General Exalted Discussion II: No Longer Mortal

[Rikandur Azebol]

So, I was thinking about it as I read the Return of the Scarlet Empress ...

Heh. Once I played in a game where ST, by accident, let our group to discover Empress's lot, from the culprit himself, conviced Yozi Oramus to relay message into the past ... and suddenly we foiled the whole plan before She fell into the trap. The look of dissapointment on ED's face was priceless.

Saying so, perhaps You guys should start with newbs ? Or write down why Your old chars depowered to newb status ?

[Aether]

TheCountAlucard - is there any place I can read more of your Circle's adventures? I admit I lol'd at the "We need Five Metal Shrike Power!" bit and have wanted to see the rest of the adventure.

Is it recorded anywhere, or are summaries and questions the most we can realistically get?

Heh. Once I played in a game where ST, by accident, let our group to discover Empress's lot, from the culprit himself, conviced Yozi Oramus to relay message into the past ... and suddenly we foiled the whole plan before She fell into the trap. The look of dissapointment on ED's face was priceless.

Saying so, perhaps You guys should start with newbs ? Or write down why Your old chars depowered to newb status ?

... How? On all accounts. How did the ST goof, which sounded awesome? How did you convince Oramus to relay a message into the past, which sounds unbelievable? And exactly how disappointed was the ED really?

Really, this I just got to hear...

[Tavar]

Infinite jade Chakrams. They supposedly factor in the Jade material bonus already, but I notice that the have speed 4, just like normal, mundane Chakrams. Is this a balancing factor or something?

[TheCountAlucard]

So, last night's session...

Ah, here we go, let me sum it up for you, in its entirety...

First, I got yelled at by a Sidereal for using a Charm that doesn't mess with the Loom of Fate, because it was messing with the Loom of Fate.

Then the "wise general" Erdrick was quick to attack a stranger we don't know anything about at the behest of a stranger we don't know anything about, using only the evidence that Shichirou and Cashious gathered in the span of less than an hour, without investigating into the matter at all. And the stranger he attacked? It was the Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible. You know, the guy similar on power scale to the guy we spent two years planning how to defeat.

Gripping action ensued as the rest of the group made exactly two dice rolls, neither of which was the sort I was capable of stunting (due to both of them being "do you know this"-type rolls).

We also had two big arguments over rules, and the new guy decided he was going to play a different character, you know, one that could actually contribute something to us.

[Tavar]

Which charm? And is this the attempt to run the Return of the Scarlet Empress? Or some other game?

[Lix Lorn]

Doesn't EVERY charm mess with destiny, due to essence ignoring fate?
And Sidereals mess up fate MORE, thus their charms causing Paradox?

[TheCountAlucard]

Doesn't EVERY charm mess with destiny, due to essence ignoring fate?

Yes, but I never get yelled at by my allies for uppercutting someone into a volcano.

[Tavar]

Isn't is more using astrology that messes it up? At least, Sidereal astrology and craft fate? Might very well be wrong.

And, yeah, that seems to be making a big deal about nothing.

[Sanguine]

Isn't is more using astrology that messes it up? At least, Sidereal astrology and craft fate? Might very well be wrong.

And, yeah, that seems to be making a big deal about nothing.

Yeah it's Astrology they get Paradox for not their Charms.

Edit: Also I agree, big deal about nothing.

[Lochar]

Infinite jade Chakrams. They supposedly factor in the Jade material bonus already, but I notice that the have speed 4, just like normal, mundane Chakrams. Is this a balancing factor or something?

Could it be that it has the Blue Jade specific bonuses applied? +1 Damage, +2 Rate?

[SurlySeraph]

Abyssal question. Can you take Ravening Mouth of X for non-combat abilities? Ravening Mouth of Performance with Withering Phantasmagoria, of Bureaucracy with Eloquent Example Inspiration, and of Ride or Sail with running people down seem like probably-intended uses to me. Using Ravening Mouth of Bureaucracy and passing laws mandating really harsh punishments, or Ravening Mouth of Linguistics and putting up eloquent billboards urging people to kill themselves, seem possibly abusive but thematic.

[Lix Lorn]

I'd say yes because Lol. XD

[TheCountAlucard]

Abyssal question. Can you take Ravening Mouth of X for non-combat abilities?

Not by the default rules, sadly. Default rules, it's strictly Archery, Martial Arts, Melee, and Thrown. Still, would be awesome if you could.

[Tavar]

And, yeah, that seems to be making a big deal about nothing.

Just to be clear, I meant that the characters critisiing you seem to be making a big deal about nothing. After all, the Loom can handle much bigger problems on it's own, and making more heroic mortals helps Creation. Which, at the current time, should be the biggest concern.

Could it be that it has the Blue Jade specific bonuses applied? +1 Damage, +2 Rate?

Odd that they would have them in the core book, before those specific bonuses were released in Oadenol's codex.

Also, I don't think so. They only have 1 more rate than normal mundane chakrams. The closes artifact weapon I can find to them, Typhoon Wheels from the Scroll of monk, are artifact 1 weapons, with a rate of 2(pre material bonus), equal damage and speed, and better accuracy. It's really odd.

