General Exalted Discussion VI: Ascendancy Mantle of the Playground

[Rikandur Azebol]

Alright, so who's the wiseguy with the fox-headed fae?

Wut ? What do You mean by that ?

[TheCountAlucard]

Wut ? What do You mean by that ?

It was a Gurren Lagann reference. Specifically, the hot springs episode.

[Turalisj]

No it's not. I'm talking about a game where mesch's name popped up.

[TheCountAlucard]

No it's not.

Then how was anyone except meschlum supposed to get that? And if no one except meschlum was supposed to get that, why not send it in a PM, rather than post something that confuses us all?

[Turalisj]

More fun? Bringing out my inner fae?

[Rikandur Azebol]

It is me, but I got Kitsunemimi not fox-head.

[Edge]

Ladies and gentlemen of the Exalted thread, I'd like to ask you what types of supernatural entity are duking it out in this fight scene.

[Xefas]

Ladies and gentlemen of the Exalted thread, I'd like to ask you what types of supernatural entity are duking it out in this fight scene.

Gah, I can't watch it for fear of spoilers. I'm watching Wakfu at the moment and not to that point.

edit: It's good so far. Needs more demon sword.

[Edge]

Gah, I can't watch it for fear of spoilers. I'm watching Wakfu at the moment and not to that point.

edit: It's good so far. Needs more demon sword.

Damn, I apologize. Let me rephrase the question for you, then.

Based on what you've seen of Nox so far, what would you peg him as in Exalted?

[tonberrian]

*snip*

Slayer Angel returns!

But I liked the Fluttershy caste mark...

[Xefas]

From the admittedly little of him I've seen, the fact that he's a robot with significant power would kind of default him to Alchemical territory, right?

Slayer Angel returns!

But I liked the Fluttershy caste mark...

But it was replaced by a kilt! (And will probably return some day. )

[Edge]

From the admittedly little of him I've seen, the fact that he's a robot with significant power would kind of default him to Alchemical territory, right?

Gah. Very, very minor spoiler:

Spoiler

Show

That's armour. Under that, he's human.

[Xefas]

Gah. Very, very minor spoiler:

Spoiler

Show

That's armour. Under that, he's human.

Ah, I see. Well, (once again, from the little I know of him) he can:
-Teleport with pinpoint accuracy over short and long distances.
-Build artifacts really well.
-Absorb Wakfu (which we'll assume is analogous to Essence).
-Store weapons in Elsewhere.
-Survive strong direct hits from supernatural beings.
-Stop time in a localized capacity that is possible for others to resist.

If the Wakfu Absorbing and Time Manipulation come from Artifacts, then just a Twilight would do. If they're innate to him, then the only splat I can think of that would model that sort of thing would be a Sidereal with all the astrological limiters taken off, so they can just break apart and rearrange the Loom in all the horrible ways the Maidens specifically didn't want them to be able to - so much that they locked away all of their high-tier charms and then stuck them with sub-Lunar power charms in that dreadful fixed set format we all despise.

[Edge]

Ah, I see. Well, (once again, from the little I know of him) he can:
-Teleport with pinpoint accuracy over short and long distances.
-Build artifacts really well.
-Absorb Wakfu (which we'll assume is analogous to Essence).
-Store weapons in Elsewhere.
-Survive strong direct hits from supernatural beings.
-Stop time in a localized capacity that is possible for others to resist.

If the Wakfu Absorbing and Time Manipulation come from Artifacts, then just a Twilight would do. If they're innate to him, then the only splat I can think of that would model that sort of thing would be a Sidereal with all the astrological limiters taken off, so they can just break apart and rearrange the Loom in all the horrible ways the Maidens specifically didn't want them to be able to - so much that they locked away all of their high-tier charms and then stuck them with sub-Lunar power charms in that dreadful fixed set format we all despise.

The Time Manipulation is innate, him being a xelor (time mage). The wakfu absorption is strictly equipment-based.

[Xefas]

The Time Manipulation is innate, him being a xelor (time mage). The wakfu absorption is strictly equipment-based.

Right, so gotta be Sidereal. Unless he's getting his power from some higher being. Then you can justify him being an Infernal, which can in turn justify any power.

[Edge]

Right, so gotta be Sidereal. Unless he's getting his power from some higher being. Then you can justify him being an Infernal, which can in turn justify any power.

