Exalted

[bleak hazel]

put it in front of you, you idiot

[buoyant summit]

As a person whose favorite character is a Shien stylist who uses that grip, it is indeed fucking painful looking at her fight sometimes

[bleak hazel]

Crane even has blaster bolt deflection as a charm, albeit not one he knows yet because it's E3

[buoyant summit]

(Ahsokaaaaaa put your fucking sword in front of you in a normal grip AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

[bleak hazel]

my favourite trick is that that works on battlegroups, allowing you to Jet Li's Hero a bunch of guys with their own arrows

[marsh garden]

what the dog doin this time?

[buoyant summit]

snrk

ADHD incoming

Someone's definitely put 'what the dog doin' over shots of Kimbley from FMA doing horrible shit

[marsh garden]

almost certainly

zolf kimbley is a fun bastard

[buoyant summit]

Kimbley would make a good Infernal tbh

[marsh garden]

...huh

brotherhood translated his name as Solf

[buoyant summit]

Or inspo for an unsatisfied part of a hypocrite Infernal's fetich soul

[marsh garden]

i didn't remember that

and i mislike it

the z stands for zing

[buoyant summit]

lol

[marsh garden]

anyway yeah bro is a rat fucker

FMA really did a number on my brain

lust's needle fingies, greed's iron claw-hands, and pride's shadow demon bullshit are like

forever seared into everything fantasy-related i think about

and as a kid i was catastrophically horny for basically all of the primary characters

[buoyant summit]

PFFFFFFFFFFFF

[velvet raft]

The tragic thing is that Dark Messiah~~ Form~~'s Wrath is actually perfect for Chains

[wise ocean]

I would say a brief Pyre vs. Graves at her defection when the 2v2 breaks out but that's the kind of thing the Sids are absolutely trying to prevent

[buoyant summit]

The Sids as a body would be, yeah

[wise ocean]

please understand that our objective is to NOT get her killed in a dramatically ironic manner

[bleak hazel]

given we have two swordmasters and one considerably less choppy abyssal we presumably want this as two 1v1s, which allows convenient sources of aura farming when everyone shows up

[wise ocean]

very reasonable

[velvet raft]

7 successes on seven diiiiice

[marsh garden]

yummers

hm, what's the highest OVW value you can possibly get?

[wise ocean]

like 20

[bleak hazel]

you can get it to an impractically high number since it's one of those buffs that isn't super tightly regulated

[marsh garden]

nah, you can get it to 21 easily with just one or two charms

i'm just wondering how reasonably you can breach 30

i guess you just go "whatever, ovw 25 + 20 post-soak" and pack it in there

not like you need any more than that

[bleak hazel]

Red Revel at max using LRE, 15, local elder purplesid, 20, Fire and Stones Strike 25, probably some other stuff

I'm not sure what the optimal +OVW martial arts build is but it's not particularly important either way

[marsh garden]

yeah fair, this ended up being easier and less interesting than i thought

red revel with tblades and vbos just...doesn't need anything else

and every splat has a "+five-ish ovw" button

unfort

[bleak hazel]

there is a slightly more interesting alternative, which is stacking raw damage for cheap

since once you get that past soak it's as good

[buoyant summit]

Red Revel is so fucking cool

[merry arch]

it is, im very excited to use it for my character in an upcoming game

[marsh garden]

it's got mad aura

[merry arch]

he's doing so bad. he died 14 days ago, his previous incarnation's wife is his sword and she's speaking in sexy, sexy murder riddles to him, the gender dysphoria has never been this bad now that past life memories are hitting, and he's fighting to not go on obsessive murder rampages for his sword every day

[merry arch]

oh also he's fucking terrified of his new reality as a dusk caste but is even more scared of dying for real. so he's trying very hard to come to fucking terms with this shit

his stutter has never been this bad because he's sooooooooooo stressed

[marsh garden]

i love him

[prisma sun]

Red Revel is the new Battles MA right?

[marsh garden]

nah

that's Crimson Panoply of Victory

[prisma sun]

Ah right

[merry arch]

no, riders of the sunless lands 5 dot arti

[marsh garden]

same name as the division

[chilly sluice]

artifact sword in Abyssal companion

[marsh garden]

https://theonyxpath.com/riders-from-the-sunless-lands-preview-2/

[prisma sun]

gotcha

what is the deal with Crimson Panoply then

[marsh garden]

there's Crimson Panoply, Red Revel, and Crimson Killing Field

[prisma sun]

And also Misc's guy

[marsh garden]

MA that would make Rival nut

its gimmick is that it uses every Battles constellation weapon

so spears, bows, gauntlets, and shields

we dunno what else that means

but we know that

probably also polearms and other like, fist weapons like katars

[velvet raft]

My entrant for fighting Ligier swings for 18 OVW + 12 post-soak damage

[marsh garden]

maybe crossbows with bows? dunno

lmfao what's your combo on that

[merry arch]

thank u i love him too. he gives me cuteness aggression and i need to slam his fucking head into a wall

[marsh garden]

i wasn't gonna say it because i try not to be too weird but yeah i want to

mission accomplished i think

[velvet raft]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S8Ehy_XiYPQbhbvbNYVmyKrUf9CcdB-EM8MEDzQ-hvs/edit?gid=666810594#gid=666810594

[marsh garden]

oh god black claw

oh holy shit that's a lot of arts

black claw centipede cc speared boar struggle with paoc

[velvet raft]

This is my best effort at a sid invinicible sword princess, so it's not exactly a realistic character

[tulip folio]

Speared Boar Black Claw: "Look at how little she can defend herself, so much sympathy!"

[buoyant summit]

Is this the guy in the... god we forget the term for the specific kind of dress with that silhouette

It's like

kinda bell shaped????

[wise ocean]

ballgown

and no, that's topple's

[buoyant summit]

FUCK

[marsh garden]

it's my son

he's also a loser dusk

so it's understandable

[merry arch]

mine is the one in the red, A Weeping Reveler Brings Blessed Ends.
@fading cypress is the artist, it's take on shoat of the mire in the foreground.

[mighty rover]

yooooo

[marsh garden]

oh shit he's kinda tall huh

also that's real good art

[velvet raft]

Head arms

[merry arch]

6'11", yes

[bleak hazel]

what is the startup for that one, just full excellency JB and then spend first turn on quadform PAOC form?

[marsh garden]

VVAOW

does val do comms usually?

i checked its linked tumblr but didn't see anything

[merry arch]

hasn't done it in a hot minute, no. unsure if doll is taking them at all anymore, it's mostly been doing personal art

[fading cypress]

hiiii

[marsh garden]

gotcha

[fading cypress]

i can do them :3

[fading cypress]

helps that shoat is 4'8

[marsh garden]

itty bitty...

[bleak hazel]

this party is very much a bunch of lanky fuckers

Crimson is like 6 foot 5 and he's still apparently short in this crowd

[prisma sun]

I made King Hu about 8 feet tall

[marsh garden]

jesus

[velvet raft]

Well. Because of The Lotus Blossoms, we can get to a 15 mote cost when reflexively activating Demesne-and-Manse Form.

[prisma sun]

His momma (an actual tiger) didn't raise no bitch

[marsh garden]

Hope's entire circle is short 😭

[velvet raft]

Which lets us reflexively activate SFS Form.

[marsh garden]

i think we've got like one person upwards of 5'6

[velvet raft]

So. We actually just instantly bonfire into PAOC form.

XD

[marsh garden]

Hope Without Kings is 4'10 and i think not even the shortest person in the group

[prisma sun]

would be fun to do a height chart of everyone's exalted characters

[wise ocean]

graves is a short king because I categorically refused to make him tall, dark, and mysterious

[marsh garden]

what's the lotus blossoms again?

[merry arch]

i think the height ranges we have listed thus far are

• Shoat (4'8")
• Arablissa (5'0")
• Crimson (6'5")
• Reveler (6'11")
• Siran (10'10")

[velvet raft]

One of the Agents secret techniques for PAOC

[marsh garden]

10'10

good lord

[merry arch]

yes

[marsh garden]

oh shit we saw secret techniques?

[bleak hazel]

Rival is about six feet tall because part of his deal is that he would be a stereotypically handsome sword cultivator type deal if not for the generational cycle of violence that has given him a bunch of Prussian dueling scars and a repeatedly broken nose

[marsh garden]

did borb tease em somewhere?

