General Exalted Discussion IV: Roll Join Debate

[ShadowFighter15]

I've got good news for you. It's free.

Thanks, I didn't think they'd have it for free (not when they're charging $5 for Daughter of Nexus). I'll have a skim through it and see if it's what I'm looking for. I was a bit wary of forcing new players to use pre-made characters, til I remembered how much indecision I had to go through with designing my first Exalted character.

Though I probably had it worse there - the ST was giving us an extra 75 BP ontop of the normal 15 for character creation. Too many choices, damnit.

EDIT: Plus I can always say that they're free to alter the fluff-side of the character if they don't like it.

[Yuki Akuma]

So.

We have charms based on Abilities. We have charms based on Virtues. We have charms based on Colleges, on Essence, on Graces, on Attributes...

What about Backgrounds? I think that would make for some pretty neat charms. Although I'm not sure what sort of being gets power from his connections to other people...

Any ideas?

[Turalisj]

I'd like to be able to get some use of out Allies other than them playing the role of Deus Ex Machina. That'd be awesome

[Lord Raziere]

hmmmmm......Familiar Charms....that'd be something I'd make.

and what about Resource Charms? or Followers charms? or Reputation Charms?

said charms will probably be weird. and how could we make Charms based on something like Solar Bond? or Taboo? or I dunno, Artifact?

[Turalisj]

There's already an ability for familiar charms, it's called Survival.

Resource charms = Bureaucracy
Follower Charms = War or Social charms
Reputation Charms = Presence

[Volthawk]

Hmm, Artefact charms could be something along the lines of increasing magical material benefits, becoming better with artefact weapons, maybe some things along the lines of Holistic Miracle Understanding, so if you have an artefact, you can know the ins and out of it, becoming better at using it. Just some ideas.

[Lord Raziere]

but now I want to have more than the token charm for familiars in survival. now I want a Familiar Martial Arts style or something, an entire charm tree for familiars, and a second for demonic familiars

[Tavar]

Those are charms for those backgrounds in abilities, but they're not based on the backgrounds. Plus, some backgrounds don't fit one ability, like followers. You would have mass social charms and war charms.

[Kylarra]

So.
Played War for the Throne yesterday. It was interesting, but I think we were all handicapped by inexperience. Ended up with Earth winning through Essence accumulation that we'd forgotten about as a win condition until it was too late to really do anything about.

[Turalisj]

Yes you could- call the Wyld Hunt on him and declare him an Anathema.

[Kylarra]

Yes you could- call the Wyld Hunt on him and declare him an Anathema.

Unfortunately, most of our anathema cards were played early on (out of spite and for various perceived slights).

[Yuki Akuma]

There's already an ability for familiar charms, it's called Survival.

Resource charms = Bureaucracy
Follower Charms = War or Social charms
Reputation Charms = Presence

I don't think trying to map Backgrounds perfectly with Abilities is really the best way to go about things.

And yeah I've thought of some ideas for this. Time to homebrew me a new breed of magical being... *cracks knuckles*

[Indon]

Okay I only looked briefly at that wikipedia page but that seems nothing like a Firewand/Flamepiece. They shoot actual fire at the enemy, not a spear.

The spear isn't the projectile, it's the weapon the firearm was mounted on. The projectile would be something more dart or pebble-sized. It's basically a powder-driven blowgun that also shot a plume of fire.

What about Backgrounds? I think that would make for some pretty neat charms. Although I'm not sure what sort of being gets power from his connections to other people...

Any ideas?

That's now officially one of the potential proto-charm types that players in my world could achieve by developing an Art of Charms thaumaturgical school.

[Volthawk]

For these Background charms, Contacts could be some kind of instant communication with your contacts, so you don't have to physically go and meet them to get your information (aka metaphysical mobile phone )

[TheCountAlucard]

So.
Played War for the Throne yesterday. It was interesting, but I think we were all handicapped by inexperience. Ended up with Earth winning through Essence accumulation that we'd forgotten about as a win condition until it was too late to really do anything about.

