and they generally have Wet Lung Noises all the time when they aren't coughing up a lot of blood

[marsh garden]

i think i've said this before, but y'all's characters are great and a continuous inspiration to get better

it's peak

[limpid badge]

joining the ominous drool gang as Blood contrasted with Arby's weird black ichor

[velvet raft]

Hm. What do y'all imagine an infernal fetich soul of "Let's all calm down and discuss this rationally" would be like as a 3CD?

[merry arch]

I should steal two dots of stamina from their current spread to reflect them being a weirdly good swordsman despite their condition

[limpid badge]

iter's sure does! arby does not. arby is going to get worse. ligier is playing princess maker 2 with her.

[merry arch]

resistance roll? 2 dice? yeah. alright.

[marsh garden]

does black gunk leaking from tooth-eyes count

[marsh garden]

oh i mean a continuous inspiration for me to get better at characters lmao

[merry arch]

they would be so cute and miserable together it would be awful for everyone

[marsh garden]

listening to y'all's goober cookery is entertaining and inspiring

[limpid badge]

yaaaaaaaay

[velvet raft]

Giant squid of some kind, surely

[limpid badge]

i have been poisoned by exalted since middle school

[velvet raft]

As we all know, squid are extremely rational

[fierce star]

Ligier as Gendo Shinkicker...

[marsh garden]

a maelstrom of freezing winds and snow in the shape of a giant eye

the principle is cessation

[merry arch]

arby putting on airs of normalcy like she's not a stitched horror princess that scares the shit out of reveler and reveler acting like everything's fine while they clutch their sword and talk to it during afternoon tea

[limpid badge]

A room, with a mask embedded in the wall. You may ever smash the walls and they will not crumble, and through broken-mouth the mask will speak. You will speak with the Count of Masks until understanding is reached, and if he cannot sway your heart, he shall respect you as an equal.

[velvet raft]

Hmmmm

[marsh garden]

the absolute demand for all to stop, because only when action is impossible can discussion be possible

[limpid badge]

they are having tea. if anything goes wrong arby is going to tear a serving-maid's throat out with her teeth for shattering the illusion of normal princess stuff

[velvet raft]

The weather theming would fit with being an infernal archery user

[marsh garden]

and a hateful inquisition, to seek out and cease anything that exists too loudly

[limpid badge]

arby trying to talk about the novels she's read and the maid has stumbled in horror one too many times and her temper snaps

[marsh garden]

or too passionately

[velvet raft]

And a sail user

[merry arch]

LMAO

[merry arch]

fortunately!!! reveler has very good guile, against all odds

I think they land around 6 with void mask facade

they can hide the fact they're scared shitless decently well

[marsh garden]

the most recent things Hope has done are have a panic attack and call a circlemate with the abyssal rancid telepathy charm into his mom-infernal's kitchen at 3 am to try curry, and be confused and suspicious of another abyssal we met for calling mass sacrifice of civilians "a blasphemy"

immediately before these things he accidentally obliterated someone when trying to catch them because he wanted to ask a question about cooking

[fierce star]

I should acutally put Liangxiao to full sheet instead of just generic notes probably

infernals aren't in the gdoc sheet yet rihgt

... I need more exalted games

[marsh garden]

yeah

[marsh garden]

SAME

[limpid badge]

it does technically go against chivalry!

[marsh garden]

THIS SHIT IS WAY TOO FUN

[limpid badge]

the strong must fall afore the weak, so that despair takes the lessers and they know their place

[marsh garden]

it does!! and he's one of the Walker's, and the other abyssal's ostensibly one of the Heron's

who's like

not faithful faithful, but her existence is a perfect statement

[limpid badge]

yah yah

[fierce star]

really my problem is my work schedule

[marsh garden]

so because he's completely drunk the kool-aid, another abyssal not being gung-ho about at the very least the religion part is "hmm, are they a traitor?"

[fierce star]

I don't do well at PBP unless i'm being rode hard about it and my work schedule would have me missing (or the game just not happening) every third week

and that's a turnoff for a lot of groups

[marsh garden]

scheduling's real hard

[merry arch]

reveler will probably end up accepting their new circumstances very easily once the lover explains everything to them. i'm imagining her having a very medusa gorgon relationship with them. (point reveler at thing that needs to die → they say o-okay... anything for you... I just want to dance with my sword... → unquestioning pursuit of their goal because nothing else makes sense anymore)

[marsh garden]

cronaposting my beloved

[merry arch]

correct

[fierce star]

Hmm

does anyone have the blank character inspo template?

[limpid badge]

o lover, allow me to dance for you....

[merry arch]

yes yes exactly. they get to have a very strange soulcrushing maternal relationship with the lover as a treat. mom who wants to kill love treats them as a tool. what's not to like

[marsh garden]

oh, sniped

[fierce star]

ty

I might try to find ssix things that vibe for me for liangxiao

I don't have any actual art for her (yet) but

[merry arch]

im thinkin about maybe getting a comm of Reveler or badgering my wife for art of them

[fierce star]

hell yeah

I'm definitely getting a comm for liangxiao I think

but i'm waiting on the artist I want to have a comm slot free up lol

[marsh garden]

ooh, which artist?

i need to add more to my repertoire of good exalted artists with comms available

to call on in times of need

[fierce star]

uuuh let me ask if she has a portfolio she's cool with me linking, she's a friend of mine

[marsh garden]

ah gotcha

[fierce star]

i'll DM it to you since it's a bsky with NSFW stuff posted on it

[marsh garden]

o7

cheers

[wise ocean]

you can go completely reverse and make the unsoggiest creature known to man

graves is the sog equivalent of antarctica

largest desert in the world. cold as death

[fierce star]

lol

[merry arch]

im very pleased with my dusk so far. I'm trying to deliberately keep the training weights on them until they finish their first story. the 5 charms they'll get at the end of it is basically all I need to make their combat suite significantly scarier. until then, potential dusk

[tulip folio]

Hellova Entrance
Cost: —; Mins: Appearnace 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
Win or lose, none can deny the wanderer does it with style and panache.

The Wanderer can Join Battle with [Appearance + [Performance, Presence or War]). This isn't compatible with effects that grant bonus Appearance dots or replace her Appearance with a higher value.

I've been wanting to use this name for a charm for ages and I think I finally found a decent place, making it one of the stat swaps for wanderers.

[prisma sun]

Hellova Boss

[fierce star]

oooh

[marsh garden]

...i really don't like that it's "a entrance" lol

instead of an entrance

[fierce star]

I think most 'replace both wits and awreness' are temporary swaps, but dont' take me word for it

[marsh garden]

but otherwise showboating appearance JB is fun

[fierce star]

I mean hellova/helluva entrance is pretty normal terminology I think?

