General Exalted Discussion IV: Roll Join Debate

[Qaera]

I imagine they could have, however, beaten Ligier down to a single health level, Crippled his limbs off, gagged him, thrown a sheet over him, and promised an enterprising Solar a million billion hookers if he just blindly stabs at whatever is underneath.

Don't forget the blow.

[Yuki Akuma]

That's true. But I still don't think he, plus a few assisting Malfean Jouten, could beat, say, a dozen or so Yozi all working in concert. Swilly would probably side with Malfeas, and there might be others, but...

...well, there's no record of a huge Primordial War 2.0 raging in Malfeas, with one side stalking Ligier with a pair of hedge clippers and a bedsheet, so I think we can safely assume that one fetich death will not completely undo the surrender oaths.

Or, alternatively, they don't know that it would. If it would, anyway.

I find it hard to imagine that they'd remain trapped inside Malfaes when he imploded into nothing but an essence pool, though.

Also, doesn't Malfaes have a charm that makes anyone of lower station than him do what he says?

[Xefas]

Or, alternatively, they don't know that it would. If it would, anyway.

I find it hard to imagine that they'd remain trapped inside Malfaes when he imploded into nothing but an essence pool, though.

Well, maybe they'd get shunted into Elsewhere? I could see them being "free" in the sense of "no longer stuck in Malfeas' goatse" but not "free" in the sense of "now I can go do whatever I want".

[Qaera]

They would still have to deal with Cecylene.

[Yuki Akuma]

They would still have to deal with Cecylene.

Why? She's anchored to Malfaes.

[Lix Lorn]

So, do you think a Sidereal could get Sol's ass in gear by going down to Malfeas and bargaining with Ligier, a free visa out of Hell via "An End To Darkness", in exchange for him taking up a domain of guardianship towards Creation?

Would there be epic jealousy? I want there to be epic jealousy.

(I also wonder how the Green Sun would act without the bitterness and shame imposed upon him by being linked with Malfeas. IIRC, he protected Creation in the days before the Unconquered Sun, right?)

I think the canonical answer is 'Ask your ST', and if you're the ST, it's 'That sounds awesome! Go run it!'

[Qaera]

Wouldn't she just like woosh in to fill the vacuum, or something?

[Xefas]

Oh manz, shunted into Elsewhere and then they run into Autochthon floating around.

EDIT:

I think the canonical answer is 'Ask your ST', and if you're the ST, it's 'That sounds awesome! Go run it!'

Well, yeah, of course. I'm always going to do what's best for my group at the time, but asking questions here can stimulate some interesting discussion. I mean, we hadn't had a post in almost 24 hours. D=

[Indon]

Problem with that last bit is the variability in Exalted power level depending on optimization. A chargen character can be anything from "a mortal with a stick beats you" to "literally untouchable until he runs out of motes". In D&D, barring huge cheese, you can get a decent feel for optimization tiers - but in Exalted... well.

Hmm. Well, this roughly reflects my personal measurement for optimization tiers.

Tier 6: You have big die pools.
Tier 5: You have a perfect defense or attack or the closest you can get to it.
Tier 4: You have a combo that includes both attack and defense options.
Tier 3: You have methods to overcome nonstandard attack options, like shaping, illusion, surprise, etc.
Tier 2: You combo them into your standard combat suite.
Tier 1: Paranoia combat.

[Turalisj]

I never go above tier 3 in that case.

[Lord Raziere]

Meh, the closest I get is Tier 5.

[Feriority]

If having innate charms counts for the purposes of combos, then my first character qualifies for tier 2 just by having SSE and Reflex Sidestep as innate... that seems off to me, because I definitely don't know the rules well enough for my characters to count as highly optimized in any way.

[Yuki Akuma]

What if you get every charm that can overcome every nonstandard offensive action and then never combo anything?

[Turalisj]

Meh, the closest I get is Tier 5.

What, you never use Integrity Protecting Prana or Surprise Negating Method?

[Lord Raziere]

What, you never use Integrity Protecting Prana or Surprise Negating Method?

what are those? I just find a dodge or parry PD and call it a day.