[velvet raft]

Actually I think this may be slightly toned down given we know that borb toned down Crystal Chameleon a bit

[bleak hazel]

yes, Exalted Healing heals those within a few years

he collects them again rapidly

[marsh garden]

lol

[velvet raft]

But yeah we got a teaser for the PAOC secret technique

Not us specifically

[prisma sun]

Everyone compile heights into one post

I'm makin' one

[velvet raft]

On the fancord or sufficient velocity or something

[bleak hazel]

one of the running jokes for him is that he looks like a storybook hero as long as he's staring off into the distance with his chin raised rather than like, looking closely at you

Cha 5

[marsh garden]

oh yeah it was a very generic we

i am currently polling my goobers for heights

[wise ocean]

it always amuses me when graves is squaring off with someone taller than him and the sheer presence and ego make you feel like you're being looked down on anyway

[marsh garden]

i don't know of any of them are online

[velvet raft]

Here it was

[bleak hazel]

also when his anima flares to max his vibe becomes a lot older

he doesn't actually change appearance but the lighting somehow just seems to highlight all the scars and give him that thousand yard stare expression

[velvet raft]

The funny thing is that Lotus Blossoms does not actually do tons for us

[bleak hazel]

which is funny because he's having a blast

he exalted at 14, which I imagine made him look like the poor kid from Come and See until he aged a bit

[prisma sun]

https://i.imgur.com/PkAoZbk.png

This is my line up

[wise ocean]

creature Exactly average

[prisma sun]

Creature needs to be average to short in order to recreate that one Goku/Freiza pose

Goku what the FUCK is your neck

[marsh garden]

necc

[prisma sun]

Waking Smith is on the shorter side because of severe malnutrition

and Red Rivers Rapid is just tiny

[velvet raft]

Hao-Guntur is 160 cm, Red Evening Sky is 170 cm, Here With The Chains is 190 cm

[marsh garden]

damn, none of my screatures are online and only one has her height listed

[velvet raft]

So, 5'2", 5'6", and 6'2"

[bleak hazel]

Four Seasons Rival is 6', Crimson Rain Augurs Fell Tidings is 6' 5" but extremely lanky, Tepet Telek is 5' 9", Sesus Marano is 5' 6"

(Marano is my fraudster deeb who sold his soul to a pair of twin fae gangsters for power)

[wise ocean]

Hungering Maw of the Waiting Grave is 5'3", Benediction of Torchlight Law is something suitably but malleably in the 6' range (let's say 6'2"), Crystal Facets Illuminate Future Paths is a lanky fuck who looks like the spectre of death so we'll say 6' flat and reedy with it

[bleak hazel]

I did not realise Graves was quite that short, that's going to be fun considering Rival has a considerably more acrobatic fighting style than he does

the reverse yoda

[wise ocean]

yeah, I figured "average height in mainland Asia at the time period then correct for malnutrition and chop off an inch or two"

[prisma sun]

https://i.imgur.com/GrW7V6D.png

[coral wraith]

Grinning Mask is 6'3" and rail thin

[marsh garden]

lmao

King Hu

and then

[bleak hazel]

Rival's extremely friendly and charming deal is coupled with him being an absolute blender who loves fighting and filial piety is basically me rotating this extremely on-the-nose political cartoon in my head because I like to think that Mars, in his case, was not selecting for anything but someone who would be willing to keep swinging a sword for five thousand years straight

[prisma sun]

King Hu

[marsh garden]

『ᴋɪɴɢ ʜᴜ』

[prisma sun]

Oh

The site bugged out and deleted all my progress

[bleak hazel]

like, you get used to him and you start thinking he's a nice friendly flirty boy, which he is, and then you see him at work and you start realising something is a bit wrong with this guy

[prisma sun]

so uh that's the final chart I guess

[buoyant summit]

I think in Fel's case Mars was selecting for a competitor

[bleak hazel]

also Rival, completely accidentally, is a total stereotype of a Dynastic househusband, which is really funny considering he's not even of Blessed Isle extraction

[wise ocean]

the geta do put him up there, though. man's walking around in stilts like it's sneakers.

[buoyant summit]

And then had the (mis?)fortune to pick someone who also had overriding Sword Autism

As part of her competitive streak, see

[coral wraith]

GM secretly loves the dichotomy because they're an overanalyzing freak and loves working out what makes Rival tick

[bleak hazel]

there's a reason I put Nanami on his inspirations list and it's not just because he's blonde

man who would absolutely be doing the Numbers And Locations scene and enjoying it

(and then goes back to making little silver trinkets and gifting them to his five newest friends)

[prisma sun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feNxXkHdZJ4

[bleak hazel]

his latest scene in his regular campaign was him diving into a camp, hacking off a guy's head and then flying off with it in bird form while laughing very loudly

we do a little trolling

[buoyant summit]

You say this then wonder why he scares me as much as Chains does

[coral wraith]

It was awesome

I could have killed those two with shurikens but

Why dirty my hands?

[bleak hazel]

he's a heroic hero boy, it's just that he was raised by and was totally devoted to a cross between Saw Gerrera, Belisarius Cawl and Archer from Fate

[buoyant summit]

I think my brain reset reading that

[marsh garden]

i don't know saw gerrera

[bleak hazel]

I needed an adequate number of fucked up old men with a dash of insurgent vibes

[marsh garden]

google tells me a SW character

apparently TCW?

but i don't remember him

[bleak hazel]

Gleam of Vanished Embers was the House of Battles' premier guerilla fighter and as such was very heavy on the war charms and the presence charms that invoke fear

[buoyant summit]

topple have you seen Rogue One?

[marsh garden]

i have

[velvet raft]

Here With The Chains is 190 cm, fwiw

[marsh garden]

was he in that?

[buoyant summit]

He's the old rebel Jyn talks to before he unplugs his own oxygen while the planet they're on gets Death Star'ed

[marsh garden]

OH

oh shit

[prisma sun]

There's no correcting it so they've been hit with a big mallet and shrunk I'm sorry

[velvet raft]

Oh nooooooo

[buoyant summit]

In TCW he's an Onderonian rebel against Separatist rule the Republic trains in secret as part of a rebel cell

This Is A Metaphor For the Muja- is taken away in a black van

[bleak hazel]

E5 Rival as he's getting the shit kicked out of him by Ligier

[prisma sun]

Don't worry he won't have to worry about that because Ligier will be dead by Creature's Hand

[marsh garden]

oh yeah, how long did it take rival to beat ligier in that duel?

it was like

over a dozen rounds right

[bleak hazel]

don't know never finished it

[marsh garden]

ahh

[bleak hazel]

it was ten rounds before one of them landed a solid punch

the Paranoia Combat Phase

[prisma sun]

lmao

I did a whiteroom once and King Hu out of Chargen can fight Octavian

[bleak hazel]

I need to ask Omicron how two of his things work to do these properly

[buoyant summit]

Who tf is Octavian because surely you do not mean

Octavian Octavian

son of Gaius Julius Caesar

[merry arch]

octavian is a 2cd

[bleak hazel]

Octavian is generally agreed to be the strongest direct combat 2cd

[prisma sun]

It was a pretty dicey thing iirc because Octavian got King Hu down to 1 initative

[bleak hazel]

he's a big uruk-hai looking motherfucker with the skull of a Solar on his belt and a pretty decent combat kit

[buoyant summit]

Why is that his name???

[merry arch]

take it up with white wolf

[buoyant summit]

Oh I bet he fuckin loves Infernals, I bet he's a great guy to summon

[bleak hazel]

there's a reason here actually

[coral wraith]

because he is also running an empire i guess

[prisma sun]

Why are Luna and Gaia named that

and Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Venus, and Mars

[marsh garden]

i admit i'm not a huge fan of all the roman god names

i don't hate it, but it's kinda eh to me

[bleak hazel]

gimme a sec I need to check my demon family trees to make sure I get this right

[buoyant summit]

They are the moon and the earth, this guy is not the son of Gaius Julius Caesar and second Dictator Perpetuo of the Roman Empire XD

Now, I don't like that those're their names either, but the throughlines there are less obscure to me at least

[bleak hazel]

would look at towering Octavian, the Quarter Prince, and imagine that he is a fraction of ever-patient She
Who Lives in Her Name. Descended as he is from Munaxes, the Ravine of Whispers, his nature is a
fraction of her own — and just as she punishes those who betray their rightful leaders, so does he embody
some twisted vision of what such a leader might be. ```
ah it's just in the infernals book

Octavian is SWLIHN/Munaxes' vision of a leader, and as such he's a brutal, capable warlord and brawler named after a Roman emperor

[buoyant summit]

I will accept this without airing my complaints about those reasons in this chat

XD

[merry arch]

white wolf just be givin shit names

[prisma sun]

That doesn't seem particularly egregious in any respect

[bleak hazel]

Octavian

[prisma sun]

I keep forgetting he's naked

[buoyant summit]

It's not egregious

I shall freely admit I am being butthurt

Hence shall not continue

[marsh garden]

he's not naked he has a loincloth

[bleak hazel]

he's pretty damn swole, 30HL, 17 soak, solar pools on everything and some great decisive defence

[marsh garden]

and greaves

[bleak hazel]

also his skin secretes oil that poisons people so he probably wants to get that on people

which is a fair enough bet when your abs have soak 17 hardness 10

[wise ocean]

eternally mad graves can't properly one-shot octavian because he has health gate

[marsh garden]

and this is why he has a health gate lmao

i'm not sure it actually works though, yeah? since you can just crash him

and it's perilous

[bleak hazel]

you can beat him up, but you can't just chump him with a join battle nova strike

[wise ocean]

yeah but you have to crash him first. if you're crashing someone one-shotting them is easy

the real triumph is one-shotting them off JB

that is one of the tests of the true Sicko Mode builds

[marsh garden]

does it count if you can one-round him

by just crashing him with an attack and then making two reflexive decisives?