[marsh garden]

i've never seen it with the -ova

[fierce star]

it's not 'correct' but neithe ris a lot of common vernacular english

[marsh garden]

...although i've never actually seen "[that was] a hell of an entrance" written down anywhere, i think

so i dunno if it's standard in the slang

[fierce star]

I do really like the vibe though

[marsh garden]

yeah, absolutely

fun flavor text too

it's not about the fight, it's about the show

you gotta give the people what they want! doesn't matter if you win or die, they're just here for the bread and circuses

[prisma sun]

Ive only seen-uva tbh

Ive never seen ova

[tulip folio]

Look, would you rather lose or would you have prefered to not be in the scene at all? Not being on-page is worse than being dead, they mourn the dead! 😛

[marsh garden]

We who are about to die...

[prisma sun]

Aren't

suplexes the lion

[fierce star]

to quote keychain of creaiton...

[marsh garden]

yay, secret

[fierce star]

is this? a thing? This is kind of a thing? Maybe? I feel like there's tonal whiplash here but finding a full six people is hard.

[tulip folio]

Razor Tongued Socialite Invocation
Cost: 3m; Mins: Appearance 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Wanderer knows some of the most important rules for survival in the cruel courts of the fey: Every weakness must be exploited.

This supplements an action that uses the Wanderer's appearance to add bonus dice to a roll. For this roll, she compares her appearance to the lower of the target's resolve or appearance.

[tulip folio]

That's a very funny combo

[fierce star]

You have a bunch of horrible monsters and then some soggy children and then also LEgitimately A Good Person

[tulip folio]

Mr X is pretty good, yeah

😛

[fierce star]

lmao

[buoyant summit]

Greta Thunberg

[fierce star]

in the general sense of 'younger person willing to call out old people on their shit when they're actively making the world a worse place for everyone'

[buoyant summit]

Fair

But

Zato and G r e t a T h u n b e r g

I think we've been dethroned as having the most whiplash inspos

[fierce star]

siblings I have nemo from finding nemo and mr. x from resident evil on there too this whole thing is a tonal whiplash

[buoyant summit]

For a Lancer character we had Steven Universe and Ultron directly across from one another

[fierce star]

hell yeah

honestly my big thing is that it is very hard to find a character in fiction who is a double above-elbow amputee that doesn't have them replaced with some form of prothesis

[marsh garden]

i should try to avoid being guilty of that on my next character

make it a genuine challenge, no alch no lunar no infernal to ignore that in their different ways, just

[buoyant summit]

Oh wait you wan't fuckin tonal whiplash, hold on

[marsh garden]

genuine constant consideration

i applaud you for it

[marsh garden]

i hope it goes well

[buoyant summit]

Darth Maul, Vivec, Johnny Silverhand

[fierce star]

hell yeah

[buoyant summit]

M E G A M I N D

[fierce star]

Topple: being fair this is an infernal, but like... yes, she has Mind hand manipulation, as well as the infernal touch and taste/smell booste rcharms

the problem is those don't cover all her bases, right? MHM is very not subtle, and (sans hallucinogens) it's not like she can reasonably taste colors or similar. So she's getting over some of it, but not all of it.

I'm like cheating halfway there?

you can't hug your father with telekinetic arms

[marsh garden]

oh yeah i wouldn't be going the whole way down, just

only the amputations (which might actually end up being a consistent thing for Hope, depending on my and the GM's plans for horrific maiming annihilation of his prosthetics)

[fierce star]

hell yeah

[marsh garden]

i have three npc abyssals in my backstory and literally all of them exist primarily to enable bullying

one threw me into the labyrinth, one made my prosthetics for the express purpose of them failing eventually so i truly understand nihilistic despair instead of just being grateful to my deathlord, and one thinks I'm an annoying overdramatic stereotype of the Realm's picture of an immature young man (overly emotional and bad at everything except hurting people), which is entirely lost on me, having minimal exposure to Realm culture

i can't wait to make his life worse

the one that tossed him into the labyrinth is just kind of a short-tempered misanthrope, and was annoyed that his first real display of initiative was asking her to help him with something absurdly intimate and time-consuming (learning sorcery)

so she went "sure, fine, go figure it the fuck out"

[fierce star]

hell yeah

[marsh garden]

Hope is guilelessly grateful for this

because it worked

[fierce star]

LIangxiao's a sorcerer, but I think it's likely she was a sorcerer as a mortal; her dad was rich as hell and absolutely doted on her, which included hiring tutors for whatever hyperfixation she's gotten this week. I'm thinking just go with heptagram student for her initiation, though i'm not sure yet.

[marsh garden]

you could snag one of the ones from Ys in 8 directions

or hell-fruit crucible, which lets you OD or gorge yourself

as like

not something that you would want

but something that might have been your most comprehensive instruction on sorcery

[limpid badge]

all of arby's siblings fuckin died in various tragic ways (two suicides and a blue beard situation) leaving her unready spoiled self to a throne under constant attack by agents of the Realm and various backed rebellions

sometimes a person's life is a dunk tank

[marsh garden]

due to being in the thrall of your opiate-god

or do soul-perfecting elixir's asceticism benefits for the inverse

[fierce star]

a ysyri sorcerer who travelled all the way to wu jian to tutor a spoiled girl...
well, she's not in thrall to them. Her dad was, and he wanted her to not be, and I feel like part of the deal with his exigency was that his patron never, ever touch his little girl or his exigent would spill all his dirty secret's to heaven's straightest cops

[marsh garden]

ah, sorry, i meant more like

growing up, your dad's resources would have been connected to the god, yeah?

[fierce star]

a stipend from that plus his own gangster activities, yeah

[limpid badge]

arby is doing soooo good

[marsh garden]

so it'd be the customary or comfortable rites from the sorcerers he'd have been able to draw on

i love her eyes

[limpid badge]

her lancer version is much more fucked up (zombie coded) and her infernals version is coded as larval demon queen

[marsh garden]

i wanted to get lamprey teeth in Hope's, since he's all-in on the Maw and i describe them as a thing with the suggestion of hungry mouths, but

it ended up looking like it'd be a bit too busy

however i cannot stop posting because i love the way his arms and hair came out

i'm sorry for being annoying about my blorbo it will happen again

[fierce star]

blorboposting is like half of why we play exalted

exalted is great for making blorbos

[limpid badge]

arby's got the slavering horror-maw which i like to go with her teeth are a mix of conical crocidile fangs and sharp houndstooth, chimerically crammed into a mouth that seems too small for it all. until she opens her jaws, going wider and wider and wider than should be possible.

