Exalted 2nd Edition Linguistic Charms

[JeenLeen]

For Exalted 2nd edition, there's at least two Linguistics charms where you write something and those who read it undergo a powerful unnatural mental influence. One is to love/greatly admire the writer, and the other is to undergo a desired Compulsion or Illusion effect (i.e., compelled to do X or believe X). Both Charms are Instant duration, so no motes committed.

Am I reading it right that you just use motes when writing it, and then anyone who read its undergoes the effect (at least assuming they are part of the targeted audience)? My main concern is the idea that my PC could write an essay and have it effect a potentially unlimited number of folk who read it.

Is that correct pre-errata? What about post-errata? (I'm in a pre-errata game, but interested in both versions.)

Also, I recall reading somewhere in the core rulebook that extras don't spend Willpower to resist unnatural mental influence unless it's against their Motivation. If that's true, and I have Lingustics 5, the 'beauty modifier' from Linguistics would drop most average mortals (App 2)'s DV by 3. So, with Lingustics 5, most extras would automatically succumb, right?

Lastly, I'm in a modern game. What's y'all's opinions on an essay written in an online blog, or a handwritten thing being photocopied, to impact the masses?
EDIT: I should add that, in the setting I'm in (very homebrew), superheroes (like as in Marvel or DC) have existed for a few decades, but Exalts are just now showing up as well. It is very illegal to use mind control except in self-defense, so the brokenness of an online blog rewriting everyone who reads it's beliefs is compensated for a lot of powerful supers trying to arrest the Exalt.
On that note, since the Charms are not Obvious, does anything 'RAW' state that folk can notice it's magic and not just a really compelling essay? (At least, assuming no real crazy stuff is the point. I'm thinking of using it mainly to convince gangs to change who they work for and to spread a cult that worships supers as gods.)

[The_Snark]

For Exalted 2nd edition, there's at least two Linguistics charms where you write something and those who read it undergo a powerful unnatural mental influence. One is to love/greatly admire the writer, and the other is to undergo a desired Compulsion or Illusion effect (i.e., compelled to do X or believe X). Both Charms are Instant duration, so no motes committed.

Am I reading it right that you just use motes when writing it, and then anyone who read its undergoes the effect (at least assuming they are part of the targeted audience)? My main concern is the idea that my PC could write an essay and have it effect a potentially unlimited number of folk who read it.

Is that correct pre-errata? What about post-errata? (I'm in a pre-errata game, but interested in both versions.)

Without knowing what Charms you're referring to, it's hard to be sure, but I believe that's correct. Note, however, that the magic is applied to the specific thing you write, not just the content - if somebody else starts distributing word-for-word copies of your essay, those will not have magical effects. Although they may still convey an extremely effective mundane social attack.

(Assuming you're using Performance to make any relevant social attacks, that is - Presence requires you to specify targets, and only works on them.)

Lastly, I'm in a modern game. What's y'all's opinions on an essay written in an online blog, or a handwritten thing being photocopied, to impact the masses?

As it happens, Shards of the Exalted Dream (one of the last 2nd edition books published, focused on alternate versions of Exalted's setting) discusses this very thing:

Exalted socialites can easily embed unnatural mental influence in letters, pamphlets, and books. However, doing the same with a social media update that will be read by hundreds of thousands is somewhat more difficult. Without the physical medium of a written text to contain its Essence patterns, unnatural mental influence conveyed through the Internet or other electronic means will slowly degrade as it is read by more and more people. Once an enchanted message has been read by a group of people with a Magnitude equal to its creator’s (Essence + 2), these patterns of Essence dissipate into their component motes. While the written social attack itself remains, new readers will not be affected by any unnatural mental influence attached to it.

It doesn't talk about photocopies and the like, but I suspect that the best-case scenario is they get the same limitation; worst-case is that the magic you used on the original doesn't apply to copies at all.

[JeenLeen]

Thanks. I think my DM is drawing on Shards of the Exalted Dream for guidance on the port to modern, so that might be helpful.

To note, the Charms I was looking at are Flawless Brush Discipline and Twisted Words Technique.

[Ruth Beck]

The question of linguistics is actually very interesting, and what is even more interesting is that this question is also related to games. There are quite a few branches that study linguistics, but personally, I am most interested in this issue from the side of psychology. And in general, psychology is a rather interesting field to study. Thanks to her, you can explain any human behavior and also understand why he did just that, and not otherwise. But if we return to the issue of linguistics, then Paperial can be found a lot of interesting information, especially with regard to paper writing. We all know that in our time there are many different services that help students and not only. But by any written work, an experienced psychologist will be able to determine whether the person wrote by themselves or somebody helped him, as well as determine the character of a person and much more. And this is only relying on linguistic assistance. Also, this method is used by the police, when solving complex cases and not only. Sorry if this is not exactly on topic. It's just that I just recently discovered this forum and the world of comics and games for me. Before that, I was completely focused on studying and decided to share interesting facts on this.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: Thread Necromancy is disfavored here.