Yeah, I can't really go into the source of his time mage powers without spoilers, so I'll just say this: go watch more Wakfu.

[Revlid]

Nox is undoubtedly a Sidereal. Nephilpal has noted that he has in mind a Sidereal Martial Art that deals with Time, and ends at Essence 10.

Grougaloragran is an Essence 9 Lesser Elemental Dragon.

[Xefas]

go watch more Wakfu.

I'm enjoying it so far, although it suffers from a grievous case of 'least interesting main character' syndrome.

My favorite episode so far is probably the Vampyro one, as my #1 and #2 favorite character archetypes are "Sentient Object" and "Amoral Second In Command Who Is Actually Loyal And Genuinely Content With Taking Orders". Somewhere in the top five is the

Spoiler

Show

archetype. So, Vampyro and his ring hit all three of those pretty hard, even though I don't typically go for undead stuff.

I'm still waiting for some Rubilax episodes.

[Edge]

I'm still waiting for some Rubilax episodes.

Rubilax becomes more important nearer the end of series 1, and seems like he'll be much more important in series 2, which I've only just started myself.

[meschlum]

Well, I could give my standard reply...

Teleport: short range has a Charm for that, long range involves Chancel shenanigans.
Build artifacts: very easy to do, and Unshaped (Grace) Transformation lets you convert one artifact into another - add Soul Carving Artifice for speed, and you can spit out multiple 5-dot artifacts per scene (though they vanish afterward).
Absorb Essence: there are Charms for that. Starting at virtues and willpower, then going up to souls. Add Sword Shaping to steal other people's stuff (in the Wyld)
Store things in Elsewhere. Very, very, very yes. 1 mote, for anything.
Survive being hit. Ways to get massive (and even aggravated) Soak, charms to cancel damage for Intimacies or Willpower, spare bodies lying around which look exactly like you and take his in your stead...
Time Stop, with resistance. Sure! Drop a powerful Oneiromancy that gives significant external penalties to moving, use Translucent Dream Sheathing Technology to force people who want to escape time stop to stunt and spend willpower, pick up Charms that boost your move speed until you're a blur to everyone else, employ Oneiromancy to create impassible barriers around your foes (you can go through, they can't)...

Does require a fair bit of xp to do with a single character, though (or trickery).

[ShadowFighter15]

Couple of things I want to ask about.

Say someone uses Trance of Unhesistating Speed to fire four arrows, the Charm's cost is two motes per arrow. Could the archer pay for two arrows using Peripheral Essence and the other two with Personal, or would all four shots have to come from the same Essence Pool?

This next question's a bit more important; could sudden surge of First Age memories cause a person's Virtues to change over time? The idea's in regards to the Abyssal at the end of Return to the Tomb of Five Corners, the Mistress of Pacts Sealed in Blood.

See, I want to use her again in future campaigns, even if the players stop using the pre-made characters from that adventure, but the only way they can do that per the adventure is to beat her in social combat. She fights to the death, otherwise, thinking that a Charm the Mask of Winters taught her will let her reform in the Underworld (he failed to mention that it'll only bring her back as a ghost).

What I was thinking was that, if she loses all of her Temporary Willpower in the encounter - either through Social Combat, using it up in normal combat, or a combination of the two - then her lack of will, combined with the presence of her past life's Circlemates, causes a rush of memories from her Exaltation that overwhelm her. One of which would be from when Twilight Caste researchers in the First Age revealed their findings about no Charm being enough to bring a person back to life (I think it would be a major failing of any Underworld research programs back then to not figure this out). She confronts the Mask of Winters about this (he's remote-controlling a simulacrum of Barrow Black's ghost - he was a bandit king the Circle killed before the start of the adventure) and he tells her the truth.

Now the Mask telling her the truth there, that he was lying to her about the Charm, may seem rather stupid for him, until I remembered that this guy's supposed to be a Chessmaster second only to Chejop Kejack (and possibly the Eye and Seven Despairs, if the guy ever put his mind to something worthwhile). I've spoilered the next bit since it's semi-off-topic.