[fierce star]

I haven't taken any of the like, supe rmutationy charms on liangxiao yet. I might later, but not yet.

[fierce star]

i should blorbo about my lunar more

hey topple do you know what carrion bees are

[marsh garden]

i don't!

[fierce star]

so they're a species of bee-related insect that are, uh

carnivorous

[limpid badge]

vulture bees!!!

[fierce star]

Ye!

[marsh garden]

yeah i just know that nobody like. cares lmao, so i'm trying not to be over-enthusiastic

[fierce star]

they make their honey out of meat

[marsh garden]

unfortunately i'm bad at that

[fierce star]

They're also cute lil bastards (spoilered for bees)

[limpid badge]

so. you do it anyway. i know nobody needs to care about the stuff i yell about for my weird little monster but its enriching to just do it

[marsh garden]

oh that's neat, where are they from?

[fierce star]

the three known species are native to south america iirc

[marsh garden]

horrifying! but neat

nice

meat-honey mead sounds like it would go hard

[fierce star]

so my carrion bee lunar is a (former?) immaculate exorcist who followed the Intou heresy from the former Intou Shogunate area

(the former is because she's anathema now, but like. She still takes ocmfort in her faith, even if she has found out it's a lie)

[marsh garden]

incredible

is it a lie? look at your buddies, they're all huge dickheads

[fierce star]

she is a necromancer and white reaper stylist who believes in bringing comfort to the living and peace to the dead once it is their time.

also the ghost of her great-great-great-great aunt sticks around to give her ghostly advice and drink all her grave wine.

I had fun with her intimacies lmao

[bleak hazel]

I can't remember whether this was actual 2e canon or just a common fan interpretation that I found extremely funny, but under at least one interpretation of how X-blooded used to work if they cultivated their essence up to E4 they'd transcend into an example of the type - so a demonblooded would become a custom 1CD, a god-blooded a low to medium strength god, a Faeblood a wyld thing.

Ghostblooded... got sicker and sicker until they fell over dead at E4 and became ghosts. Sucks to be them.

[fierce star]

That was actual 2e canon but it didn't ALWAYS happen

[marsh garden]

transcend to Fucking Loser

incredible

[fierce star]

it was a 'the player character can make the choice rule, for NPCs it probably does though'

[marsh garden]

would be kinda rad if you could do that and it would be like

the 3e core Bizarro Hungry Ghost

that hides inside its living body

[bleak hazel]

Also an E3-4 god-blooded was still kind of nothing on actual Exalt scales, the absolute strongest might be able to fight a young deeb

[marsh garden]

except your lower soul just eats your higher soul and you become a semi-living vampire

[bleak hazel]

Honestly in 3e Enlightened Mortal Gaming might not be that bad

10xEssence motes each, learn those TMAs or be a sorceror instead

[marsh garden]

what does the T in that MA standard

[bleak hazel]

go do some fairly low end wuxia

Oh, Terrestrial

[marsh garden]

ahh

[bleak hazel]

There used to be Terrestrial Martial Arts, which were specific jobs like "assassin" or "street brawler", Celestial Martial Arts which are your animal styles or immaculate styles or all the other actually good stuff and then SMAs

[fierce star]

enlightened mortal gaming was honeslty pretty fun in ex2

enlightened mortals are one of teh things I miss most from ex2 as being, like, a noted thing that can exist

(do not speak to me of half-castes)

(vile things, never should have been written)

[bleak hazel]

The distinction was removed once they figured out a way to do cross splat charms in 3e that didn't suck and wildly swing between "this is a worse, less flavourful version of the real CMA but we need to print it anyway" and "this is cracked because it's balanced against X Splat charms but other splats can take it ".

[marsh garden]

ah right, the half-a-solars that were straight up better than deebs yes?

[bleak hazel]

There was like, shitty terrestrial earth dragon style equivalents that were just worse and really boring, and it even deebs took them because deebs could just enlighten into using CMAs

They existed almost entirely so that you could use the generic mortal enlightening rules to make your army of enlightened mortal TMA using gunzosha wearing tiger warrior astartes

[fierce star]

the ony thing I really miss about TMAs is that I had a character whow as nicknamed 'The Golden Cynis'... becuase he used both Golden Exhalation and Golden Jannissary with a firewand with a bayonet.

[bleak hazel]

I feel that's pretty easy to do these days as well, although I'd wait until Roaring Iron Style and see if that is less Core than righteous devil as a firewand MA to reflavour

although I guess GE was basically shitty terrestrial righteous devil anyway

[marsh garden]

i thought righteous devil was pretty good?

[bleak hazel]

It's up there with Bear/Thousand Blades/Single Point

[marsh garden]

ah, too good, i see

[bleak hazel]

If Single Point Form didn't do deeply immoral things to the action economy Righteous Devil would almost certainly be stronger

[fierce star]

GE was a little 'terrestiral righteous devil' but it has some unique quirks of it's own as I remember, though I don't remember waht they were

[marsh garden]

wild

[fierce star]

it was one of the better 'terrestrial version of a cma' styles

[bleak hazel]

It's not really that RD has anything that insane design wise, it just has huge numbers on every charm because they hadn't quite calibrated things yet

[marsh garden]

ah

[bleak hazel]

Check that aoe charm out

and the one that straight up ignores all soak (actually that's based, honestly)

[marsh garden]

i think core should be burned, why does it keep fucking ordering e2 charms behind e3 charms

[fierce star]

but yeah, The Golden Cynis was a fun character I had in ex2. If I did him in ex3 he'd kind of need a new epithet I think. I mean, it still kind of works, golden janissary being there, but

[marsh garden]

oh, dancing devil trigger finger, i see

that just applies full init to everyone

okay

[fierce star]

... fuck

[marsh garden]

extremely normal button

[fierce star]

his mom would just use milf venusaur gijinka art if I used her now.

[marsh garden]

LMAO

[buoyant summit]

One of the players in potential Alchgame made a jetpack joke

Do

[buoyant summit]

Do Alchs get a jetpack?

[bleak hazel]

It kind of sucks that RD is so strong because it is just drippy as hell

[marsh garden]

i think one of their dex charms is something like that?

one of their mid-essence mobility tools

[bleak hazel]

"dancing devil trigger finger" is up there with "steel and smoke mandala" as cool names for gun charms

[prisma sun]

Are there rogue Alchemicals?