[bleak hazel]

Rival got Crimson's height here, which does make me imagine the two of them arguing over who's the tall one

[wise ocean]

ehhh. I'm going to say you have to actually one-turn him

[marsh garden]

i think that's still one-turning him right

with uhhh

whatever the solar ones are called/unfurling iron lotus + time-scything technique, because ik graves is an abyssal

[wise ocean]

well if you're using solaroid melee it's practically cheating

ofc that can do it

[bleak hazel]

eh, you kind of struggle to get the necessary alpha in any case because he has 30 health levels

[marsh garden]

i thought graves used solaroid melee

[bleak hazel]

Solaroid Melee can put that out but it takes some work

[marsh garden]

on top of his MAs

[bleak hazel]

Graves, like Rival, is a dynasty warriors character who got isekaied and uses Violet Bier/White Reaper

[wise ocean]

solaroid melee is cheating and therefore he uses MAs

[marsh garden]

lmao

[merry arch]

oh i forgot. i've done some personalizing of red revel for my character and i gave it a coffin for a 'scabbard' because it's cute for this giant rail thin freak to be hauling around a behemoth tree ebony casket with his sword-wife inside it. doubles as a bed because normal ones suck to sleep in for some reason now???? (he doesn't fully understand how trappings of death work yet )

[marsh garden]

BEEG COFFIN is peak aesthetic

[bleak hazel]

skill issue just bathe in a huge ivory tub of blood and then go to sleep under the finest silk sheets that your men pulled out of some princess' grave

(the coffin is good aesthetic)

[marsh garden]

goldlewis my beloved

(also honorable mention nicholas wolfwood, who carries around his gigantic cross)

[merry arch]

thank u. he will be bathing in blood eventually, he's just fucking broke as shit and spent the last of his pocket change on threatening fishermen to take him to this island in the middle of bumfuck nowhere

[tulip folio]

I'm reminded of Malifaux's Death Marshals who have perhaps the single funniest attack in the game.

'Get in the box', where it just removes a model from the board until they can escape the coffin.

[bleak hazel]

Crimson's two shaping rituals at E3 are "bathe in blood" and "make statue" which means I think his necromancy sanctum looks like this

[buoyant summit]

I am so sorry

||IN THIS BEHEMOTH TYPHOON-||

[marsh garden]

we are goldlewis respecters around here

[merry arch]

you do not need to apologize i've already made this joke. he will be smashing a trivial character with the casket.

[marsh garden]

hahaha...yes

okay i've heard back from the goobers, apparently most of them are taller than i thought

we have, bottom to top, Hope Without Kings (4'10/147cm), Weeping Lily (5'4/162cm), Iselsi Misanu (5'6/167cm), Endless Well of Revision (5'7/170cm), Ink-Feathered Thrush (6'0/183cm)

[buoyant summit]

I thought that was Revisionism and went

'Secrets Sid'

<XD

[marsh garden]

lmfao

[tulip folio]

Holy hell, a character shorter than RiRi. XD

[marsh garden]

nah, that's our lunar

[merry arch]

he does also ride a giant fucking kind-of-ghost wolf (barrow hound) so i do need to figure out how he'll be stowing that on the dog. probably just strap it to his back after taking wife out of coffin.

[marsh garden]

make the dog drag it...

[buoyant summit]

You have somehow, on accident

Made both of the Guilty Gear characters that're members of the US government apparatus parts of your Abyssal

[marsh garden]

lmfao

look. guilty gear is good

[merry arch]

unintentional but a W

[buoyant summit]

What Guilty Gear character is Fel I wonder...

[bleak hazel]

I'm going to have to let other people assign my lot Guilty Gear characters because literally the only thing I know about them is that one of them is comically english and one of them used to be a bald guy

[buoyant summit]

I am so sorry Misc

[marsh garden]

my knowledge of guilty gear is exceptionally sporadic

[buoyant summit]

Rival is the comically English guy

[bleak hazel]

he is perhaps the most comically stereotyped rockerboy I've ever seen, I only know like... five real people who dress and wear their hair exactly like him

[buoyant summit]

No idea who tf the other one ur talking about is tho

Misc if you know five whole people who dress and wear their hair exactly like Axl Low

Wait, fuck

You might mean another comically English guy

Is Slayer English???

Fuck

Shit

[marsh garden]

slayer's welsh i think

[bleak hazel]

a friend used to drag me to Cardiff's rocker bar every so often, I met a lot of guys and gals in bandanas with long blonde hair in passing

[buoyant summit]

Oh wait no you said rockerboy you do mean Axl

but yeah personality and

life-station?

wise

Axl is very Rival

[limpid badge]

oh those people are real thats beautiful. my people do exist.

anyway

[marsh garden]

okay hm

[buoyant summit]

LMAO

[marsh garden]

Slayer seems to be scottish

[limpid badge]

hiiiii im thinking about Bloody Hand hiiii

[marsh garden]

excellent...

[buoyant summit]

We tried to think of a monosyllabic way to shout yay bloody hand talk

and the one that entered our mind was ||BLAND!|| and

no

<XD

[bleak hazel]

I don't know why this is surprising

[buoyant summit]

My point was perhaps he may not be as comically stereotyped as you suppose

xD

It doesn't surprise me that much to know you know people like that

[bleak hazel]

only in passing, it's not really my scene

[buoyant summit]

I mean sure

[bleak hazel]

ah, apparently the name of the other guy was literally "Doctor Baldhead" so that'll do it

[limpid badge]

mostly considering what if i gave her red revel

[bleak hazel]

I do not play fighting games

[limpid badge]

A Bloody Hand Dances With Crimson Blade

[bleak hazel]

closest I get is Chivalry II, which is not a fighting game but still involves people getting sweaty about hitboxes

[buoyant summit]

My brain exists in a quantum superposition rn of 'W h a t ?' and 'no shit, it's Guilty Gear'

Red Revel does seem to be Exalted's Most Stormbringer weapon to date

Which

Is a fuckin feat, considering

[marsh garden]

it sure is just a sword that hammers the Wet Cat Button

[buoyant summit]

The literal demon sword named stormcaller also exists

[marsh garden]

"hi welcome to Infinite Crimson Waves Dance, you have to be this much of a pervert to ride"

[limpid badge]

bloody hand with the sword in her ear that tells her she's a good girl for doing murders is really handling her death/transition better than the current one (Defining Intimacy Nihilism)

[merry arch]

good, good

[buoyant summit]

🐲Oh yeah I've been debating wtf specific sword to give my Azimuth for her sword made of vitriolic chiaroscuro glass

Or, more likely, what sword to make a twist of

Her name is She Who Mauls so perhaps just

[marsh garden]

Radiance would be good, yeah

[buoyant summit]

Red Revel with the numbers tuned down sligtly for a non-Grand Daiklave

[marsh garden]

if your ST hasn't maintained the veto on that

[buoyant summit]

No Beamklaves Allowed

[marsh garden]

hmmm

what if you looked at Phaessa and Deinon

it's a pair of weapons from Fangs at the Gate, but

you could make it like

an oscillating influence between the chiaroscuro glass and the infernal corruption

[merry arch]

reveler's having a very weird time with all the praise and murder-riddles that this foxy sword is whispering in his head. and has developed an entirely unhealthy attachment to her because she's the only stable(?) presence in his life at the moment. and she saved his life.

[buoyant summit]

Honestly the Lead daiklave from the Inf manuscript may be the general ticket

[marsh garden]

oh yeah!

i forgot about that one

the beauty-smasher

[buoyant summit]

Yeah...

It fits the vitriol and destruction parts

But gets too much into the like

LIKE

Fucking phone keyboard

[marsh garden]

raised in socal, i use like way too often and constantly dread that typo

[buoyant summit]

It gets too much into the 'destroy the beauty of the world' to be a perfect fit

Getting a bonus to damage based on your opponent being pretty isnt

Really the viiiiiiiiiiiiiibe????

[marsh garden]

what do you want out of the themes?

what is the desired vibe? there's prolly something good enough

[buoyant summit]

She Who Mauls sees herself

Kind of as a force of nature?

She's a personification of the weird, destructive beauty you see looking over the wake of a natural disaster?

[marsh garden]

hmm

[buoyant summit]

Not like 'feminine' beauty

But

[marsh garden]

i getcha

a storm is beautiful

[buoyant summit]

It looks like a fucking act of God, you know?

