They say that meschlum can hear every time someone utters his name.
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Given some time and a whole lot of work I could probably come up with a couple interesting Fae ideas. However I've been having a creative lag the last couple days so I'll just wait for meschlum. He's bound to come up with something better then I would have anyway.
If you don't have/use the Fae source book, then you don't really need to bother with their mechanics.
In short:
In the Wyld, they're near-omnipotent, bounded more by narrative law rather than any in-game mechanic... until someone starts using motes. Using motes against fae things generally breaks their stuff and breaks it hard.
Outside of the Wyld, they're more like disney/looney tunes characters, bounded by reality but able to use a kind of "artistic license" about them to a degree. Think "Cool World" or "Last Action Hero" for examples about how this sort of thing rolls.
From there, just determine what kind of story the fae in question is trying to tell, and it will dictate their shape/nature/goals/etc. I rolled a random genre table to determine that, myself.
This is for my Sweet Dreams Are Made of These project so I just need how they look like.
Hmm...I wonder how possible it would be to use the Fae rules to create Pinkie Pie...
Will this do?
Fae characters, then?
- Marashek, the Architect of Flesh. Fascinated with the workings of the Creation-born, Marashek has long since mastered the art of humanity. Its blessings and curses will warp bodies into more aesthetic forms, granting powers and madness equally. Still, Marashek grows tired of mere mortals - they are too fragile, their wills and bodies incapable of serving as true canvasses on which to paint the glories of the Wyld.
So now Marashek hunts for more interesting bodies - exalts, automata, even the lords of the dead all arouse its interest and hunger. When you meet the stranger with the scarred hand and mismatched eyes, will you accept the alterations it seeks to instill within you, or resist them?
- The Sifu of Tea and Ducks. An ancient sage with (literally) more knowledge of the martial arts in her left toe than all the masters of Creation combined, the Sifu rarely wanders far from the inn of the Duck and Goremaul, a place serving tea on par with the highest Celestial beverages.
Perhaps it's to defend said tea, or simply out of amusement, but the Sifu has taken to selecting mortals (sometimes part of her staff, other times passing travelers), and granting them gifts of overwhelming martial power. Mortals so enlightened seem capable of contesting with the very Celestials themselves! Details of a few styles can be found here.
- The Emperor of Shattered Chains. A potent Strategos, the Emperor has assembled a small number of Heart-bound servants, and set forth an intricate plan to take of a wide swath of Creation. Being sensible, he will content himself with a single Direction.
Each city that falls under his sway is 'freed', all its mortal inhabitants infused with mutational Wyld energies and subtly altered so that they can accept no rule but absolute freedom for themselves. Those who survive the riots and are not consumed by the rampaging fey then set forth, as refugees, seeking safety in another city - which will be converted in turn.
- Hemoril, the Lover of Flames. Created aeons ago, Hemoril has but a singular purpose within the madness that is the Wyld - to love fire and be loved in return. It naturally gravitates towards the South, and has been consumed by volcanoes, dragon's breath, hearth fires, even sparks in its time.
Over and over, Hemoril returns, still seeking the perfect fire that will complete it. The Exalted have drawn its attention, for their souls burn to its eyes, and it will cheerfully, even greedily, draw their attention and occasional ire as it seeks its ultimate conflagration. To what use will you put a helplessly naive, nigh immortal pyromaniac that seems set on dogging your path (and lighting it up) for the next quarter of eternity?
- Surveyor Othas. Following a simple charge, Othas seeks to assess the exact magnitude of the defenses of Creation, and all their strengths and weaknesses. Buoyed by strange Wyld gifts and knacks, Othas fits perfectly in any society of Creation, shape and gender adjusting to suit whatever is required.
Yet this efficiency has a terrible cost, for Othas has found that it enjoys Creation. Perhaps it even loves this strange, twisted, static hell where sustenance and liberty are so rare as to be best viewed as absent. But if Othas were to abandon its sworn duty, and be destroyed or fail to report the best means by which Creation may be unmade, it would be no more than another of its Wyld brethren - and false to the eerie beauty of Creation.