[marsh garden]

yes, apostates

not all apostates are blight-huffing gremlinmaxxers

[bleak hazel]

Maybe I should write a righteous devil rebalance that ensmallens a few numbers and makes some of the terrestrial tags hurt less

[marsh garden]

they're just all named as heretics

and i'm sure there are like, one or two tunnelfolk defectors

[fierce star]

A lot of them end up that way but it's because alchemicals ultimately need a support structure, and what the octet won't offer them...

not all do, of course

but when you're designed to be part of osmething bigger and the good guys don't feel so good anymore

I do like that the previous edition's iconic soulsteel is a hair's bredth away from going apostate and joining the one tier movement

because he's fallen in love with his mark

[buoyant summit]

Our Adamant is possibly a One-Tierist

[marsh garden]

oh boy

[buoyant summit]

Mostly because their Orichalc, their friend, possibly subject of romantic affection, this paragon of virtue, literally built to be so

Failed

What does that say about the caste system meant to support these apparently fallible paragons?

[feral cipher]

having fun prodding at The Grave tonight
I like having fucked up awful guys with reasons why they're Like That

[coral wraith]

Hevy is using RD in GM's PbP, that'd be welcome probably

[wise ocean]

realized the Incredible Power of RD while properly statting out the E3 version of my sniper deeb, now the awareness will never leave me

psychically poisonous knowledge

[tulip folio]

There's a girl in Legend of Korra

[limpid badge]

im trying to write an intimacy for Arablissa i have no idea how to phrase her beautiful princess disorder

[wise ocean]

yeah man the uh. the e3 deeb just one-shot you from Range Yes. why? uhhhh. 30 damage withering ginore soak

[feral cipher]

lmao

[fierce star]

immediatley did a googling and oooh that fitsperfectually actually

[limpid badge]

im workin at it

[fierce star]

i had somehow forgotten about her, but it's been awhile since i watched loK

[marsh garden]

oh i dig ming-hua

that's a cool setup

[limpid badge]

what i have rn is desperate clinging but that doesn't sound clear

[prisma sun]

"I am. The rightful heir. No matter what anyone says."

[feral cipher]

Nobody will ever leave me again

[limpid badge]

Hrmmnnnnn i have to figure outttttt

[marsh garden]

insecure dependency?

[limpid badge]

oh yeah. that works

[bleak hazel]

I'm not going to lie I am slightly motivated to do this by the fact eight has "primary combatant unarmed fire dragon stylist" and frankly even if I give her artifact fists it would be a bit mean to massively outshine that character concept with thermobaric artillery

[prisma sun]

What's RD in this context?

[marsh garden]

righteous devil

[fierce star]

Righteous Devil

[marsh garden]

the gun MA style

[prisma sun]

Ah

[wise ocean]

to be fair we are unlikely to hit E3 for the next two years or so

[prisma sun]

I was thinking Resplendent Destiny

[fierce star]

an RD who uses RD to RD his RD

[marsh garden]

those also have incredible power!

but usually not in combat

[limpid badge]

hehehe okay hiiii arbyintimacies

[wise ocean]

and righteous devil just really fucking sucks for deebs until you can get water dragon form online
which, realistically, e3

[fierce star]

good lord that's a soggy infernal

[bleak hazel]

Yeah there's a lot of terrestrial

Main goal would be to smooth out the curve a bit

[marsh garden]

SOPPING wet skrunklo

[bleak hazel]

less big bignumber, less insanely harsh terrestrial tags

[fierce star]

honestly I don't think Terrestrial should be a tag, it mostly exists from like, an emotional standpoint to make you feel bad for playing terrestiral martial artists

[prisma sun]

Del I need to bully Arby more

[fierce star]

that aren't immaculate stylists

[marsh garden]

i think terrestrial should exist as a tag but only on shit like the multiattacks

which is kind of how it is on modern styles

most of the clash/counter charms and multiattacks lose some amount of their attack efficiency

[tulip folio]

Does this make sense to people? I'm working on a second circle machine spirit:

Panzer Hive: Abeille generally goes into combat docked with her Panzer Hive, a large external mobile factory submodule. The Panzer Hive is treated as a mount that does not roll its own initiative and grants her access to traits and charms with the 'Hive' tag. She can mount or dismount the Panzer Hive as a simple action while she's within arm's reach of it. While she is not mounted with the Panzer Hive, it can be damaged to prevent her use of it until it is repaired, though it would require a difficulty 14 feat of demolition that requires a minimum strength of 7.

[bleak hazel]

Yeah it's important to have mechanically because otherwise every deeb uses Snake or what have you and every native Deeb combat tree lies down and cries

[prisma sun]

Core Terrestial just feels mean-spirited

[fierce star]

makes sense to me, iki

[marsh garden]

situation normal

[fierce star]

SNCFU

[prisma sun]

god

[fierce star]

situation normal core fucked up

[prisma sun]

i need to get back into the server

i need to write anything

[fierce star]

(pronounced 'snack-fu')

[prisma sun]

i've been so fucking exhausted lately

[marsh garden]

oh i was responding to iki with the situation normal

but yeah core fucked up too

[fierce star]

oh

lol

[feral cipher]

seems normal

[tulip folio]

Trying to make people remember the 'Unhorse' gambit exists one character and charm at a time. XD

[limpid badge]

look. she's fine actually. her charmset is not effecting her.

[feral cipher]

uh oh!

[coral wraith]

we miss you

[marsh garden]

hm

gamers

i request assistance

stumped on evocation ideas

[prisma sun]

between moving, work being abnormally hellish, and breaking up with my partner my energy is just gone and I'm feeling the executive dysfunction set in

I should probably get back on magnesium

[limpid badge]

Uh oh!!!

[prisma sun]

Also I realized I can now use the art I just got for my Season of Ghosts character for an Abyssal Whenever I Want

Be hilarious and say this is him Pre-Exaltation

[coral wraith]

tis the season

[tulip folio]

I'm having fun tinkering with an Infernal who has both strength 1 and also is Strength 7 for the purpose of Feats of Strength. Surprisingly: She does not have mind-hand manipulation.

[limpid badge]

well there you go.

[tulip folio]

She's this noodle armed mage who occasionally ponders objects for a minute and then Gmod physics exploits them into the sky.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/1p91gxz/ya_gotta_love_the_sound_of_sauce_engine_physics/ The sound of an infernal making pattern spiders cry.