[marsh garden]

the devastation in the wake of an earthquake can be beautiful, in the abstract

[buoyant summit]

As a fellow SoCal born; going to the mountains and driving through forests of burned, blackened trees from the past summer's fires

[marsh garden]

seeing all under heaven bow in humility to the world

smoke in the sky, yeah

i've thought several times after or during a big fire that the black clouds and burning skyline are pretty

[buoyant summit]

lmao yeah it's a weird-ass feeling

[marsh garden]

in a very strange way, but still. it's an involuntary appreciation for the untamable scale of nature

[wise ocean]

what's the quote from hellsing again

[marsh garden]

someone did a Volcano Cutter rework that might be up your alley

[merry arch]

reddit thread titled "is it a problematic age gap if i (18M) am in a situationship with my sword (2117F) who was my wife in a previous life"

[limpid badge]

that 18m aint for long

[wise ocean]

"I want nothing more than to be a bayonet; a bayonet wielded by the hand of God. I would have been happy to have been born a storm, or a divine threat; a mighty explosion or even a terrible hurricane. A divine force of nature without a heart or pity."

[marsh garden]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B4u4JVxCLfqQB9ikUUvpuF1gC3UUbCe5nkYKF3mheUU/edit?tab=t.0

[merry arch]

TRUTH NUKE

[buoyant summit]

Fuck, the other fitting weapon is another

[marsh garden]

crumplepunch, who does actual line work

[buoyant summit]

5 dot grand daiklave

Ack

Ack, I say

[marsh garden]

eh, grand isn't necessary

you can scale it down here with no cost

[marsh garden]

lmao where's that black parade tumblr post

when I was a young boy (14m), my father (45m) took me to see a marching band (21m), (19f), (33f), (30m), etc.

he said - son, when you grow up (33f)

wait a second

[prisma sun]

AITA:
My Divine Cutting Technique That Shall Cleave Heaven In Twain (18m, 2i, 1wp) and my partner's Whirlwind Of Gore That Blinds Men To All Virtue (20m, 3a) are being compared a bunch-

[merry arch]

oh i am also giving him some blood angel motifs cos red revel is cute and gives you blood wings eventually. so might as well give him a halo of blood as part of his anima.

[wise ocean]

mephiston doomed yaoi send tweet

[merry arch]

unfortunately this boy's been fucking going through the gender blender for some time now

fortunately, there's some women about to enter his life that will make some realizations a lot easier

boy who doesn't know that trans people exist about to meet a nearly 11ft tall trans woman:

[spiral cosmos]

it's TOOK ME INTO THE CITY TO SEE A MARCHING BAND REEEEEEEEE

[spiral cosmos]

https://tenor.com/view/bonk-gif-19410756

[fierce star]

lol

hmm

I need to check some things

see what instruments are likely around in creation. basic stuff probably, organs maybe? question is valved brass.

[marsh garden]

i think with Malfeas around for like, fantastical worked brass, that concept's probably existed long enough

[fierce star]

Hrm. the developed of valves is actually a lot quicker and later than I thought

teh first functional brass instrument valve was invented in 1814. the modern one was invented in 1839

though it's also arguably not thematic for the more sword and sorcery feel of exalted

I think it's gonna have to be bagpipes

[limpid badge]

I think you could have a bugle if you wanted a trumpeter of sorts?

[velvet raft]

Trying to think of a good Craft for mortalgame character to pick up

[prisma sun]

(Straw Hats)

[velvet raft]

I would absolutely do cooking but we already have a cook in the group >_>

[dense verge]

craft (tiny ships in bottles)

[velvet raft]

Also question: don't mounts share initiative with their rider unless the rider specifically has a charm stating otherwise? Because sids have no such charm afaict

So awarding the mount initiative seems weird

[tulip folio]

Nah, mounts can roll in on their own init

If you've got a Tyrant Lizard or something.

[velvet raft]

Huh.

Dear core book: I hate you

Tragically, Tomb of Dreams includes no riders, and so provides no clarification

[tulip folio]

...are there any charms with multiple timings?

I'm pondering a charm that can be used reflexively or as a simple action but gets a bonus if you use it as the simple.

Basicly: As a reflexive, ti's a basic counterattack. If you use it as a simple action rather than instant, it lasts until your next turn.

So you get either 'one counterattack stab' or 'Setting up a Come At Me Bro stance'

[tulip folio]

Gathering of Crows
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Counterattack, Decisive-only, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: World-Devouring Warlord Form
The blades at the commands of the Warlord are without number. Nations tremble at their every footstep. Those who attempt to engage the warlord will find that she reaps the reply of an entire legion.

The Stylist responds to an attack with a decisive counterattack. She can make a disarm gambit instead of a damaging attack.

While the Stylist is in Full Defence, the cost of this charm is reduced to 2m.

Mastery: The stylist can extend the range of her counterattack to short range.

Realized there was a way to make it Nice and Simple.

And just tie it into Full Defence.

[tulip folio]

World-Devouring Warlord Style

There are some who claim to understand the Sword. Warrior-poets and bandit kings who have carved their name into creation like a child might carve profanity into a tree with a pen knife. Students of the World-Devouring Warlord know that these people are fools. The Sword is not a mere cutting object or a weapon. It is the point from which all power flows. It is by the might the Swords that treaties have power and kings dominion. It was by Sword that creation was carved from the Wyld and by Sword that the primordials were banished.

Developed by traveling Xia of the Fae Courts, a warrior who plays the role of the World-Devouring Warlord is no mere bully, swinging wildly at her foes. She adopt the hidden power of the Sword, the tension that controls movements and limits acceptable responses by virtue of the implication of force. Those who step beyond these carefully defined boundaries find themselves cast down with the unmatched power of total war.

A practitioner of World-Devouring Warlord Style moves with noble and undeniable grace, postures relaxed despite the palpable tension of a coiled spring about them. The Sword has no power if it will not act and thus, practitioners of World-Devouring Warlord Style are experts of unleashing devastating blows that cut down foes the moment they even imagine opposing the Sword. Masters of this style adopt the mien of one who is destined to rule over all, a posture that snide inferiors might call megalomania, though never to the Warlord’s face if they are wise.

This ego and the fae associations of this style earn them few friends within the rivers and lakes of the martial community but few are as outspoken against them than students of the Radiant Breath School, whose skill with the Sword is considered by the World-Devouring Warlord to have all the understanding of a brute bashing through a skull with a work of art.

World-Devouring Warlord Weapons: While Raksha can perform this style with any weapon, those born of creation must make use of it with weapons that naturally embody the themes of the Sword. This is, unsurprisingly, all swords and knives. However the Sword naturally aligns itself with mailed fists and stamping boots, allowing stylists to perform it with Iron Boots and Gauntlets.

Armour: World-Devouring Warlord can use Medium Armour. Its practitioners rarely wear helmets, both to leave their vision unobstructed for the very reactive style and to because of a flair for the dramatic.

Fluff for World-Devouring Warlord Style!

[bleak hazel]

Can I use hook-swords with this?

I'd suggest explicitly listing all the form weapons just to be clear about the compatibilities

[tulip folio]

On one hand, I do kinda agree on the other hand: Explicitly listing all form weapons is the reason we have so many really annoying 'we added a new X but it can't be used with any of Y martial arts'.

I'll do it because i can go back and edit my style as much as I want if another cool sword turns up.

But I kinda wish the devs hadn't done it. XD

Okay it can be used with:

Knives, Short Swords, Hook Swords, Chopping Swords, Slashing Sword, Straight Sword, Great Sword, Rapier, Auzhians, Iron Boots and Gauntlets.

Stupid Swords, laying them all out gives so damn many swords.

[velvet raft]

Putting together a list of non-favored charms I’m going to want +their prereqs, this is too many:

Larceny +2
Brawl +3
Craft +3
Bureaucracy +2

Maiden in the Pot Escape
Tolerant Strife
Hostility Acceptance Technique
Creation-Procuring
Unobstructed Blow
Speared Boar Struggle
Terminal Sanction
WSAV
Prior Warning
Expected Pain
That One Tracking Charm
The One That Steals Names
Sidereal Shell Games
Mending Warped Designs
Feathered Cloak Trick

[tulip folio]

Maiden in the Pot is great.

[bleak hazel]

I mean, this is a whole, perfectly fine starting character

It just makes me wonder what you are favouring

[marsh garden]

also you're only gonna start with ten charms, so you should def prioritize

since you get your last five CC charms at the end of the story

should probably go harder on a specific pillar and then slowly fill the rest out

[velvet raft]

Journeys, plus I was thinking Athletics, Integrity, Dodge, Occult, and Presence

[tulip folio]

I hope btw this gives a vibe for the style? I tried to mix both 'philosophy' and also 'how a counterattack style fights physically'.

[velvet raft]

Question: are there any swords you don’t want this to be usable with?

Because honestly I think you can just say, “usable with all swords”

The only really meaningful exclusions in sword styles with long lists are great swords and hook swords

Both of which you include

[tulip folio]

That's fair. And yeah, I wanted it to be usable with all Swords because it's literally the style for the Sword Grace.