That is exactly how our first War for the Throne game went. I was even the Earth Aspect, and we all pretty much just whittled at each other until I realized I had fifty Essence. Memnon wins... Fatality! Then the houseruling started...

So.

We have charms based on Abilities. We have charms based on Virtues. We have charms based on Colleges, on Essence, on Graces, on Attributes...

What about Backgrounds? I think that would make for some pretty neat charms. Although I'm not sure what sort of being gets power from his connections to other people...

Any ideas?

We already have a precedent in Messianic Charms.

[Kylarra]

We (by we I mean everyone not me) actually effectively killed Air aspect, reducing them to a lone ship in the outer sea. He made one valiant last stand with his sorceries but died horribly to a series of incursions.

[TheCountAlucard]

Yeah; the "military/naval conquest" option? That almost NEVER happens. It's FAR too easy to turtle in this game. As such, the only players who got destroyed early were the ones who overextended themselves, leaving themselves too easy a target. Because of that, for most of the time, it was effectively a race to 50 Essence.

Okay, and a couple of players were led to ruin by dint of that freakin' Behemoth card.

[Kylarra]

Yeah; the "military/naval conquest" option? That almost NEVER happens. It's FAR too easy to turtle in this game. As such, the only players who got destroyed early were the ones who overextended themselves, leaving themselves too easy a target. Because of that, for most of the time, it was effectively a race to 50 Essence.

Okay, and a couple of players were led to ruin by dint of that freakin' Behemoth card.

The behemoth ate up a bit of my resources and forced to play the "I won't play this event card if you don't make it attack another one of my territories" game.

[TheCountAlucard]

The behemoth ate up a bit of my resources and forced to play the "I won't play this event card if you don't make it attack another one of my territories" game.

That way likewise leads to madness and long, drawn-out games. Trust me, as fun as players allying with each other can be, it makes the game last longer on average than Monopoly.

[Kylarra]

That way likewise leads to madness and long, drawn-out games. Trust me, as fun as players allying with each other can be, it makes the game last longer on average than Monopoly.

It wasn't even an alliance so much as an "I won't utterly destroy your attempt to take over <Air Aspect>'s territory so I can focus on attacking <Wood Aspect>." A Temporary Suspension of Hostilities.

[tonberrian]

Why do Charms based off of Allies make me think of Social Links?

Oh, I know why. Persona is awesome.

[TheCountAlucard]

So, one of the players in my Infernals game is playing a Defiler. He's curious about making a Charm/Artifact/Hearthstone/Something else he can snag for 3 bp, the effects of which would let him add more numbers to his Mind-Hand Manipulation (which he's already maxed out so far: Occult 5, Willpower 10, and even a three-dot specialty in "Mind-Hands"). Any suggestions?

[Turalisj]

I have a sense of deja vu.

Didn't you ask this on the W-W forums to no avail?

[Mr.Bookworm]

So, one of the players in my Infernals game is playing a Defiler. He's curious about making a Charm/Artifact/Hearthstone/Something else he can snag for 3 bp, the effects of which would let him add more numbers to his Mind-Hand Manipulation (which he's already maxed out so far: Occult 5, Willpower 10, and even a three-dot specialty in "Mind-Hands"). Any suggestions?

I personally wouldn't allow it at all. It's boring mechanically and doesn't really make any sense. Artifacts and Hearthstones don't outright modify Charms like that, and a Charm that just adds a number to MHM isn't appropriate thematically, and again, is completely boring. All of that said, an Artifact/Hearthstone adding 3 dice to Occult probably wouldn't be broken.

I would personally ask him to make something modifying Mind-Hand Manipulation, to expand it in versatility. It lets him reap his reward for investing in it and is far more interesting.

[TheCountAlucard]

Didn't you ask this on the W-W forums to no avail?

I'm not on the W-W forums. At least, not for the longest time.

[ShadowFighter15]

Unfortunately, most of our anathema cards were played early on (out of spite and for various perceived slights).