[prisma sun]

I will do a post tomorrow in the server asking what people would need to get the server reenergized

I think more mini STs are needed

[wise ocean]

this is potentially wise

atm though I honestly think it's just missing people who are Nevertheless Plot-Critical

[prisma sun]

Yeah I am gonna ping speaker

I know people have been waiting for him

[bleak hazel]

My usual Lancer game tomorrow has been cancelled so I'll start running the first Crimsonquest in that time slot

Once that's underway I can spin something up for Drifts to show off against in parallel and then maybe see if I can write something for the deebs or infernals who haven't had much action yet

Tomorrow? Today? Twelve hours from now

[wise ocean]

iirc deebs just have to actually ping everyone together and drag them into a thread

with voy

I have Plans for Iosefine infernals-wise but I don't feel it makes logical sense for her to turn up day 2, so that's a day 3 thing

[marsh garden]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEBRP6qLzAEi3X7pQdXlm_9ein-VqWwG1qDKMpQ9T74/edit

missing one evocation

trying to figure out what should slot in there

having trouble, would appreciate help

it's the remnant dregs of one of the underworld's many failed suns, and super salty about it

[bleak hazel]

You should give it to the brown dwarf tsundere 2CD and see what she makes of it

[marsh garden]

who's that one?

[bleak hazel]

One of the fanmade ones I usually use to illustrate how subsouls work because while they are all a very funny bit (Generic isekai protag 3cd and his seven anime girl subsouls of different types) they are also very illustrative demons

Jokes aside I quite like this artifact, that crippling capstone is fun

I might go for some kind of read intentions booster in the vein of "false sun illuminates your hopes so it can set them on fire"

[coral wraith]

I do think we should have the start of Infernal incursions at day 2, like preliminary stuff

Just to get people on the board

[prisma sun]

Yeah

Just full send it

[marsh garden]

thank you

RI booster is a good suggestion, thanks there as well

[tulip folio]

Intimacies
Defining Principle: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Defining Principle: Perfection is a Lie. There is always room for optimization.

Major Principle: There is no such thing as cheating in war, only victory and defeat.
Major Tie: Debok Moom (Filial Piety)
Major Principle: The Octet draw too wide a net with their definition of Voidbringers, Necromancy would be a valuable tool for Autocthonia.
Major Tie: Tamarak Met (Sadness)

Minor Tie: Music and Art (Fascination)
Minor Tie: Mortals (Protectiveness)
Minor Tie: Individual Heroism (Bemused Disregard)

How's this look for a Divine Subminister's intimacies?

[merry arch]

yeah that's cute, and I think it would work for Reveler. I don't necessarily think they'll drop dead, per se, but they more death essence they cultivate the more ill and sickly they become lmao. let's hope the doctors can help treat them

[bleak hazel]

it was always irrelevant to Exalts anyway, the Exalt essence curve is very different to the spirit(blooded) one

although Abyssals have always had this thing where they either get more pretty or more horrific as they scale up

some people use "Celestial Exalt essence is roughly comparable to Spirit Essence x2" but I find that falls apart at the low end because a starting Exalt is going to eat blood apes and similar for dinner

it's a roughly correct curve from about E3 upwards, at least

[tulip folio]

God that abyssal thing was hell when I played for the first time in 2e.

As A) I didn't know about it B) I made a disguise specialist who'd taken a merit that required her to have exactly two appearance.

[fierce star]

gotta love jank

[fierce star]

also Abeille's stuff looks cool, iki. Gotta jump her while she's not riding the hive or you're gonna get swarmed, I like it

[tulip folio]

Not sure super sure how she compares to Second Circle Demons like the Player of Games but I'm liking the areas I'm going in with her.

Wood Dragon Secret Technique: So that's what the string is for!
Cost: —; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Wood Dragon Form
Sidereals spent hundreds of years developing a martial art for using bows as staffs. Then a Dynast asked if he could still shoot the bow, upending all previous understanding of the style.

Wood Dragon becomes compatible with bows, as bows. With Ranged Attacks and everything. Amazing.

New Secret Technique homebrew.

[fierce star]

pft

[tulip folio]

adds fluff

[velvet raft]

I’d add: “this technique is learned for free” XD

And lower its requirements to 0 and 0

[fierce star]

I still dont' get what the reasoning behind not being able to use a bow as a bow in wood dragon is

[tulip folio]

Because Fuck You

[merry arch]

shooting a guy with The Arrow That Heals You fuckin rules

missed opportunity

[marsh garden]

Rotting Sun Inquisition
Cost: 8m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: (Essence - 1) days
Prerequisites: Gutter-Star's Despair
No flavor text yet.
The wielder makes a read intentions roll against a character with a hopeful Intimacy, with his weakest hopeful Intimacy penalizing Guile as if it were his Resolve. On a success, all of his Intimacies are set ablaze, leaking as fire-tears, dripping from his nose with sickly green blood, or glowing as an emerald furnace whenever he opens his mouth. All of his Intimacies become plainly obvious for anyone to see, although he can protect his Defining non-hopeful Intimacies by spending one Willpower to resist. The victim can temporarily suppress this effect by plugging his nose, holding in his tears, and covering his mouth, but he suffers dice of Aggravated damage each minute he does this equal to (his strongest hopeful Intimacy - 1).

not sure i have it all ironed out, but

i think i'm happy with this as the last evocation for the rotting sun?

[bleak hazel]

a) targeting condition is a bit odd, does it just arbitrarily fizzle if you use it and they don't have any valid intimacies?

b) this seems a bit much, "reveal all intimacies" is an exceptionally powerful effect, I would at least restrict it to Hopeful only

[marsh garden]

they can't have no valid intimacies

part of the attunement benefit is knowing when someone has at least one

not how

or how strong

just "yeah this person Has One"

gotcha, i can do that

[bleak hazel]

there really aren't many multi-read-intentions charms out there

at least not ones that apply to the same target

this is probably still way too big, especially since it's going to land damn near all the time since they have at least some kind of standing guile penalty, but I'm not sure what to template off

[marsh garden]

does that mean that it's underexplored or that there shouldn't be?

[wise ocean]

shouldn't be

[bleak hazel]

damned if I know, I think either way it's going to be exceptionally highly priced

I might just go for something smaller in general, like "whenever you land a RI, use this to do Obvious glowy stuff and discover their most relevant hopeful intimacy to the current conversation" so you can get two

[marsh garden]

gotcha

[bleak hazel]

there are almost certainly better RI charms out there but I honestly don't go hunting for them very often

not because of any grand strategy or anything, just not usually my department

these two may be more what you're looking for

[marsh garden]

hmm

[buoyant summit]

"Hmmmm we should use Necromancy" is a fuckin hilarious subminister intimacy

[tulip folio]

What could possibly go wrong? XD

[wise ocean]

mmmm delicious corpse-thralls for the Devouring of War

[buoyant summit]

It's going to be so fucking funny how despite having Dex 1 our Adamant is going to be our Circle's best acrobat

[tulip folio]

I hope these charms look interesting for a Second Circle Machine Spirit? The intent is that she's basicly constantly burning Hive Drones if she wants them to be running at full power.