[velvet raft]

So just say all swords is my take

It’s only an issue if you say “most swords” because that’s vague

[tulip folio]

The style for the Ring Grace one will be trickier but likely end up at like 'It works Unarmed. It's a style about being so hot they die or stab their friends to possess you, it doesn't super use weapons'

[velvet raft]

So I say

[bleak hazel]

That then means you need to specify whether it includes hook-swords and auzhians separately, I'd really just list them all

[velvet raft]

I don’t think it does, hook swords and auzhians are recognizably swords

But ymmv

[bleak hazel]

Auzhians do not have "sword" in the name and as such the traditional Games Workshop ctrl-F method for checking whether it's a sword does not work, and hook-swords aren't in any of the existing sword style lists

I'd at least want them clarified

[velvet raft]

“All swords, including unusual swords like hook swords and auzhians” ?

[velvet raft]

Indeed, part of why I’m thinking about it

[velvet raft]

Of these I think the ones I’d cut most readily are Feathered Cloak Trick, Speared Boar Struggle, the name-stealing charm + sid shell games and maybe Mending Warped Designs

and with that I can take 5 ox-bodies

[bleak hazel]

I think you can leave the Larceny set but I'd keep Speared Boar + Feathered Cloak Trick

flight is just insanely useful

[velvet raft]

This is true

Sid shell games is really strong but being Simple is a pain

[tulip folio]

Yeah, Feathered Cloak Trick is great for just 'peace, I'm out' or 'Time to go places'

[velvet raft]

I won’t realistically be able to take all of these due to the amount of ability dots I need for them, so that’s part of what I’m thinking about

[tulip folio]

Or my favorite use of it 'Turn up, smash things, put on your glowy silver caste mark by virtue of mark of exaltation, turn into a bird and fuck off having made a mess of the local silver pact reputation'

[velvet raft]

Another Ways of Exaltation win

I could probably skip the anti-Wyld charm, too

[tulip folio]

I still have a ball with Jade's use of RD + Arcane Fate to be 'Put on the RD of a Bandit, just go beat things up and leave. Everyone expects a bandit to beat things up, steal things and cause trouble'.

[velvet raft]

Maiden in the Pot I only need one dot of larceny for and part of its whole point is that it diminishes the need for Larceny, so that’s probably still nice

How to murderhobo as a sid

[tulip folio]

She considers it 'being efficient'. You can spend days or weeks with disguises and false identities...or you can break a nose and just grab it.

[velvet raft]

Yeah that’s a good trick for Lanying

Filing that away

[tulip folio]

She's not great at subtle but she's good at...finding an acceptable way to be unsubtle, if that remotely makes sense? She's mediocre at stealth but will happily play the role of 'Drunk guest making a scene at a party' for a distraction or other 'overt but still entirely keeping to RD' roles.

[velvet raft]

I think probably Speared Boar Struggle and Unobstructed Blow can be cut. They’re both good but they require a bunch of brawl and there’s other good stuff

[bleak hazel]

They're so good though

[velvet raft]

They are

[bleak hazel]

What is your martial art, if anything

[velvet raft]

Centipede

[tulip folio]

SBS honestly makes me sad I'm a sword sid in many ways. It's so good and so cool.

[bleak hazel]

Oh you've got to have SBS with that

[velvet raft]

Yeah true I guess

[tulip folio]

Sid Melee is still Plenty Cool though.

[marsh garden]

you're playing a Scrungle That Guy MA, gotta pick up the scrungle charm

[bleak hazel]

Sid Melee is my darling, one of my favourite trees, but Brawl probably slams harder in raw power before you start with the combos

even if Harmony of Blows is a gold mine

and can set up hilarious chain attacks

[tulip folio]

One of these days I kinda want to do Sid Melee + Wood Dragon

Just for 'hey, what if I always had aim with sid melee?'

[velvet raft]

Hit Them With The Stick

[marsh garden]

tbh that's also just sid melee?

inner eye strike isn't super expensive

soul-marking style does look v juicy though, i want to play many dudes with it

[bleak hazel]

Soul-Marking is a great combo piece

I haven't managed to get it neatly into a build yet but I might try come Agents

[marsh garden]

it's definitely an expensive as hell dip, but i really want to run a goober with five dragon for wood and fire

not really a fucking dip at that point, ofc

but with five dragon i look at Wood and instead of just thinking "hmm decent withering booster + soul-marking style" i go "oh but it's just a few more charms, i can squeeze that out right?"

[velvet raft]

So maybe something like

At Exaltation:
Tolerant Strife
Hostility Acceptance Technique
WSAV
That One Tracking Charm
Feathered Cloak Trick
Speared Boar Struggle
Unobstructed Blow
Blurring Scurry Prana
Ox-Body Technique
Chitinous Centipede Shell

At end of story:
Terminal Sanction
Maiden in the Pot Escape
Mending Warped Designs
Prior Warning
Expected Pain

[marsh garden]

i assume you mean traceless passage?

by "that one tracking charm"

(also what's blurring scurry prana? some corebook thing, i assume, since it has prana in the name?)

[velvet raft]

Centipede Style

First charm

[marsh garden]

huh

i didn't remember any excessive pranas in lunars

[velvet raft]

It might just be Blurring Scurry?

It’s Prana in the master sheet, which is where I referenced it from

Unless I just imagined that

Which is not out of the question

[tulip folio]

iirc, one of the guidances in the later books was 'don't call stuff prana and other such real terms just to sound exotic' XD

[marsh garden]

oh okay it probably was prana in the manuscript

and then got changed

still, i regularly forget that motion of myriad legs isn't the first centipede charm lmfao

[velvet raft]

Prana doesn’t even make sense here since it means something analogous to qi or breath

[marsh garden]

it doesn't in 90% of the places it's used in core tbh

it's just Cool Orientalism Word

(also in deebs, who have Deck-Striding Prana and Tireless Caravan Prana and Instant Disguise Prana)

...and the ones that kind of are breathing techniques in their description, like Chaos-Warding Prana, Body-Cleansing Prana, Clear Water Prana, Frozen Heart Prana, Three-String Sword Prana, and Soundless Action Prana

thank fucking god they've stopped using that word

unrelated, a post on the fancord about cali in fires

reminded of yesterday

[spiral cosmos]

Fun fact

Sidereal bird shape is compatible with Brawl Charms

SPEARED BIRD STRUGGLE

[marsh garden]

i think someone's made that exact joke before

great minds think alike

[spiral cosmos]

excellent

[spiral cosmos]

Immediate one charm dip for so many styles if it were tbh

[marsh garden]

honestly it's not that much worse as a two-charm dip

myriad legs is so cracked

[spiral cosmos]

Yeah I've considered it for my Harbinger

[bleak hazel]

I should probably consider that style more, I've always kind of bounced off it for some reason

despite it being very good and well rounded

I guess I don't have many Evasion primary combatants

[spiral cosmos]

My girlie is also not a Dodge maxxer

I'm gonna be real i just used one of the Agents MAs for her in that game because it's my friends

Golden Barque of the Memes style

[tulip folio]

oh?

[spiral cosmos]

It likes moving into close range then attacking, throwing from grapple and smash attacks

Bonk

GB is kind of really slapstick

To the extent it's a grappling MA i made it one that strongly encourages you to either drag then throw or just immediately throw the poor motherfucker you clinch

So it doesn't have a ton of crazy savaging degeneracy

[spiral cosmos]

Golden Barque of the Heavens Style
Golden Barque of the Heavens style epitomizes relentlessness and direct, overwhelming force. It is a deceptively crude martial art, whose unpretentious techniques belie explosive power — the kind which arrogant combatants only ever underestimate once, usually before they’re sent flying. Its pedagogy is similarly simple: students build their strength and endurance through lifting heavy objects, train while running marathons, and take turns throwing each other from high places.

Within the Division of Journeys, the style is regarded as simultaneously gauche and conspicuous. Those drawn to it tend to be practically minded and hardy, like raiders, laborers, or itinerants.
(There's some more after this but im sitting on that)

[marsh garden]

gauche...

[bleak hazel]

ok that last training method did make me laugh

[marsh garden]

what are its style weapons? pure unarmed?

[bleak hazel]

this might be good for my Clovinian bluesid since I like the idea of his kung fu being incredibly straightforward and a bit crude despite him being a vojvada

"fine, you don't accept that I'm in charge? let me just make it very clear I'm in charge here by spiking you through a few walls, and then we can go back to negotiations"

[buoyant summit]

🐰Is this the bluesid in my Sidgame that hasn't started yet? (sorry btw I swear now that my semester over it's gonna start soon)

[bleak hazel]

that's the fellow

his primary skillset is the Heaven Says You Can't Be Mad At Me combo, but he is getting some brawl and some of a martial art

[buoyant summit]

lol

[spiral cosmos]

iron boots, staff, spear and javelin, and yes the chakram

[bleak hazel]

ooh, spear

was not expecting that

my potential exalt has another toy

some good physical comedy in someone breaking through the cage of weaving spears that he puts up with Thousand Blades and then just getting slugged really hard in the face and grappled in the most straightforward way possible by this demonic cultivator pretty-boy

[marsh garden]

bless...

time to impale someone on a spear and then just fucking fling them like a dark souls riposte animation

[spiral cosmos]

bitch slapping somebody with a chakram like a melee weapon

watching them go flying

[bleak hazel]

he's only allowed more than one martial art once he stops being a sad bastard with a lot of potential but no skill, so that'll be a while

[spiral cosmos]

Potential PC...