What path will Othas follow next - where will it go? And to whom will it speak?
The writer in flesh- A fae who wants to write the greatest story, one written on the flesh of virgins.
meschlum you never disappoint.:smallbiggrin: Well that's not entirely true, the link was very disappointing as it just lead me to the post reply option of this thread. But aside from that.
EDIT: link fixed. Go here.
Oh. Aesthetics?
The typical art has them look largely humanoid, albeit pointy ears are traditional. Nobles are extremely good looking, commoners are rather ugly.
Assumption of Bestial Form builds on that by giving them animal features (insert animal of choice. Expect weird looks if you happen to be a turkey-bear-human hybrid. With pointy ears).
Assumption of Elemental Form gives you elemental features on top of the base (still the ears) - from clothing style to auras of power to skin color to sweating trails of ice.
Assumption of Cerements and Bone makes you look dead. Go goth, and remember the ears! Or Nosferatu, if you're a commoner or Fritz Lang lover.
Assumption of Dreams and Passion lets you look like someone else (and everyone will ignore your ears - in fact, having them makes you look more like your target than the target looks like itself). Or it infuses you with the aesthetics of an emotion. If you cry rainbows and your nail clippings are cookies, you're set.
Assumption of the Person's Heart can make you invisible to everyone but your target (still with ears, though), look like a minor change on the person you want (such as giving them pointy ears), or look like something very important to them ("Why, grandma, how did you get such pointy ears?").
Assumption of the Living Kingdom means you look like the landscape. And also a rock, or other item lurking in the background. Whether ears are there is open to dispute.
Of course, you can combine all of the above to get more interesting base forms. And if you're feeling creative, pick up a few transformations.
A transformed Fair Folk looks exactly like the thing it turns into, but (typically) has none or few of its features. So you'll be a tyrant lizard with pointy ears, huge teeth and hard scales - and normal size, standard human hands and arms, only normal breath problems (and appetite). Yet everyone seeing you will be convinced that...
"You are the very model of the modern Tyrant Lizard,
You have information clawfull, toothfull to the gizzard,
You know taste of humans and chew on every wizard
You chomp on live musicians and you start with Eddie Izzard..."
(ahem)
I just finished reading Glories of the Most High and I am . . . disapointed. Normally, when I read an Exalted sourcebook of any sort, I find tons of stuff that I can use in my game, be they Charms, plot hooks, or just general setting information, and all of it is awesome. With this book (or three books, depending on how you count), I feel like I just read an Ink Monkeys blog about what they do in their own personal games.
There's too much faux-justification for things that already had justification (like the moon. We already knew Luna had been created to help defend Creation. Did the moon also need to become a metaphysical anchor tying Creation to the Wyld, the Underworld, and Malfeas? :smallannoyed:), Charms that looked more like mechanics patches than like something naturally flowing from the themes of the Exalted, and some of the blandest martial arts styles I've seen. (Really? A Charm that lets me stunt by mentioning ways in which my opponent could improve his form? Wasn't that SOMETHING I COULD ALREADY DO?!? :smallmad: :smallsigh:)
I suppose what bothers me most is how the Incarnae go from classical god-archetypes into pathetic wretches. Unconquered Sun's write-up turns him from an atomic-powered badass Zeus/Jesus figure into Superman with psychosis. The Unconquered Sun's addiction to the Games of Divinity went from "terrible, crippling flaw" to "only sane coping mechanism availible" in 5 seconds flat. The Maidens? They went from mysterious authors of destiny to slaves to that which should be their dominion. Samsara is essentially the deprotagonizing Uber-Fate that dictates everything that will ever happen ever, including anything and everything your character can possibly do, and the Maidens can do nothing but what Samsara wants them to do. Oh yeah, and the Maidens haven't been created yet because they are time-travelers from the future/past/present that never happened. :smallconfused: What? :smallconfused:
Luna got off better than the other Incarnae, but that just leaves me wondering why she hasn't done jack in the past fourteen centuries. She can explicitly be in five places at once with no trouble multi-tasking at all. One can take her turn in the Games of Divinity, one can be banging Gaia, one can pilot her GIANT MOONBASE BATTLESHIP (:smallyuk:), and that still leaves two more to solve every problem Creation has ever had that didn't involve Essence 10 Solars going crazy - like the Balorian Crusade. You know, that thing where the entities Luna was created to battle until the end of time poured across the face of Creation and wrecked havoc with Creation's geomancy, something that is noted as being damaging to Gaia, Luna's beloved above all else. Why doesn't she do something other than sleep with every Lunar to Exalt? I used to be able to say "when she's not sleeping with Gaia, she's taking her turn at the Games of Divinity" but now?