And you can knock her on her ass and disable her ability to restock hive drones if you unhorse her

[wise ocean]

Looks solid, yeah

... can you actually unhorse gambit Legendary Size without a charm

[marsh garden]

by raw, yes

[merry arch]

[marsh garden]

LS just cares about onslaught, being crashed, and decisive damage

your smashing attack can topple as many cows as you want

you can unhorse a giant from his elephant

grappling not working on LS characters is a specific clause of grapples, not of LS

[tulip folio]

Also: Yes, she's strength 3 with legendary size. She's basicly a human-sized body on a small building with the hive connected. XD

[buoyant summit]

We have hit upon the fact our Adamant is gonna be star themed, despite not being Starmetal

Gravity and light, bitches

Bioluminescent Starman lifts a building and throws it at you with their mind

oh god damn it we made a glowy robot jedi

[merry arch]

lol, lmao

[wise ocean]

surprising nobody

[buoyant summit]

Hey

Rude

[merry arch]

im tryin to decide if I give my soggy little dusk flesh and bone winds or a blood necromancy reskin of isob

[buoyant summit]

XD

[merry arch]

isob is obviously the better choice but flesh and bone winds is cute

[marsh garden]

is this for control?

[wise ocean]

they're abyssal melee so you might as well isob, no armor compatibility to be concerned with - okay true

[merry arch]

yes

[marsh garden]

if it's control my vote is totally flesh and bone winds

make them Weird About Gore

[merry arch]

yeah that's kinda where my head's at

[marsh garden]

instead of just weird about violence

it is also just a pretty good-looking spell, although all i have is misc's word that it's actually good in practice lmao

[prisma sun]

Give them the skeleton attack

[wise ocean]

it is indeed pretty good but requires some very specific targets

[marsh garden]

The Grisper

[merry arch]

it's light cover in close range + a one-time environmental hazard so it's pretty solid for a melee monster

[marsh garden]

bone puppet dance looks very funny

[wise ocean]

it's why my necrosid doesn't have it even at e5 because he doesn't intend to attack The Living

[fierce star]

Blessed dead fools is I think my favorite shadow circle spell even if it's super niche

[marsh garden]

not one-time!

a one-time environmental hazard every time you're attacked

[marsh garden]

(Blessed Dead Fools is ivory)

[merry arch]

ah fair enough

[marsh garden]

also wait what do you mean

are you thinking of Flesh-Sloughing Wave?

Flesh and Bone Winds doesn't care about life or death

[fierce star]

Right Shadow isn't lowest anymore.

[marsh garden]

except in that killing automatons is inconvenient, because those don't leave "corpses" to scale off of

[wise ocean]

wait which one is flesh and bone

[marsh garden]

Flesh and Bone Winds creates...flesh and bone wind

which gives you cover and shreds people that attack you

as a scenelong

[fierce star]

Used to Shadow lands/labyrinth/void, iron/etc

[wise ocean]

ah. neat

[marsh garden]

it gets bigger and gives you better cover and higher damage/difficulty on the hazard when it zuccs corpses

the control benefit doesn't seem amazing outside of pitched battles

[merry arch]

I think they'll pick up blood necro reskin of isob as my 2nd spell then

[marsh garden]

since it just turns gore into light cover trenches

[bleak hazel]

OK, I too get some 2e things mixed up sometimes but in this particular case it's been ten years

[marsh garden]

but the control effect lets you just

turn meat into bullshit

and you become a freak about viscera

[bleak hazel]

flesh and bone winds is a fine scenelong defensive buff to the whole squad, even ignoring the meat trench effect it's basically "cast for Battlesid anima power"

and then if you're fighting BGs it ramps up to a genuinely mean envirohazard

[marsh garden]

i imagine it also gets uh

really really good if you have raise the rotting horde

and can just bring your own size 1 booster pack to instantly turn it into heavy cover and +1 d/d

[bleak hazel]

I suppose zombies are corpses

[marsh garden]

oh, no

i was thinking of just like

dropping conc?

since Raise the Rotting Horde is indefinite duration

not instant

or sorry, skeletal horde

rotting is the pre-abyssals version in adversaries

rotting sounds better imo tho

so you have your size 1 of zombies and then just

[bleak hazel]

oh yeah you can do that, which I suppose is a reasonable use of such a mediocre battlegroup in many cases

[wise ocean]

need to be zombies, bonesiders don't have flesh (see distortion)

[marsh garden]

drop the spell, collapsing them

skeletal horde, despite its name, does not create a skeletal horde

it makes zombies

bone puppet dance is what lets you make bonesiders

[prisma sun]

Well zombies can be skeleTAL they just arent skeleTONS

Checkmate liberals

[merry arch]

yeah im not gonna be dipping extremely heavily into necromancy for this character mostly cos melee monster tings. in my head they like necromancy cos they studied the occult a lot before becoming an abyssal and now they're having caste dysphoria /hj

[marsh garden]

Rotting Sun Inquisition
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: (Essence - 1) days
Prerequisites: Gutter-Star's Despair
No flavor text yet.
The wielder makes a read intentions roll against a character with a hopeful Intimacy, with his weakest hopeful Intimacy penalizing Guile as if it were his Resolve. On a success, the penalizing Intimacy is set ablaze, plus an additional hopeful Intimacy for every three extra successes. All of his burning Intimacies become plainly obvious for anyone to see, leaking from his eyes as fire-tears, dripping from his nose with pale green blood, or glowing as a pyreflame furnace whenever he opens his mouth. The victim can temporarily suppress this effect by plugging his nose, holding in his tears, and covering his mouth, but he suffers (strongest hopeful Intimacy - 1) dice of Aggravated damage the first time each scene he does.
okay, adjusted, is this still too much or is it fine now?

[merry arch]

i wish i was a daybreak... fuck my stupid chud life...

[marsh garden]

at "just the penalizing intimacy plus maybe some more hopefuls"

and also wp now

[prisma sun]

The agg damage seems a bit much at e2

[marsh garden]

picking up shadow isn't gonna be much of an issue as a solaroid, so you could leave it as those two and then pick up shadow circle for Hundred Shade Breath

or Mortification of the Hallowed Self

[bleak hazel]

I would simply change "minute" to "scene" there because asking the GM to carefully assess how many minutes you've been talking in a social scene is a real bitch

[marsh garden]

which doesn't have to be combat-cast

ah fair

[marsh garden]

hm, because it's agg or because of the die count?

because my understanding is that agg is like...exotic and locked to Magic Charms but not super expensive, broadly speaking

[prisma sun]

A bit of both

Though is it soakable by armor?