Spoiler

Show

Perhaps he wants a couple of his deathknights to go rogue as an experiment - see how far they can get without a Deathlord patron. I'm sure the Mask would also have agents working for other Deathlords and if the rogue Abyssals become a serious threat, he could easily make it appear that they were Exalted by one of the other Deathlords, using proxies to avoid his peers realising the accusations came from him.

Let me know if this sort of manipulation seems a bit too out-there for the Mask of Winters, but I kind of get the impression that he's a skilled politician and general, knowing how his peers will act and planning accordingly.

Now from here, this lets me have the Mistress be a wandering rogue Abyssal who could be an on-and-off ally for the 5Corners Circle or for any Circles in further campaigns I run (if she would fit, of course - not going to have her turning up in the Coral Archipeligo without a good reason for travelling from one side of Creation to the other). But she would be different in these appearances to how she is when she first turns up in 5Corners - the memories of her First Age incarnation border on the overwhelming, like if she had Past Lives 4 or 5, and those memories have had a profound impact on her personality and psyche.

Does this sound like it could work?

Finally, does anyone know of somewhere that could give me some inspiration for further Exalted campaigns? Like the lists of adventure seeds you see in DnD books, those are all I really need to get things kicked into gear since I've got plenty of ideas for campaigns further down the line, but no idea how to get them started.

[tonberrian]

Finally, does anyone know of somewhere that could give me some inspiration for further Exalted campaigns? Like the lists of adventure seeds you see in DnD books, those are all I really need to get things kicked into gear since I've got plenty of ideas for campaigns further down the line, but no idea how to get them started.

Ooh, ooh! Pick me! Go refresh this a couple of times and see what comes out. It's actually rolling based off of Revlid's Sidereal Limit Reimagined, but it works just as well to come up with random plot hooks.

[Recaiden]

Ooh, ooh! Pick me! Go refresh this a couple of times and see what comes out. It's actually rolling based off of Revlid's Sidereal Limit Reimagined, but it works just as well to come up with random plot hooks.

For the sake of all Creation, Chanta must eat Chanta.

I can see this being quite useful to come up with random plots. I can also see saying "You know everything that doesn't make sense in Creation? This caused all of them."

Some of them are really out there though. Kill via shocking insight?

And some are blatantly impossible, poor Sidereals. 0.5 Kilomote Deathbeams aren't even allowed to marry in the East. And I'm pretty sure neither are countries.

But others are wonderful plot hooks. The Queen of Fangs must kidnap every single Guild member by the end of the year. Or doom comes to Creation, I suppose.

Wait. Thrice-Radiant Misho is on the character list? I can only approve of this.
But, Nemen Yi, he doesn't have time to befriend the God of Wine! If they leave The Beach, Contagion of Sights will get the Jade Key!
I can only surmise this is Exactly as Planned.

[ShadowFighter15]

That actually looks like a pretty good idea. Although I think some results would happen anyway:

If I wish to achieve my goals, Lookshy must shun Mask of Winters.

EDIT: Ooh; this one could be fun:

If I wish to achieve my goals, Elegant Nova of Progression must spread rumours about an orichalcum crown.

Nove: "Now just stand there - don't touch the crown yet - while I pull this lever... ACTIVATING THE TRAP DOOR! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

[Xefas]

If you want another random generator, this one is one created by internet folk for use with In a Wicked Age. I haven't personally used it yet, but it looks good.

(Each batch of four are meant to be woven into a single adventure.)

[ShadowFighter15]

Thanks for those generators, should be able to work out a plot or two with those. But what about the rest of what I posted? That all sound okay?

[Recaiden]

I see no reason you couldn't pay half the motes from one pool and half from another, since it's two expenditures.

And peoples' virtues can change anyway, without any past lives complications, so I find it completely reasonable for them to be a vehicle for such change, especially if they're revealing present secrets.

Fun thing, the one charm of ultimate dedication to the Neverborn does bring an Abyssal back to life up to (Essence) times, yes?

[Kris Strife]

Can someone find me an online description/picture of Mice of the Sun?

I've been looking but no luck.

[Qaera]

Someone from here had a MotS avatar for a while, forget who or when. I think they're on a shield or something.

~ ♅

[Kris Strife]

Someone from here had a MotS avatar for a while, forget who or when. I think they're on a shield or something.

~ ♅

I was looking for that one and couldn't find it. Could use a description as well though, but they aren't even on White Wolf's Exalted wiki.