[Turalisj]

The first is an integrity charm that provides a day long shaping PD. The second is a cheap surprise negator.

[Lord Raziere]

Tura, if people worried about everything, then would anyone have any courage to step out of their own homes? everyone knows that roleplaying games are about taking risks, If I was completely safe there would be no point in playing.

this sometimes makes me wonder if we should just make PD's some kind of super-advanced Excellency or something, but then again that would probably unbalance the system.

[Yuki Akuma]

I thought roleplaying games were about playing roles.

[Qaera]

Home is where the heart is, so that will be the first place they look. Anywhere else is safer.

[Kris Strife]

I thought roleplaying games were about playing roles.

I thought they were about killing things and taking their stuff.

[Kylarra]

I thought they were about killing things and taking their stuff.

There's not so many things in Exalted with stuff worth taking sadly.

[Lix Lorn]

Sure there is. You just need to redefine things.
Things like bandits have nothing fun.
But if you take out THE REALM, you can some epic lewt.

[a_humble_lich]

And I hear FaFL has some nice armour. He probably wouldn't even mind too much if you took it.

[senrath]

The first is an integrity charm that provides a day long shaping PD. The second is a cheap surprise negator.

If you're talking about Surprise Anticipation Method, don't take that charm. It actively makes you worse for knowing it. It only works on surprise attacks that you'd get an Awareness roll to avoid and always must be activated whenever it would work, unless you're guaranteed to succeed on the Awareness roll.

[Feriority]

Home is where the heart is, so that will be the first place they look. Anywhere else is safer.

But if I'm NOT at home, then who's defending my heart?

[Qaera]

But if I'm NOT at home, then who's defending my heart?

Kimberry, duh.

[Kylarra]

But if I'm NOT at home, then who's defending my heart?

The Fair-Folk who ate it?

[Lord Raziere]

I thought roleplaying games were about playing roles.

Every time you do something thats a challenge you roll dice to see if you succeed, sounds like taking risks to me, that is how life is, that is how roleplaying games are, so you could say that you are playing a role, since you are taking risks like everyone does in real life. No risk, no real point to the role.

[Xefas]

Every time you do something thats a challenge you roll dice to see if you succeed, sounds like taking risks to me, that is how life is, that is how roleplaying games are, so you could say that you are playing a role, since you are taking risks like everyone does in real life. No risk, no real point to the role.

All you've described is a few mechanics for a 'game', not necessarily a 'roleplaying game'. In Twilight Struggle, for instance, I roll dice to see if I succeed in progressing the tech for my space program. I sacrifice resources and take a risk. It is, however, not a roleplaying game.

What differentiates a 'roleplaying game' from a 'game', is that a 'roleplaying game' has mechanics that specifically promote, facilitate, and reward the act of playing a role and the generation of interesting roleplaying decisions and experiences.

[Lord Raziere]

All you've described is a few mechanics for a 'game', not necessarily a 'roleplaying game'. In Twilight Struggle, for instance, I roll dice to see if I succeed in progressing the tech for my space program. I sacrifice resources and take a risk. It is, however, not a roleplaying game.

What differentiates a 'roleplaying game' from a 'game', is that a 'roleplaying game' has mechanics that specifically promote, facilitate, and reward the act of playing a role and the generation of interesting roleplaying decisions and experiences.

please don't be pedantic with me, I hate it when someone is pedantic. what matters is that is what roleplaying GAMES are, just like any others, just taking risks in a manner that unlike OTHER games, reflect reality since these decisions are about people you ROLEPLAY, therefore since it is a GAME, it is about taking risks like any other game, which is at the core of everything you do in life, since there is nothing in life you do without risk, roleplaying games are NO exception,when I roleplay I take a risk that my character will DIE, that I might FAIL at my quest or something, every. time. I. Roll. So you have no place to argue, because you take the same risks as I do, since we all role for stuff, there is always a chance of failure and therefore, the roleplaying game is about roleplaying and taking risks, otherwise you are just playing indians and cowboys.