It doesnt seem to bypass hardness

[marsh garden]

uhhh, it should ignore hardness, good catch

[prisma sun]

Then yeah, I think its a bit of both

[marsh garden]

mm, but you don't have to tank the damage

it's just if you hide your probably two-ish intimacies

[prisma sun]

Though I also think the language is a bit weird in that like

Does everyone somehow divine what the intimacies ARE by the radioactive snot?

That's kinda what the text implies

[merry arch]

yea that's likely the plan. im sure someone in the party can teach them a little bit of War and then it'll make them even scarier. cute.

evil nightmare puppet turns into a massive blender of bones and guts

[marsh garden]

yeah, the intent is that your soul is leaking out of your brains in Gross Stuff form

like...you know when someone's cooking with cinammon or onion, or smoking meat, or making soup

it's the same here, except emotions instead of ingredients

Rotting Sun Inquisition
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: (Essence - 1) days
Prerequisites: Gutter-Star's Despair
No flavor text yet.
The wielder makes a read intentions roll against a character with a hopeful Intimacy, with his weakest hopeful Intimacy penalizing Guile as if it were his Resolve. On a success, the penalizing Intimacy is set ablaze, which spreads to an additional Intimacy for every three extra successes. The fire can only spread to Intimacies that are hopeful or related to the penalizing Intimacy. All of the victim's burning Intimacies become plainly obvious for anyone to see, as the emotions leak from his eyes as fire-tears, drip from his nose as pale green blood, or pour from his mouth as pyreflame smog. The victim can temporarily suppress this effect by plugging his nose, holding in his tears, and covering his mouth, but he suffers (strongest burning Intimacy - 1) dice of Aggravated damage, ignoring Hardness, the first time each scene he does so.

Reset: Once per scene.
is this description more clear? and wondering about the damage as well, since voy's expressed concern

[fierce star]

Don't ask how long it took me to stop asking for thac0

[prisma sun]

Seems good

[marsh garden]

cool cool

[tulip folio]

Peruse the Script
Cost: 5m (+5m 1wp); Mins: Perception 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
No matter what tongue they speak, the storyteller always knows what each character says. Stepping aside from reality slightly, the wanderer peers into creation's script and examines the truth under the meaningless noise of language.

The Wanderer chooses a character within long range. All sounds made by that character become text for the Wanderer in any language of her choice. She ignore penalties on read intentions against him for due to not sharing a common language, not being able to hear him, or otherwise failing to comprehend his speech. She can understand him, no matter which language he speaks. Non-word sounds become Onomatopoeia to her eyes and hard to hear sounds are likewise hard to see.

With Essence 4, the Wanderer can pay a five mote, one willpower surcharge to affect all characters in range.

Keys:

Dramatis Persona: In addition to sounds made, the name of the character making them is also revealed. Characters in disguises supported by magic instead show the name of the character they are disguised as, though mundane disguises provide no such protection.

Scenography and Stage Directions(Perception 5): In addition to sounds, communication through visual methods such as written words or sign language is also translated. The charm can affect objects as well as characters, allowing translation of documents from one language to another.

Painting the Medium(Perception 4, Essence 2): The text becomes able to be seen by all characters, not merely herself. This grants other characters the benefits of the charm against him or allows the wanderer to target herself, translating her words into text in the language of her choice.

Wanderer Perception charm. Translation stuff!

[marsh garden]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEBRP6qLzAEi3X7pQdXlm_9ein-VqWwG1qDKMpQ9T74/edit

okay

think it's done

would appreciate any quick scans through

but i haven't really changed much other than adding resonant/dissonant effects

[fierce star]

holy shit that's brilliant

[fierce star]

Jesus christ how horrifying. Nothing seems imbalanced to me on the first read but maybe it's just how I interpret things, but dealing aggravated damage to hopeful character does seem very powerful, given that's gonna be damn near every character that has intimacies.

[marsh garden]

i stole the general "yeah agg is gucci as long as your magic weapon is enough of a shitbag" go-ahead from Zelator

whose benefit is "i deal agg damage to all sorcerers, spirits, constructs, and sorcerous creations forever"

"also when i hit a sorc she loses 3 smotes"

i hope it looks like a fun horrifying nightmare-deeb-villain weapon, at least

[fierce star]

yes

also yeah th epower of that does kind of depend on how much of a nihilist your ST is I usppose

[tulip folio]

Glad you like it. Wanderer Perception right now is a really underused area.

...also pondering wanderer Base Tricks. Pondering an effect that's less 'combat useful' and more 'narratively useful'.

Rewrite The Story: The wyld-born power of wanderers flows along narrative lines, rather than that or physical laws. This allows the Wanderer to make dramatic edits to a scene she is part of reflexively, representing her taking the storyteller's pen and rewriting part of her own tale. Examples include winning a fair game of chance, discovering that the princess of a nation looks similar enough to her to be a plausible disguise, a helpful character arriving, or finding a hidden passageway while fleeing pursuers. The Storyteller can veto dramatic edits that would be narratively unsatisfying, stretch credulity or feel out of place but should propose a narrower version of that edit that still provides a significant advantage.

Rewriting the story costs 1 willpower, plus 1 limit for each time it has been used this story, including this use.

They don't have much in the way of base tricks so I was pondering giving them something ala Blades In The Dark Flashbacks as their built in thing.

[fierce star]

really just go ham on the meta, huh? I like it

[tulip folio]

Also ties into their limit. Which is a much more abyssal-like limit

Where the harder you push at the story, the more it pushes back

So if you keep Fucking Up The Story, eventually the story grabs you by the throat and tells you it's time for your Suffering Arc.

[fierce star]

I love suffering arcs :D

[tulip folio]

The idea is that it's less 'blight the world' and more 'improbable, dramatically inconvenient events'.

One of the basic 'this could vent it' things is:

Luck of Obrien: A bad event that is randomly chosen (A member of a crowd chosen for sacrifice, a pickpocket's target, a black claw stylist's latest fling) has the Wanderer automatically chosen.

[fierce star]

some of my favorite episodes of DS9, those

[tulip folio]

(I'm glad you realized what it was XD)

[tulip folio]

Orbien's Curse are manifestations of creation's narrative turning against the Wanderer. She has pushed the story too far in her favour and it is correcting itself through acts of improbable bad luck or unfortunate circumstances. 

Unlike unveilings, there are no trivial examples of Obrien's curse, as each is a significant twist against the Wanderer's interests.

Major manifestations of Obrien's curse have a scope capable of affecting a large town or a significant portion of a city. It can inflict meaningful harm or trouble comparable to what mundane dangers might cause. They last one session unless otherwise specified. Examples include:
-Circumstances give the wanderer an unfortunate reputation among the general area (A skinflint, a philanderer or other reputation that is negative but not legally enforceable or likely to cause direct violence). This reputation is treated as a minor negative tie among characters who do not already have an intimacy related to the wanderer.
-A personally important mundane object, such as a coin purse or travel papers, is misplaced.
-A failed roll this session becomes a botch.