How do the same people who wrote MoEP: The Alchemicals and MoEP: The Infernals be responsible for sub-par material like this?
TL DR version: Glories of the Most High sucks compared to MoEP: Sidereals/Scroll of the Monk/MoEP: Lunars.
Doesn't Glories of the Most High: The Unconquered Sun have that high essence charm that lets a solar come back from the brink of death to continue fighting? That was my favorite part of that book. :smallbiggrin:
Samsara doesn't dictate what PCs do. It's specifically called out as an exception. Some people are immune to Samsara. It's also a much older concept than Glories.
Also I respectfully disagree with your opinion because Glories is objectively awesome. :smalltongue:
Samsara doesn't dictate anything. It is basically a script of everything that happened written after the end of Creation, only the Maidens and some other beings and Charms get to see glimpses of it before it is written. It is descriptive, rather than proscriptive. If a PC does something, it will be written in the samsara.
At least, that's how I was taught to like the idea.
Also: the Maidens have always been slaves to their own destinies. It kinda comes with the job. They're unable to act outside of their domain without effort, and their domain is destiny.
*completely disagrees*
...yes? :smallconfused:
I don't get your aggravation at a setting element that's been present for a long, long while.
Like what?Quote:
Charms that looked more like mechanics patches than like something naturally flowing from the themes of the Exalted,
Crane style? Also known as the most balanced style in the game. Sapphire Veils of Passion? The only balanced SMA. And if you dislike Disco Ninja style, you are not human.Quote:
and some of the blandest martial arts styles I've seen. (Really? A Charm that lets me stunt by mentioning ways in which my opponent could improve his form? Wasn't that SOMETHING I COULD ALREADY DO?!? :smallmad: :smallsigh:)
These are all things that have been established for a good long while.Quote:
I suppose what bothers me most is how the Incarnae go from classical god-archetypes into pathetic wretches. Unconquered Sun's write-up turns him from an atomic-powered badass Zeus/Jesus figure into Superman with psychosis. The Unconquered Sun's addiction to the Games of Divinity went from "terrible, crippling flaw" to "only sane coping mechanism availible" in 5 seconds flat. The Maidens? They went from mysterious authors of destiny to slaves to that which should be their dominion. Samsara is essentially the deprotagonizing Uber-Fate that dictates everything that will ever happen ever, including anything and everything your character can possibly do, and the Maidens can do nothing but what Samsara wants them to do. Oh yeah, and the Maidens haven't been created yet because they are time-travelers from the future/past/present that never happened. :smallconfused: What? :smallconfused:
I'm pretty sure they talk about this.Quote:
Luna got off better than the other Incarnae, but that just leaves me wondering why she hasn't done jack in the past fourteen centuries.
Not to mention that this is something that's been a part of the setting since long before GotMH.
It's almost all mechanically balanced and it builds off of established setting material.Quote:
How do the same people who wrote MoEP: The Alchemicals and MoEP: The Infernals be responsible for sub-par material like this?
