General Exalted Discussion Thread VII: Playground Eternal Essence

[Yuki Akuma]

Fetich.

So I had a question. Do Solars have a version of that GSP charm that lets them grab Essence 6 without being 100 years old?

[Turalisj]

Yeah, I think it gives them a permanent limit dot.

[Recaiden]

So I had a question. Do Solars have a version of that GSP charm that lets them grab Essence 6 without being 100 years old?

Glory to the Most High. It gives them normal limit every day in which they use the higher essence.

Abyssals also get a mirror, World-Ending Void Apostle, which costs them Health for every scene in which they use the higher essence dot.

Do Sidereals, Lunars, or Terrestrials get anything like those?

[Rikandur Azebol]

I don't think so. Only Solaroids have this.

[Turalisj]

Lunars have one, but they have to eat the heart of their mate first.

[Lord Raziere]

Lunars have one, but they have to eat the heart of their mate first.

Seems a little cheap compared to the other ones.

[Guancyto]

If your mate is an Abyssal or Infernal, you eat a perma-limit point every time you do it. You take too much perma-limit, you become the world's first tattooed chimaera!

[golentan]

Now here's a question? What (if any) would the sidereal version be?

[TheCountAlucard]

Considering each and every one of the Charms were explicitly developed by their own splat, and how Sidereals have a closed Charmset, either they wouldn't have one at all, or it'd be part of an SMA.

[golentan]

@_@

You're ruining my fun. Indulge me, please.

[meschlum]

Easy!

All Consuming God Monster Stance gives you Heart Stopping Numinous Power, which boosts your Essence by 2 for the purpose of Charm use. Not Charm learning, though.

Oh. Wait. You're probably one of those (sane) people who believe that Sidereals aren't Fair Folk, right?

Use All Consuming Warlord to claim the Heart of a Commoner Entertainer. This is massive overkill, but curbstomp battles happen in Exalted. Grab a Chancel while you're at it (or a Heroic Diplomat with Forging Charms). Enter your own dream via Soul Carving Artifice and Chancel use. Meditate for a few millennia.

Less than one scene later in Creation, emerge from your dream and get back to the duck-fu.

[Mr.Bookworm]

@_@

You're ruining my fun. Indulge me, please.

The Solar one perfects your existing madness. The Infernal one makes you more like your patron Yozi as a permanent modification. The Abyssal one drives you towards the Void by eating away at your body. The Lunar one requires you to eat the heart of a powerful and metaphysically important being.

All heavily tie into the existing nature of an Exalted. So what's the essential nature of a Sidereal (besides bureaucracy)? Maybe if you look into the Loom, it forces you to follow the future you see in there? That seems appropriately dire.

[Turalisj]

Question- can you get the infernal one for your devil-tiger?

[Rikandur Azebol]

Why not ? Just make one of "yourself".

[Recaiden]

If your mate is an Abyssal or Infernal, you eat a perma-limit point every time you do it. You take too much perma-limit, you become the world's first tattooed chimaera!

How bad would it be to lead your abyssal to redemption just so you can eat their heart in peace?

Question- can you get the infernal one for your devil-tiger?

Sure thing.

Ascendancy Mantle of [Devil-Tiger]

You'll need a new drawback appropriate to the D-T, though.
Something that screws with your Torment track or says "You can only use this charm when..."
You could be like the Dragon and have something completely off topic (for essence gain, but still in theme for them), but that's not recommended. The Ebon Dragon is the weird one.

[Guancyto]

How bad would it be to lead your abyssal to redemption just so you can eat their heart in peace?

You...

...need to stop giving me ideas.

(But pretty bad, what with how often you need to do it.)

[Feriority]

So what's the essential nature of a Sidereal (besides bureaucracy)?

Besides bureaucracy? Why would you need a besides?

Obviously the sidereal version gives you five dots of paperwork for every scene in which you use it.

[TheCountAlucard]

Question- can you get the infernal one for your devil-tiger?

You kinda have to. Assuming you took the Ascendancy Mantle to get easy access to Essence 6, going the Devil-Tiger route would mean you replace the normal [Yozi] Excellency with your new one, which in turn disqualifies you for the Charms that require [Yozi] Excellency as a prerequisite, of which Ascendancy Mantle is one. As such, you'd need to replace the old one with your Devil-Tiger equivalent to stay Essence 6.

[Lix Lorn]

You...

...need to stop giving me ideas.

(But pretty bad, what with how often you need to do it.)

Nah, you only need to redeem them once.

Besides bureaucracy? Why would you need a besides?

Obviously the sidereal version gives you five dots of paperwork for every scene in which you use it.

...win. xD

[Xefas]

How about this for the Sidereal Essence-Bootstrapping charm.