So, just like an actual Dragon-Blooded civil war? Or do the Anathema cards represent actual Solars/etc laying waste to an enemy rather than a false accusation?

On another matter - having read through most of Return to the Tomb of Five Corners it sounds like just what I was looking for. The fact that it's free also means I can give the players the rules for the game without them having to buy the core book and the pre-gen characters'll certainly take a weight off and speed things up. Plus I've never made a Solar character before so I wouldn't be much help if they decided to make their own characters. The one I made for that other game I mentioned (the one where we had 90 BP for character creation) was a Full Moon Lunar.

You think it'd be too game-breaking to use the revised Anima Effects from the Scroll of Errata or should I just stick to what the adventure was written with? It'd only affect the circle's Dawn and Twilight members, but the Dawn Caste's effect in the Scroll seems much better than what they got in the core book.

[SurlySeraph]

Speaking of Defilers, I was looking at Cosmic Transcendence of Virtue. There are two interesting hearthstones in Oadenol's Codex, the Pearl of Wisdom (adds 2 dice to all Compassion and Temperance rolls) and Stone of Temperance (which adds 3 dice to all Temperance rolls, and mentions it has corresponding versions for the other virtues). So. 10 auto-successes on a virtue roll.
Then I was looking at the Arguments of Virtue martial arts styles. Among other things, there's a Charm called Showering Foes With Friendship with which you roll [Compassion + Essence] and get that many extra actions.
And then you can take the Impervious Diamond Heart hearthstone, which lets you choose to fail a Compassion check whenever you want. Teehee.

I don't really have a point here. I just like the idea of a Defiler who can go from a supercharged frenzy of unfathomable extremes of love to not caring at all whenever he feels like it.

[TheCountAlucard]

You think it'd be too game-breaking to use the revised Anima Effects from the Scroll of Errata...?

Not at all.

It'd only affect the circle's Dawn and Twilight members, but the Dawn Caste's effect in the Scroll seems much better than what they got in the core book.

Unfortunately, that's because the anima effects they got in the core book were terrible (Dawn) or broken (Twilight).

[Mr.Bookworm]

The one I made for that other game I mentioned (the one where we had 90 BP for character creation) was a Full Moon Lunar.

*really needs to catch up on everything*

You think it'd be too game-breaking to use the revised Anima Effects from the Scroll of Errata or should I just stick to what the adventure was written with? It'd only affect the circle's Dawn and Twilight members, but the Dawn Caste's effect in the Scroll seems much better than what they got in the core book.

Use the errata. All of it.

In this particular case, the Dawn anima was way weak, and the Twilight anima was broken-good. Now, they're pretty decently balanced.

Also, RttToFC (there's a hell of an acronym) uses the premade signature characters, right? You might want to update them slightly, depending on how long ago they were made. Particularly Dace, for the revised character creation rules. Their Scroll of Exalts write-ups are probably fine, but if you don't want to shell out the money, I'm sure there's someone who'd be happy to help.

And speaking of the signature characters, everybody hates Panther, obviously, but who are your favorites?

I personally like ?, just because I am an unabashed Western nerd. Karal Fire Orchard and Wind are awesome archetypical Zeniths, what Panther should have been. Nightwarden is the man. I've always had an enormous soft spot for Chejop, and Nazri (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is a bro. Tepet Arada is an archetypical Cool Old Guy. The Roseblack is cool, and Peleps Deled is cool in the sense that he immediately makes me want to punch him in the face repeatedly, which is the point. Fallen Wolf and the Disciple are both pimping. Weeping Raiton is the lady. Cearr is awesome, in an over-the-top Scottish way. All of the Alchemicals besides Blossom are cool.

...I like a lot of the sig characters, come to think of it.

Oh, and Demetheus, of course.

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[TheCountAlucard]

I just like the idea of a Defiler who can go from a supercharged frenzy of unfathomable extremes of love to not caring at all whenever he feels like it.

That is an entertaining idea.

Plus, ever since one of my first Exalted sessions, it's been an in-joke with our group, "Channel Compassion to twist his head off!"