:smallannoyed:Quote:
TL DR version: Glories of the Most High sucks compared to MoEP: Sidereals/Scroll of the Monk/MoEP: Lunars.
Really?
So, been having trouble keeping my players straight on the difference between Urge and Motivation. While their Green Sun Princes are starting as loyalists, I find that they're still likely to actually maintain fairly realistic (albeit heroic) Motivations. Stuff like, "Corrupt the remaining Solar Exaltations to the Yozis" seems more like an Urge (and a good Ophidian one at that), y'know? :smallconfused: I like our Fiend Caste's choice of Motivation, "Place myself amongst the foremost of the merchant houses of Gem," which works interestingly with his Urge of "Convert the merchant houses of Gem into a tool of the Yozis."
Nope. Samsara is specifically mentioned as accounting for the actions of PCs. Everything in Samsara happens. Period. The Maidens sometimes miss things in Samsara because their understanding is imperfect, but if you want them prepared for anything and everything the PCs do, even if it occurs beyond Fate, the Maidens can be prepared for it.
Since when was the Sun and Moon called out as giant battlestations? This is the first sourcebook I've seen this nonsense in. I knew it was in there from the Ink Monkeys spending forever and a day describing the Daystar, but I had hoped it was explained somehow in a manner that made sense instead of something just thrown in to make every PC jealous until the end of time.
Flashing Edge of Dawn, Immortal Blade Triumphant, Glory to the Most High, Armored in Righteousness Stance, Enduring Mountain Method, Swallowing the Sun, and that's just from the Solar section.Quote:
Like what?
I dislike Disco Ninja style. The only thing that makes it chameleon is the psychedelic color-changing and nothing makes it crystal. It is perhaps the most ill-named style ever.Quote:
Crane style? Also known as the most balanced style in the game. Sapphire Veils of Passion? The only balanced SMA. And if you dislike Disco Ninja style, you are not human.
Just because the styles presented are balanced doesn't mean they aren't bland. Crane Style? It does counter-attacks and non-lethal damage in a mechanically-sound way, but its fluff is "I teach kung-fu like Mister Miagi". I don't want to be someone else's kung-fu teacher. I signed up to be one of the Exalted and kick ass for myself. Crystal Chameleon can't tell me why its form weapons are its form weapons. All it can say is "Stealth Stealth Stealth Stealth Stealth Ooh Pretty Colors".
Saphire Veil of Passion Style? Yawn. [sarcasm]Oh look, a Sidereal Style focusing on grapples themed about sex. What unusual, reality-warping tricks does it allow? Let's see . . . it lets me make pretty ribbons appear from nowhere! How amazing![/sarcasm] Did whoever write that style ever give it a second look? Because it has a Charm that builds off of applying Crippling effects but the only Crippling effects the entire style can apply come from the Form Charm and the capstone.
Most of the styles from Scroll of the Monk are broken one way or another, but most manage to at least be interesting and worthy of salvage. I love Righteous Devil Style, despite it being on the weak side of things. It's pure "Wild West Shootout". Just reading it gives you a solid picture of how a practitioner of the Style fights on more than a mechanical level. I love Charcoal March of Spiders for its reality-bending spider tricks and itsey-bitsey spider sutra, but you allow those Charms in game and you get the Creation-Slaying Oblivion Kick. I love Quicksilver Hand of Dreams, but it has Charms that are simply "I win" buttons and there are few ways to defend against them. Styles like that evoke the strangeness of a Sidereal Style and bring uncommon methods of battle out.
Again, when was it established that the Unconquered Sun hides from the world so his uberCharms don't turn off? Before reading Glories of the Most High, I though he stayed holed up in the Celestial Pleasure Dome because he had turned his back on the Solar Exalted and was terribly addicted to the Games of Divinity. Now he's just a munchkin trying to keep himself from losing all his best tricks. How did he manage to defend Creation back in the Time of Glory with his schitzophrenic Virtue compulsions? He should have been too busy rebuilding houses after Isidoros' last stomp through Creation to deal with the Fair Folk Invasion on the edge of the world.Quote:
These are all things that have been established for a good long while.