[bleak hazel]

he has won his one tournament fight so far by beating an unarmed fishman brutally with an artifact weapon and is now planning to win his second one by jumping his opponents with a bunch of tomescu

admittedly there are three deebs so trying to solo that one is maybe not the smartest idea

[marsh garden]

throw a chakram at someone then when it bounces back you headbutt it with a cartoon gong noise and it launches them like a smash bros projectile

ez every time

[tulip folio]

I always approve of more Iron Boots styles. How can you not when 'God Kicking Boots' is their artifact name.

Infernals should have had a god-kicking boots artifact optimised for maximum god kicked per boot.

[bleak hazel]

we're in a tournament arc and so far he has trained six craft charms and one combat charm, I'm greatly enjoying playing "man who really doesn't know how to be a heel but kind of manages it anyway"

[spiral cosmos]

is one of them WSAV

[bleak hazel]

he's an Infernal, it's all demon-smelting stuff

[spiral cosmos]

it would be funny if you had one defined as "Aura"

Starting flailing and immediately it switches off

[bleak hazel]

going to put my own souls in the furnace to purge my weaknesses and train one Cosmic Transcendence of Virtue for each one I blend

fishman zenith is very affable and immediately responded to Telek's self-deprecating cultivator monologue with "aww that sucks, I hope things get better for you" and he was so surprised he forgot to be haughty about it

[marsh garden]

i'm glad that del let him live

[bleak hazel]

I would never have killed him, I want him to come back in a future round with like 500 resistance charms and Senator Armstrong on people

[marsh garden]

lmao

[bleak hazel]

these deebs on the other hand are getting full Telek Crashout

[marsh garden]

but think of his dead wife

what would she do if she saw him malding at deebs

she'd be sad is what

[bleak hazel]

I hope random V'Neef kids 1 through 3 are ready for a lot of furious ranting about how Futile Blood was a stab in the back and that none of them are true Princes of the Earth because they lost to a wretch with a stolen spear

[marsh garden]

or like, coldly murderous

because he's anathema now

but hey details

[bleak hazel]

she wasn't his wife, she was his superior officer who had an affair with him basically because he was there, not a totally unpleasant human being and reasonably hot

I like to think they were reasonably fond of each other but there's such a gulf in social position there that it really doesn't work out as a Dead Wife story

[marsh garden]

yeah, but "dead wife" is more evocative than "dead fuckbuddy"

[bleak hazel]

"damn, my boytoy turned evil and started summoning demons in Saigon"

if we were anywhere near the north she would absolutely not be dead because obvious plot hook is obvious but we're miles away so she was tragically kicked offscreen by the Mammoth Avatar

[marsh garden]

lol

[buoyant summit]

I forgot your Infernal is a Tepet

This sadly makes our Infernals spiritually bound to hate one another

[velvet raft]

Gotta decide on what craft to take and what my WSAV is gonna be

[buoyant summit]

Not cuz of the specific House

Cuz it's a House at all

[velvet raft]

Hao Guntur like “I’m sure we can work this out” and getting booed off the stage

[bleak hazel]

since he's a craft supernal horizon I'm pretty sure that even when he achieves some semblance of Potential (tm) it'll be because he has 400 artifacts with a bunch of demon evos loaded into them rather than like, being particularly skilled at combat himself

[buoyant summit]

snrk Yeah? Uh-huh?

[spiral cosmos]

Rly hate when that happens 😔

[bleak hazel]

surprisingly common DB problem because based on PC demographics it appears something like two-thirds of all celestials are former mortal Dynasts

[buoyant summit]

Dontcha just hate when a Ragara diabolist attempts to sacrifice his provincially-born apprentice but that just lets her coadjutor show up?

[velvet raft]

“I think this can be a bonding opportunity”

[bleak hazel]

one of the other guys in the tournament got his shit wrecked in one move by our SVN stylist and then a neomah showed up to Infernalize him so now there's something like 10% of the Infernal host in this one city, plus a few Abyssals

I feel kind of bad for the three local dbs

[velvet raft]

“You can burn down the realm together”

[tulip folio]

Hmmm...Harmony of Fortune and Hate will likely be one of the trickiest charms to adapt for Warlord as it was both A) Mechanically not something 3e does B) Interesting but not super easy to adapt fluffwise.

The basic premise of it in 2e was 'You're so clearly going to win that even the earth under your feed decides it wants to be on the winning side'. Mechanically it just stepped down the TN on all your actions for the entire scene. Something you might note: Is not something 3e would let you touch with a 10ft pole. XD

I'll ponder something interesting to do vaguely within that wheelhouse for an E3 charm.

[buoyant summit]

I thought Misc's Infernal was, at least right now, kinda in his feelings over whether the Realm should Go And Die

[marsh garden]

my Circle's Infernal is the Iselsi :)

[buoyant summit]

Whereas my character is like 'nope settled question I am making Ragara and Mnemon choke on the blood of their grandchildren'

[marsh garden]

nobody else is a dynast tho

everyone's pretty local, actually, including the sids

...one of the sids

the other's from nexus

[bleak hazel]

he hasn't really figured out what his policy is beyond "fuck literally everyone who had anything to do with Futile Blood, I am going to choke the Bull of the North to death with my spear and if he dies before I get there I will learn to summon ghosts just to make sure" but once he gets a few CTOVs in I imagine he'll settle on "I am clearly better than all those bastards I left dead in the snow, so they should put me in charge"

he's not that sane

[buoyant summit]

lmao

[marsh garden]

love that for him

genuinely just every stereotype of an anathema

[bleak hazel]

it's funny to have one of my PCs be objectively just way worse at life than my other ones

[marsh garden]

"i murdered everyone else, clearly that makes me Ontologically Correct and as such the rightful king"

[buoyant summit]

Mine is not bucking the stereotype at all either

Except she's just

[bleak hazel]

if he ran into Rival it would be like a 30 second interaction before Telek was divested of all his limbs

[buoyant summit]

"I have the power of the (Green) Sun in the palm of my hand."

[bleak hazel]

his DBA being Domain Expansion: Futile Blood adds 15 seconds but doesn't really change anything

[buoyant summit]

"Clearly the best use is to make someone choke on it."

[marsh garden]

rival's both more of a combat freak and more optimized, yeah?

and like an ess higher

[buoyant summit]

What Caste is your cultivator Xaldin?

He's not an Azi, right?

[bleak hazel]

there are a couple of different Rivals so essence varies

[marsh garden]

p sure craft prim

[bleak hazel]

but Rival is my dedicated combat monster

Telek is Horizon Caste

[buoyant summit]

Sadly despite my making an Azi she cannot be a combat monster as much as her Caste can be

Our ST has been

Traumatized™

[marsh garden]

bonk

[buoyant summit]

By a 17 melee charm Dusk

[marsh garden]

lol

[buoyant summit]

And I am banned as shit from making any direct combat ability my Primordial

[marsh garden]

at least ath and dodge are cool as hell

[bleak hazel]

also Rival is optimised in the sense that I am deliberately aiming him at a specific high essence monster build both in and out of character, because Gleam designed his training regimen to make Gleam But Better

whereas Telek is almost literally just doing whatever works

[buoyant summit]

Awareness :3

[bleak hazel]

his mentor is Alveua, so he's getting an extended training arc on hammering the flaws out of his own soul, but not in combat

[marsh garden]

munch

[bleak hazel]

I buy whatever charms I vibe with and his combat charmset is going to mostly be unmodified thousand blades plus whatever evos I can get out of the white point printer

[buoyant summit]

Now that said

[bleak hazel]

which is good, but not going to stand up to "reflexive Crane Form, Indomitable Shieldbearer, Ways of Exaltation, get on the fucking floor"

[buoyant summit]

Most of her Awareness suite is going to be the 'I cannot be ambushed, come and try' suite

[spiral cosmos]

L + signs of Saturn

[marsh garden]

Careless Cosmic Blink goes crazy

[buoyant summit]

Sidereals literally textually cheat, are one splat of many

And already being used as the villains in our STs other game

Shush

XD

[bleak hazel]

Rival is also in a text-based troupe play server where I can go way too hard on combat optimisation and have it be fine because he only shows up to aura farm, engage in impromptu comedy routines and then fight one heavily planned duel in the entire arc with the opposing combat monster dusk

so that version of him is not actually straining the boundaries of any game and I can dollcraft to my heart's content

[buoyant summit]

lmaaaaaaooooooo

[bleak hazel]

proper campaign Rival is not quite that mean

[buoyant summit]

No he can just drop out of the sky and cut someone's head off

XD

[bleak hazel]

that was one charm, literally every lunar gets that capability at chargen

[buoyant summit]

:3

[wise ocean]

what are you, a coward? solo the deebs.