Defining manifestations of Obrien's curse can affect small cities or much of a large city, potentially inflicting supernatural perils. They last one session unless otherwise specified.
-Circumstances give the wanderer a horrible reputation among the general area (A murderer, a traitor etc). This reputation often has legally enforceable consequences and is treated as a major negative tie among characters who do not already have an intimacy related to the wanderer.
-A horrible event that is randomly chosen (A member of a crowd chosen for sacrifice, a black claw stylist's latest fascination) has the Wanderer become the target.
-An important object, including magical objects, is misplaced and must be located.
-The stars align, revealing a time of mystical danger for (Wanderer's Essence) days.

[fierce star]

oooh

[bleak hazel]

sitting around skimming the old 2e Sapphire Veil and I think the capstone maps quite well to that one Alch capstone

I desire Transfinite Ultraviolence Ribbons, gimme

[wise ocean]

huh, I guess that's a wording issue they should catch

OPC submodule does nothing but cost 5m as written

[bleak hazel]

yeah I am pretty sure intended structure is "makes decisives only at base, run up the submodule tree to unlock witherings and remove Perilous"

which makes sense because reflexive wither/withering clash is way better than the decisive alternative

(also hey, we found another withering clash)

[wise ocean]

yep, makes sense

[marsh garden]

OHHHH, THAT'S WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO

I KEPT FUCKING LOOKING AND TRYING TO FIGURE OUT

[bleak hazel]

yeah draft manuscript is draft

[marsh garden]

but withering being a flub on the base makes sense

[bleak hazel]

I know I've left similar mistakes in stuff while generally shuffling designs around

[marsh garden]

or maybe it's supposed to be like

withering or dec, but the first submod should only allow dec clashes

either way, i understand its intent now

...broadly

[velvet raft]

My favorite draft error is Unyielding Devil Will’s duration

[marsh garden]

oh?

is it a near-infinite duration or like

instant so it never falls off? or instant so it falls off immediately and never works

[velvet raft]

It’s got a listed duration of permanent

And has a cost

Is it supposed to be indefinite? One scene? Permanent without a cost? Nobody knows!

(Probably one scene, going by the strength of its effect)

[wise ocean]

it simply commits the motes forever and you can never turn it off

[velvet raft]

You have to get a PAOC stylist to dispel it for you

XD

[bleak hazel]

it's probably easier to find a water deeb to chuck a bucket of water over your head

very useful charm that one

[marsh garden]

hmm

two artifacts i'm kinda struggling with mechanics for, and would appreciate some direction on a place to steal from to start

blue jade grimcleaver mined from extremely high up the imperial mountain, i want it to play with the extraordinarily thin but pure air of a mountaintop and the journey of the climb

and then...i'm undecided on a gauntlet, shield, or bow, but one of those made from an Elden Ring Azur/Lusat figure sidereal sorcerer's starmetal bones

i know i want it to be a sorcerous relic, so probably not a weapon, actually

[wise ocean]

big ol' sorcerer staff
alternatively: you can do what I did for necrosid and it's "legally this is a staff" (actually it's a spear)

[marsh garden]

nah, i don't want it to be a weapon, so i think bow and shield are out

[wise ocean]

fair

[marsh garden]

would you be more interested in it as a gauntlet, a prayer wheel, or a wind chime?

just immediate thought

[bleak hazel]

Bone circlet with hearthstone slot

Sids love stuff that covers the forehead because of how their caste marks work

[marsh garden]

naw, i don't want headgear

want it to be a non-weapon thing that gets waved around when you cast

[wise ocean]

sorcery relic with bone feels a bit odd, come to think of it, but if those three are the Options then a chime with said bones

[marsh garden]

well it's starmetal, just

interestingly-sourced

[fierce star]

Fucking love me a bone chime

[marsh garden]

...i may have too many opalized artifacts

but it's a really cool process 😭

[chilly sluice]

Opalized bone you say

[marsh garden]

opalized starmetal bones, opalized wood flag, an opalized crab earth elemental

that's a summon-buddy artifact

but it's a really cool process

[marsh garden]

yeah why

[chilly sluice]

I was playing at Hearteaters a little

[marsh garden]

oh right!

forgot about that part of them

no fucking wonder i love hearteaters

their bones are opal and they haunt them when they die

shit goes crazy

oh hey sorry what the fuck

this is apparently a kosher magical ability to shove onto any animal by core's reckoning

[chilly sluice]

It's great yeah

If you touch them you get possessed and Exalt as a Hearteater

[marsh garden]

yeah, i love them!

i forgot that they opalized

and i must flagellate myself for my grievous error

[chilly sluice]

I also find it very fun they mention you could get the previous exaltation haunting you as a Mentor

[marsh garden]

IT'S PEAM

i love HEs

really want to play one

[velvet raft]

Peam

[tulip folio]

Hmm...how do you think Devil Prince + Hungry Ghost with axes would go?

As they both share axes

[wise ocean]

It's a bit finicky unless you're an Abyssal for reflexive social actions

or have some careful wordings around hungry ghost threaten creating craven intimacies for DP

[tulip folio]

Have to check if any other style can use axes. Pondering things for a Lunar martial artist.

Or just focus on hungry ghost

[prisma sun]

Well anyone can flurry an intimidate roll

[wise ocean]

Sure, but -3 on the attack and the intimidate is 😬

[merry arch]

just get more arms

[prisma sun]

That's what excellencies are for

[marsh garden]

just grab an artifact for that

it's kosher

look at emerald sunset

genuinely ridiculous

mfw

[prisma sun]

I also need to fuckin

stat Drift's gloves

[bleak hazel]

Buy the globally available presence charm that gets you free influence rolls

[tulip folio]

I should look at artifact axes. Genuinely never checked them out.

[prisma sun]

I am adding a caveat to them at least that they now count as form weapons except for styles made by enemies of Fate

so they can't be used with Cantercile, Hungry Ghost, Black Devil, RIghteous Devil, or Devil Prince

lots of devils

[marsh garden]

that's probably because there aren't any to check out

[wise ocean]

Is reflexive social action every splat? I thought that was just Abyssals and Solars

[bleak hazel]

Every celestial

[marsh garden]

there are a bunch of grand grimcleavers

[tulip folio]

I know Alchs have one

[marsh garden]

there are...not very many one-handed grimcleavers

[tulip folio]

Huh...that's odd

[marsh garden]

nope, sorry, also grand

one-handed? not a daiklave? shit yourself for the temerity

we've got uhhh