The Maidens have been stripped of free will by Samsara and so are no longer characters. They are mobile scenery, like hurricanes or tidal waves. They didn't choose to help the Unconquered Sun overthrow the Primordials. They were fated to do it, so they did it. Whatever they wanted to do didn't matter a hill of beans. It was either in Samsara and thus they must go along with it, or it isn't and so they must prevent it from happening.
The Creation I signed up to play in is one where every being has the right to stand up, tell Fate itself "Screw You!" and then forge a new path for himself, come hell or high water. Samsara shoots that in the face.
What? You mean the notes about "Luna is less adicted to the Games of Divinity than the other Incarnae"? The notes on her ability to be in multiple places at once? And that Gaia is mostly not in residence in Creation anymore? What part of these means "Luna has no time on her to meddle in Creation's affairs, even when Creation is threatened with utter destruction" ?Quote:
I'm pretty sure they talk about this.
Not to mention that this is something that's been a part of the setting since long before GotMH.
Luna doesn't even have the escuse of "If I look, half my Charms will turn off" that they gave the Unconquered Sun. She can see anything moonlight shines upon if she wants to. She's inhumanly intelligent, perceptive, and cunning. She has no excuse for not be active, not with all the resources and powers that Glories of the Most High gives her.
Mechanically balanced doesn't make it interesting.Quote:
It's almost all mechanically balanced and it builds off of established setting material.
Making a Yozi that is a giant gingerbread house would build off established setting material. That doesn't make it a good idea.
Yes, Really. I can fix mechanical issues and they don't propagate quickly beyond the book in which they were published. Fluff issues spread through everything published afterward and require me to spend a ton of time informing my players of just how the setting changes because the Unconquered Sun isn't a giant turkey.Quote:
:smallannoyed:
Really?
I'm not sure you're correct about Samsara. Holden goes into it here.
why does this seem like errata to you?
Then this is not the style for you. This is the style for thoose who wants to play the teacher role that is part of the defining thematic of the sidereals if you don't want to be a badass teacher you don't take this style, just like if you don't want to be a badass ninja you don't take Ebon Shadow style
what are you talking about? His UberCharms don't turn off if he interact with creation, they turn off if he stops acting like the embodiment of the four virtues he is. In fact his shrinking his duties in order to play the GoD is suggested to turn the most powerfull of them off, he is in that palace due to his addiction.
Samsara can be a lot of things, not all of them what you think it is.
and besides they are only bound to Samsara if they choose to look at it, whenever they have something the find really important they do not look inorder to retain their free will.
Holden spends alot of words telling you why you shouldn't be worried about Samsara. That is not the same thing as saying that Samsara is not a problem.
Yes, only five NPCs can look at Samsara and know what is coming next. That doesn't change the fact that Creation went from a place where no absolute fate can exist to a place where absolute fate does exist. No longer can I change my destiny to be something other than what the universe wanted it to be. My destiny is now predetermined and nothing I do or say can change it.
I didn't say they were Errata. I said they were mechanical patches, like the entirity of the Dawn Solution was a mechanical patch. They can't change the base rules enough to deal with a problem, so they instead throw out more Charms to take that make the problem go away.
You aren't a badass teacher if you take Crane Style. You are a counterattack guru. What about counterattacks makes you a better teacher?Quote:
Then this is not the style for you. This is the style for thoose who wants to play the teacher role that is part of the defining thematic of the sidereals if you don't want to be a badass teacher you don't take this style, just like if you don't want to be a badass ninja you don't take Ebon Shadow style
If I take Ebon Shadow Style, I am a badass ninja. I can be anywhere, hide from anything, and kill you before you ever see me. I don't get powers related to cupcake decorating.