[bleak hazel]

he has a defining intimacy of self-doubt, so yes, he is in fact a coward

(well, he murders a lot of first circle demons for raw materials, but that's different)

[wise ocean]

[velvet raft]

Hao Guntur: murdering first circle demons!!!??? 😡

[bleak hazel]

he's a dynast and his Malfean mentor is Alveua, it's not like any part of his life has predisposed him to not consider no-name servants raw materials

[marsh garden]

i think a dynast would just consider them meat shields more than meat, no?

[velvet raft]

Blood apes make such good drinking buddies!

[marsh garden]

still, alveua would do it

[velvet raft]

Also Hao-Guntur was slated to get sacrificed to Alveua

[marsh garden]

oh boy

mortal enemies

[velvet raft]

Before being infernalized

[marsh garden]

hm, what little shadow gribbly 1cds are there? i swear there're one or two

[velvet raft]

Now some may say, “but doesn’t she only take willing sacrifices” well there’s this thing called social coercion

[marsh garden]

something something it's about the implication

[velvet raft]

“Hey Hao you’ve been annoying everyone and it really kills the vibe when you have running jokes with the neomah it’s time to sacrifice yourself”

[marsh garden]

lol

are they and the neomah still buddies though

[velvet raft]

Probably!

He befriends any and all demons he summons

Or tries to

Some of them are weird about it

[marsh garden]

i would imagine

they are still slaves

[velvet raft]

But there’s no call to be rude to your summons

[marsh garden]

and now he's a prince

[velvet raft]

He also pays them

Blood apes are conspicuously willing to be paid in liquor and bloodshed

Which makes them pretty normal as sailors go

[bleak hazel]

applies to at least a few Exalts

[buoyant summit]

hm

A majority of our Exalts exhibit self-hatred

I dunno if Avira's Infernal does, actually

which

is odd

Given

The Soup

is half self-hatred by volume

[marsh garden]

oh god

these are some strong vibes

all of them wet in the "paper bag that's started to rot" way

[buoyant summit]

||What if Solas is my coadjutor? What then fuckass?||

:D

[marsh garden]

i have failed you, i don't remember this name

[buoyant summit]

The Egg™

[marsh garden]

OH

DA:I

god, that does kick it up another notch

[buoyant summit]

You cannot convince us there isn't at least one teodozji that acts like him

[bleak hazel]

they mostly all act the same, so it might be all of them

[velvet raft]

Thinking that when mortalgame character gets exalted as a sid, this intimacy is gonna get weird for them (I may have done that on purpose)

But that like, an altruistic reformulation thereof is fertile ground for WSAV

[buoyant summit]

We love putting characters like that through Exaltation

'We must make our own luck!' becomes a demigod

'Huh.'

'Fuck, this is introducing challenges to my worldview.'

[velvet raft]

She’s specifically coming at it from her position as a Nellens

I.e. “yeah I have a lot of privilege … to be another disposable mortal manager in the aggregate of my house’s fortunes”

But it turns out that not only is she Chosen

She’s a sid, so she was literally Chosen from birth

And I feel like that has to reform as a more developed existentialism-as-humanism

[marsh garden]

"born without luck, i make my own"
"no you don't lol, you were born with the most luck out of anyone in your family"
"...shit."

[tulip folio]

...does anyone recall where SMA without enlightenment falls in terms of 'Celestial/Solaroid' etc charm power-level intent?

[bleak hazel]

solar-grade, I believe

[velvet raft]

Most of the time Enlightenment isn’t that crazy

It varies but

[bleak hazel]

which is why a lot of Enlightenment upgrades are alternate utility rather than Mastery-style More Power, albeit not all (hello CMOS)

[tulip folio]

Yeah, I was trying to remember if Enlightenment was pushing to solar grade or if the base level was solar-grade.

[marsh garden]

i think it's like 50/50

base is solar-with-a-bit-extra

enlightenment is solar+

[bleak hazel]

base is just straight Solar level but getting esoteric with it, yeah

which is still a pretty wild density of Solar-level high essence combat charms

[tulip folio]

Cool, cool.

[velvet raft]

Suddenly occurring to me that my ST will probably refund at least my MA merit, and possibly some of my social merits if arcane fate turns them into mud

[bleak hazel]

you can actually tell here from the existence of CPOC, which if you add up all the heal modes ends up at almost exactly what Solar Medicine pays for the same capability, but with less guarantees and flexibility in exchange for being able to stick arms back on in ten seconds not-guaranteed instead of three months every time

[marsh garden]

enlightened SMA charms are broadly the strongest in the game outside of like, The Solar Ones That Don't Work Right and a couple things in abyssal brawl, and those don't get the benefit of 4 other combos

[dense verge]

this is why sids are the best, they get to say no to the MA merit tax

[tulip folio]

Downgrades this charm I'm tinkering with a bit

[marsh garden]

and in return the biggest ones cost 400000000000000m

[bleak hazel]

be careful when slapping solaroids around the face with your Enlightened wallet, despite your excellency efficiency they have more motes and less commitments than you do

[marsh garden]

OSOI enlightenment is also full of scrungle buttons

[bleak hazel]

(and Solar Melee replaces excellency efficiency with insane everything else efficiency my god)

OSOI is a good example of solar-but-sideways since you get Black Shards Fall Like Ice instead of Invincible Fury of the Dawn - ignores a bunch of shit and puts glass everywhere, but costs more and doesn't get either infinite free schmovement or buy one get five on enhancement charms

[marsh garden]

Ripple in the Silvered Glass is one of those that i was thinking of as solar+

albeit very expensive

[bleak hazel]

OSOI generally has you paying through the nose for very good effects

[marsh garden]

i really want to play an osoi stylist

hoping CPOV runs katars

so my options aren't "sid brawl or wait for gets to add something"

[bleak hazel]

the Battlegroup Thyself charm in OSOI is hilariously one of the most basic, Lunars just have that as a normal charm

in the same way that Alchemicals can just install half of CMOS Form into themselves

you can also do knife OSOI, which is really good honestly

[marsh garden]

it's way stronger than the lunar version though

[bleak hazel]

last I checked it was functionally identical

[marsh garden]

nah, no recurring initiative cost

and iirc higher numbers on uhh

[tulip folio]

Harmony of Fortune and Hate
Cost: 15m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Shaping(Fate), Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Avatar of War
The Warlord is the master of the Sword, the world itself understanding the clear victor and acting to impede her foe.

The stylist makes a Gambit against a lower-Initiative enemy, with a difficulty of (Target's Essence, or Target's Essence/2 if unexalted). On a hit, she inflicts the following effects on the target:

• Acting on his turn requires him to flurry to take a single action. He can take actions that couldn’t normally be flurried, like using Simple Charms, but still suffers the penalties for flurrying.
• All of his movement counts as being through difficult terrain.
• His onslaught penalty doesn’t refresh at the start of his turn — instead, it’s reduced by one.

This effect ends at the end of the scene or if the target crashes or incapacitates the stylist.

Mastery: This charm can be used reflexively when the stylist uses Gathering of Crows, replacing the Decisive attack in that counterattack with this Gambit.

Okay. A Downgraded (You don't get the real damage and it's a shaping effect so a lot of people can get hefty buffs against it real cheap), Up-Essence (4 instead of 3) Perpetual Moment.

[marsh garden]

i want to say the damage and/or soak?

[bleak hazel]

Lunars get it 5m cheaper though, which usually nets out

since most fights aren't much longer than 5 rounds if that long

[marsh garden]

fair

[bleak hazel]

no, identical

[marsh garden]

huh, my bad

i thought OSOI's was +PER

and lunars' was +size

[bleak hazel]

putting both of those in one group so you can have 100 mirrored sidereals riding 100 cloned lunars scaring the fuck out of every enemy of fate is considered gauche

the agent smith special

[marsh garden]

nah, it goes back into being cool if they're all jojo posing on a flock of crows

[fierce star]

oh I like that charm, iki

spicy little gambit bastard

[velvet raft]

By which you mean the lunars right :V

[marsh garden]

yeah

actually wait

which are you referring to

[tulip folio]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kDLkPGMsPUJBVuvoYyh7i74FU9bMntE5bR4z928Hbyk/edit?usp=sharing Okay, Martial Art potentially done.

[marsh garden]

because i was thinking jojo sids on crow-lunars

but sids riding jojo-posing lunars also on crows would be funny

if auraless

[velvet raft]

Sids as the crows

[bleak hazel]

sadly you cannot battlegroup yourself in crow form because it's a martial arts charm

Sids have a slight subtheme of jojo posing on mounts, between Field Mouse Rider and their two dragon summoning charms

[velvet raft]

Tragic

[bleak hazel]

butterfly jetpack, bird hoverboot, just standing on the head of an elemental dragon in battle stance as you fly towards your target at 500mph

[tulip folio]

It does also amuse me that both Laughing Monster and World-Devouring Warlord go 'Hey, you know what's very Fey? PUNCHING THE GUY WHEN HE FAILS TO HIT YOU', as both of them are Counterattack-heavy styles (Though since they do not share form weapons, you can't combo them together).