[Lochar]

You have your choice then, for Sentai. Either take Blue Jade's specific bonus, or standard jade bonus on top of it's normal ability. Which would you like?

[Tavar]

Normal Jade bonus, please.

[Sanguine]

Just to be clear, I meant that the characters critisiing you seem to be making a big deal about nothing. After all, the Loom can handle much bigger problems on it's own, and making more heroic mortals helps Creation. Which, at the current time, should be the biggest concern.

I too thought the characters doing the criticizing were making a big deal out of nothing. Just to be clear. I believe the indignation Alucard has been showing is perfectly justified.

[Indon]

"You Can Be More."

Mortal extras have destinies (because everyone has a destiny already, that's what the Loom does), they just aren't very interesting. Awakening essence doesn't necessarily change this destiny, either - it just allows the mortal to more readily buck their destinies (because destiny is not absolute in the Exalted universe, anyone can endeavor to avoid theirs). Furthermore, charms that literally awaken Mortal essence (which obviously are better than just making mortals heroic) document nothing like this.

Abyssal question. Can you take Ravening Mouth of X for non-combat abilities? Ravening Mouth of Performance with Withering Phantasmagoria, of Bureaucracy with Eloquent Example Inspiration, and of Ride or Sail with running people down seem like probably-intended uses to me. Using Ravening Mouth of Bureaucracy and passing laws mandating really harsh punishments, or Ravening Mouth of Linguistics and putting up eloquent billboards urging people to kill themselves, seem possibly abusive but thematic.

It seems clear to me that the Ravening Mouth charms are meant to cause the character's anima to devour Essence, making it rather a physical attack sort of charm.

That said, can't Abyssals just make their own charms? I'd probably allow for a more expansive Ravening Mouth-like ability to be used with almost any abilities used to inflict non-immediate harm as a charm that simply requires learning Ravening Mouth of something, and then probably requiring Essence 4.

[Tavar]

Are their any firm rules regarding reflexive attacks? Or just what's in the Ink monkey charms that use them?

[Yuki Akuma]

That said, can't Abyssals just make their own charms?

Of course. They're Solars. If it's thematic for any Exalt type to be able to make their own charms, it's for Solars.

[Tavar]

Are Sidereals the only ones that have a difficult time making charms? Because the charms have to be from the Maidens, or something?

[Yuki Akuma]

Yes. Their charms are made by the Maidens, not by themselves.

Everyone else can make custom charms.

Of course, Sidereals can make custom Sidereal Martial Arts.

[Lord Raziere]

beh, I would just ignore that and just start making Sidereal charms because no one else seems to be making Sidereal charms to make em less wonky....but I'm too busy with other things.

would really like someone to do that someday....maybe I can just start a brainstorming thing where a bunch of people come up with charm ideas for Sidereals then let them discuss with each other of how to balance them.

[Yuki Akuma]

...What?

You can homebrew Sidereal charms fine. But in-character, they can't make custom charms.

And nobody really makes Sidereal charms because I think we're still waiting for their errata.

(Or did that come out already?)

[Lord Raziere]

then why don't people just make homebrew charms and say the Maidens did it?

I mean how long with this waiting for errata take?

[Yuki Akuma]

A lot of people dislike Sidereals for some reason.

[Tavar]

Partially, at least from my understanding, the fact that all charms are made by the maidens, so Sidereals themselves can't make charms has been changed in the internet to mean that no one can make new Sidereal Charms. Which somehow got extended into homebrew.

Don't ask me how, this is all just hearsay.

[tonberrian]

As far as I can tell, Tavar is basically right. The Sidereals have a closed charmset - the Maidens designed the charms, not the Chosen, and only the Maidens can make new charms for the Sidereal charmset. Because of this, there has been a certain stigma against homebrewed Sidereal charms, because in theory, the Maidens had already designed all the tools a Sidereal would need to complete whatever they were tasked with (the extant Sidereal charmset) and a Sidereal should branch out into Martial Arts if he really wanted a different effect; it was also very difficult to convince the Maidens to design a new charm for the Sidereals to use.

I think it has been only recently that the collective internet has realized that adding in custom charms into the Sidereal charmset doesn't necessarily mean that they hadn't been there all along. Furthermore, since the Sidereal charmset does not work as written (willpower costs are borked, lots of 1E copypasta, elementary defensive effects are missing, etc.) and a thorough errata has been promised, most homebrewers are hesitant to add in charms that might be obsoleted or whose prerequisites might be totally changed or even dropped once the errata rolls in some time next neversday.

[Kyeudo]

Infinite jade Chakrams. They supposedly factor in the Jade material bonus already, but I notice that the have speed 4, just like normal, mundane Chakrams. Is this a balancing factor or something?

The Infinite Chakram really should have the same stats as a Jade Typhoon Wheel.

[Lord_Gareth]

So, what kind of Exalted game/Exaltation would you recommend for a newbie?