You really think that someone with four perfect Virtues could take a walk down the streets of any city in Creation without suffering multiple Virtue compulsions? Especially when he will hear everything hearable, see everything seeable, and know everything it is possible to deduce from what he percieves? If he takes one step outside the Celestial Pleasure Dome, he will find himself dragged along by his Virtues until he gets caught in an ethical conundrum and forced to suppress his Virtues and his uberCharms. He pretty explicitly knows this to happen. This version of the Unconquered Sun is as pathetic as most people believe the Ebon Dragon to be.Quote:
what are you talking about? His UberCharms don't turn off if he interact with creation, they turn off if he stops acting like the embodiment of the four virtues he is. In fact his shrinking his duties in order to play the GoD is suggested to turn the most powerfull of them off, he is in that palace due to his addiction.
They are bound to follow Samsara whether they look or not, because Samsara is explicitly the script of everything that will ever happen ever. If they look, they just lose the ability to say that their actions are their own choice. Everything does exactly as Samsara says it does because that is what Samsara is defined to be.Quote:
Samsara can be a lot of things, not all of them what you think it is.
and besides they are only bound to Samsara if they choose to look at it, whenever they have something the find really important they do not look inorder to retain their free will.
"But PCs can always do whatever they want even if you tell them that Samsara says otherswise!" you cry. Guess what? That means you used Samsara in your games wrong. You gave the PCs enough information about your plot so that they could turn left instead of right, thus allowing them to impose their free will upon a universe in which true free will no longer exists. The laws of real world physics trumps the game rules.
Only the Maidens are bound by what they see in samsara. Anyone else can just go "lolno" and ignore them.
And they're only bound by it when they look at it
Samsara is really not what you think it is.
So you think that Samsara records everything you were going to do anyway?
So... how has this changed anything?
If you attune peripheral Essence to artefacts, and then spend only personal Essence on Charms is my Anima still going to show?
Erm, what? The applies only to mortals. And even then, only to non-heroic mortals. DB's and heroic mortals can affect fate a bit, and celestial exalts can say 'screw destiny'.
You aren't a badass ninja if you take ESS. Trust me. You are a master of misdirection and avoiding being caught if you take ESS. Yes, that is part of being a ninja, but that doesn't make you a badass one, just a good one.Quote:
You aren't a badass teacher if you take Crane Style. You are a counterattack guru. What about counterattacks makes you a better teacher?
If I take Ebon Shadow Style, I am a badass ninja. I can be anywhere, hide from anything, and kill you before you ever see me. I don't get powers related to cupcake decorating.
Same thing with Crane style. You don't become a great teacher by punching your students into sticky red paste, you become one by teaching them self control and not striking before they know the situation.
He doesn't walk down the streets of Creation though. If he did, there wouldn't be an Immaculate Faith. He stays inside of the CPD because it means he doesn't have to deal with his virtues and with what is going on outside. If he stopped supressing his Temperance, then maybe he'd go outside and start fixing things.Quote:
You really think that someone with four perfect Virtues could take a walk down the streets of any city in Creation without suffering multiple Virtue compulsions? Especially when he will hear everything hearable, see everything seeable, and know everything it is possible to deduce from what he percieves? If he takes one step outside the Celestial Pleasure Dome, he will find himself dragged along by his Virtues until he gets caught in an ethical conundrum and forced to suppress his Virtues and his uberCharms. He pretty explicitly knows this to happen. This version of the Unconquered Sun is as pathetic as most people believe the Ebon Dragon to be.
Kyeudo, I think you are overblowing things just a bit. Have some nice Firewander Special (smoke, what smoke? it's supposed to taste like nitroglycerin!) and calm down for a bit.
Your anima will show when you attune to the artifact. After the cooldown period it won't flare again unless you spend more peripheral motes.
Always attune artifacts with your peripheral motes. There is literally no down side.