But hey, 'Really Good Counterattack' was one of the the 2e WDW thing that wasn't just 'shaping attack bonus' so it felt important to keep to that bit.

[bleak hazel]

can they not unarmed combo, or does WDW not use fists

[tulip folio]

It doesn't. It has Gauntlets and Iron Boots but not Unarmed.

[bleak hazel]

I assume this should be "Form"

[tulip folio]

Yes, whoops

Old 2e name.

[buoyant summit]

Are there any good MAs that combine nicely with Infernal Brawl?

[velvet raft]

Infernal brawl does not have much in the way of versatile charms

[tulip folio]

I could see it with some defensive styles. Brawl doesn't tend to have a lot of defences outside of 'CLASH THE FUCKER!'

So a martial art that boosts dodge or parry would make some sense

[prisma sun]

Falcon? Question mark?

[velvet raft]

True, you could pick up defense elsewhere

[bleak hazel]

kind of hard not to just take more brawl charms though

[tulip folio]

I think I'd look at martial arts less for their offence and more for their mobility/utility/defence, if you really want a MA to go with brawl.

[bleak hazel]

there aren't many MAs that are going to provide more in that department than Resistance or Dodge, unfortunately

[velvet raft]

And/or dodge charms

Infernal Dodge is fuckin' slick

[merry arch]

extremely fucking good

[bleak hazel]

especially if you have more than three soak

[merry arch]

hey.

okay

[tulip folio]

I think if I had to pick a martial art to combo with brawl for an infernal, I'd go with Crystal Chameleon (And even then, not really go past form/it's still got a wasted attack charm).

2 charms that don't care about attacks and just boost your mobility and trickery.

And a form that gives defensive and mobility benefits regardless of How You're Attacking

[velvet raft]

Now, IIRC you can pick up the Toothy Asshole charm from Brawl for MA use

I think that's versatile

So you can still MA with infernal vibes

[wise ocean]

cover it up - graves dot png

ain't even gotta post it

[velvet raft]

I love how much of this thread is mutually intelligible babble about our OCs, btw

[bleak hazel]

to be fair they still won that fight but it was very funny to watch them dodge about six attacks in a row from this poor lunar that wasn't even full-pool on attack and then lose 10 init to one basic punch that hit so hard it must have had impact frames and hitstop

[merry arch]

look, bad soak is solvable via armor eventually. call it an intentional handicap im taking to make things more dramatically interesting.

[wise ocean]

telek can you give this creature some rags

[velvet raft]

... you know what's funny

[bleak hazel]

unfortunately not because for Infernals, we are broke

not an exotic component to our name

[merry arch]

it's bleak

[velvet raft]

I just realized Lanying will never actually use her seven-section staff

[merry arch]

we're workin on it though

[bleak hazel]

tons of money, sure, but we need to go tear the eyes from forbidden gods or cut up behemoths or destroy a fae trading syndicate or something if I'm going to be making spears for myself and artifacts for the circle

[velvet raft]

The one combat she's had was explicitly a fistfight

And soon she'll be a sid with brawl charms

[merry arch]

my infernal can be a murderous errand girl if you frame the request correctly because she gets bored when not enough novelty is around

[velvet raft]

ehehehehehe

[wise ocean]

can't monsoon pay you to have exotic components shipped in

[merry arch]

unsure if my boy has the connections for that shit yet

[velvet raft]

I’m not saying I’ll beg my ST for those two XP I spent on a specialty back

[bleak hazel]

we're also camping in a shitty hotel because three deebs have the entire city on lockdown due to a slight double anathema bonfire incident

[velvet raft]

I’m not saying it

[bleak hazel]

the scope to order in regionally-significant exomats is not great

once we break the lockdown and start cracking into this black jade mine maybe we can get something done

[velvet raft]

I’m excited to be the Sid in my anathema circle’s corner

Especially since I know my onboarding guy is a bronze faction steadfast

[wise ocean]

you are being punished for your sins

[bleak hazel]

they aren't my sins, Telek and the fishman only got to Burning

[wise ocean]

sins (collective)

[merry arch]

im a crystal chameleon stylist do u really expect me not to go bonfire /hj

[limpid badge]

Three Deebs (named) and Deebs (unnamed) but yeah

We got us a wyld hunt

[bleak hazel]

time to engage in the traditional reverse jumping technique because going 1v3 with deebs is suicide by cop but I have Summon Demon

[marsh garden]

you should keep it

it builds character

and also it means you'll be able to whip it out once in six months after idly saying "oh, i know a trick or two" like a baby Syn

[velvet raft]

XD

[marsh garden]

and then beat someone's ass with like, two mantis charms to flex

[buoyant summit]

This

is why you read charm trees before making them your Primordial...

hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Infernal Awareness is not the wave, but that leaves Athletics or either Dodge or Resistance if those don't fall afoul of not making a combat ability my Primordial

Which

[prisma sun]

Infernal Athletics is cool

[merry arch]

infernal resistance is very fun. dodge doesn't sound like what you're after though

athletics is also fucking sick as hell

[prisma sun]

I like being able to casually fly and do anime physics

[buoyant summit]

Honestly is getting more and more annoying as a restriction despite getting a front row seat to the character who has caused the ST to make that restriction

So

As an ST

I get it

[prisma sun]

what is the restriction

[buoyant summit]

As a player

I cannot make a combat ability my Primordial

I am our Azimuth

No Primordial Archery, Brawl/MA, Melee, or Thrown

Debatably no Dodge or Resistance either

[prisma sun]

That seems fair yeah

[buoyant summit]

So that leaves Athletics, which while theoretically very fun seems

To possess one trick that is secretly a billion tricks, which

meh

And Awareness

Whose organization as a tree is starting to boil my blood

Sorry, I guess I'm just venting

[wise ocean]

have you asked them to implement supernal is X+1 instead of X=5 as a fix

[buoyant summit]

In the past that has been floated yes

[wise ocean]

because this seems like it utterly strangles your buildcrafting

[merry arch]

yeah

[buoyant summit]

To be clear I'm not really mainly annoyed at the ST so much as uuuugghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

at the trees

To be clear

This ST is having to actively deal with a 17 melee charm Dusk at our other table

That player has been banned from the Dawnoid slot for this campaign

So

I get it!

But also UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

assorted kvetching noises

[wise ocean]

honestly if they had 17 melee charms that seems like you just put them in one (1) social situation and gg

or one (1) unblockable

[buoyant summit]

I should've just kept on keepin on with my Penumbra idea...

[buoyant summit]

But you see I, our Moonshadow

Am too good at my job for that to ever happen in a way that's unsalvageable

[prisma sun]

The server has kinda taught me that the Dawnoid fears the Face

[buoyant summit]

And also he's

Not exactly an intricately connected guy?

He likes us

He likes his liege

And his Resolve is kind of hilarious

as in high

[prisma sun]

I think every Invincible Sword Princess should have to be an active threat to the party tbh

[buoyant summit]

The most someone could do is piss him off and make him be an extremely good fighter at a bad time

Which, lately

[prisma sun]

"Oops, you now have a Defining Principle of (They Betrayed Me)"

[buoyant summit]

There has not been a bad time because OH FUCK HEAVEN IS IN STYGIA FUCK SHIT FUCKFUCKFUCK ASS, RUN, RUN THE FUCK AWAY AND DON'T DIE

And

Being incredibly good at violence helped with that

What's funny is the closest to genuine consequences with his social ineptitude was the Lion getting pissed at him for playing with his food during their bout

[merry arch]

idk I think it might be worth a conversation with your st about mutual expectations and consent as the dawn and what would be an acceptable combat kit in a scenario where you were allowed to take a combat primordial bc like. having your primordial options narrowed so much feels quite bad as The Combat Guy Caste, yaknow. but that's just like. my opinion

[wise ocean]

idk man this seems like an issue with your DM overcorrecting cos there's a guy with the Spikest Build Known To Man turning their combat encounters ass to mouth

oh wait

[buoyant summit]

Yes Ash

[wise ocean]

this is the playgroup using the Yeah Man Motes Aren't Real ruleset

[buoyant summit]

This is the build that built up 70 initiative

[wise ocean]

yeah okay there's compounding factors

[buoyant summit]

The bout with the Lion saw that scrapped

and idk I was happy with Awareness being the Pri cuz I thought Infernal Awareness would, of course

Have stuff about having an object of obsession

You know

The Literal Most Byronically Satanic Feature You Can Think Of

But No!!!

[prisma sun]

To be fair about feeling bad about being a Dawnoid without a Primordial combat ability

[buoyant summit]

It has 'I like being ambushed and grow to literally never notice'

And 'mmmmmmmmmm senses'

[prisma sun]

https://i.imgur.com/2Z0dOrJ.png

This is an entire combat suite

for 10 motes

[buoyant summit]

the fuck charm is this?

[prisma sun]

Universe-Collapsing Juggernaut Beast

[buoyant summit]

Is this Brawl???

[prisma sun]

This is Athletics

[wise ocean]

isidoros 🙂

[buoyant summit]

WHAT THE FUCK???