Hero-Transcends-Time Sacrifice
Cost: -; Mins: The Messenger 5, Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Native
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None

This Greater Astrological Charm is a dire one, available only when the security protocols have been lifted from the Sidereal Exaltation (see Glories of the Most High: The Maidens pg32). It has no training time - a prospective Sidereal need only have the required Experience and be in the presence of the Loom of Fate, one of the Maidens, or a gathering of Pattern Spiders or Pattern Weavers. In particular, this charm was created as the last resort in the event that all the defenses of Heaven had failed. For example, if all the rest of the Chosen of the Maidens had been massacred in a secret coup, and a free Yozi had just managed to successfully break the Omphalos and take over the world.

Upon learning this charm, the Sidereal is devoured by Fate. His Thread unraveled and rewoven in a different time and place. The exact amount of time that transpires is equal to the difference between his current age and the age requirement for gaining his next dot of permanent Essence (characters of Essence 9+ that use this charm simply die, releasing their Exaltation). He emerges on the other side of this time gap, physically, mentally, and spiritually older as if he had been alive the transcended amount of time. In the process, he has attained a likewise amount of additional Experience (see Exalted Core Book pg 275), which he may spend immediately. Charms bought this way have no training time.

Finally, in this new time, if the Loom of Fate has been destroyed, then he may carry with him the strands of Fate from his own time. He is always considered to still be 'inside Fate' and whenever he spends Essence on an action, those effected by that action are also considered to be 'inside Fate' for the remainder of the scene.

----

(I think it fits in the Sidereal theme of being an awesome charm that both requires GM fiat to even work, and when it does, it's still completely useless in any game in which it would actually be worth using.)

[Lix Lorn]

(I think it fits in the Sidereal theme of being an awesome charm that both requires GM fiat to even work, and when it does, it's still completely useless in any game in which it would actually be worth using.)

In the case that you're joking: Heh. xD
In the case that you aren't: C'mon, throw siddies a bone here. Just cause White Wolf hates them doesn't mean homebrew should hate them too.

[Lord Raziere]

wait a moment, I'm trying to think of something crazy...

I'm either thinking they gain Paradox dice every time they use it.....(probably not)

or only using it under certain conditions related to one of the Maidens. Like Secrets can only use it when no one knows about it, or Journeys when your on a journey or something or Battles having to do with conflict or something....

[Yuki Akuma]

I see no problem in gaining a dot of Paradox the first time you use your heightened Essence in a scene.

[Xefas]

Wait wait. How about this. Their charm actually steals the higher Essence rating from a hypothetical future version of themselves that already has that rating. The charm has to be active for at least a single scene at a time. And so once you actually buy your next dot of Essence for reals, you can't use it for the same amount of time that your past self was stealing it from you.

edit: This would obviously be a Larceny charm.

[Volthawk]

Wait wait. How about this. Their charm actually steals the higher Essence rating from a hypothetical future version of themselves that already has that rating. The charm has to be active for at least a single scene at a time. And so once you actually buy your next dot of Essence for reals, you can't use it for the same amount of time that your past self was stealing it from you.

edit: This would obviously be a Larceny charm.

Gotta admt, this made me think of 8-Bit Theater when I read it. Still, sounds good to me.

[Lix Lorn]

Wait wait. How about this. Their charm actually steals the higher Essence rating from a hypothetical future version of themselves that already has that rating. The charm has to be active for at least a single scene at a time. And so once you actually buy your next dot of Essence for reals, you can't use it for the same amount of time that your past self was stealing it from you.

edit: This would obviously be a Larceny charm.

Gotta admt, this made me think of 8-Bit Theater when I read it. Still, sounds good to me.

Yes. On both counts. Very yes.

[Drascin]

Gotta admt, this made me think of 8-Bit Theater when I read it. Still, sounds good to me.

Yeah, Thief is obviously the inspiration here. But it sounds like an amusing idea.

[masterjoda99]

So, regardless of which yozi I favor, my defilers tend to go for Mind-Hand manipulation (because it's awesome), so in the event of both Malfeas and Ebon Dragon being non-favored, which enhancer requires less investment to work well with Mind-Hand, Green Sun Nimbus Flare or Life-Blighting Emptiness Attack?

[Xefas]

Um, I've never actually read 8-bit Theater before. I've thought about it, but its sheer size and existing fandom makes it a bit daunting.

Plus, it would take away from my Dresden Time. =3

...which enhancer requires less investment to work well with Mind-Hand, Green Sun Nimbus Flare or Life-Blighting Emptiness Attack?

Definitely Life-Blighting Emptiness Attack. To use Green Sun Nimbus Flare with Mind-Hand Manipulation, you also need to go for Kissed By Hellish Noon, or otherwise you can't use it with ranged attacks (which Mind-Hand usually is).

[Lix Lorn]

So, regardless of which yozi I favor, my defilers tend to go for Mind-Hand manipulation (because it's awesome), so in the event of both Malfeas and Ebon Dragon being non-favored, which enhancer requires less investment to work well with Mind-Hand, Green Sun Nimbus Flare or Life-Blighting Emptiness Attack?

Get both! My newest infernal has them both.
Admittedly she IS a Slayer favouring the ED.