General Exalted Discussion II: No Longer Mortal

[SurlySeraph]

@^: Sounds reasonable to me, but I'm obviously a bit biased.

Originally Posted by Kyeudo

Also, Martial Arts should not interact with Sidereal Astrology ever. Martial Arts Charms can be picked up by anyone and Sidereal Astrology is the sole province of the Sidereal Exalted.

Throne Shadow Style provides precedent for a martial art that works better for Sidereals than it does for everybody else.

Originally Posted by Urpriest

Perhaps instead flip it around: make an attack, the attacker may voluntarily forego any defense in order to take none of the attack's usual effects but must accept the penalty.

Sure, that would make sense.

[The Rose Dragon]

Originally Posted by SurlySeraph

Throne Shadow Style provides precedent for a martial art that works better for Sidereals than it does for everybody else.

Because that is a Sidereal "hero" style. It is allowed to have such enhancements.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Originally Posted by Cyborg Mage

Homebrew!

Let the line by line near-pointless nitpicking commence!

Spoiler

They can be made from any material, require no attunement and are considered throwing weapons of speed 5, rate 3 and 50 ft range until they actually contain something, gaining all the bonuses for an attuned ranged weapon of that material (Excluding those pertaining to damage).

Assuming these are intended to model Pokeballs, this should probably be more like Speed 6, Rate 1, and Range 10. They also don't apply magical material bonuses, as they are not attuned.

When they succesfully hit a spirit, elemental or non-human creature (Alchemicals and Jadeborn are considered human),

A better wording would be "non-mortal" instead of "non-human". Mortal is a Exalted term that does what you're trying to say here.

instead of calculating damage, the target rolls (Resistance+Integrity) against the user's (Thrown+Presence).

You need to use the standard Exalted roll format here, (Attribute+Ability). I would also add Essence to the target's roll. The target should be something like (Stamina+Integrity+Essence) against the user's (Dexterity+Thrown).

OR, to represent how in Pokemon wounded creatures are easier to capture while they're low on HP, you probably want to do something with wound penalties. Maybe you could make the initial roll something like (Willpower+Essence), or something else that would generally result in a high dice pool. Then double wound penalties for this roll. So a Creature with Essence 4 and Willpower 8 would have a dicepool of 12 normally, which you're not going to beat even with maxed Dexterity and Thrown. Get it down to it's last healthbox, and it takes a -8 penalty to this roll, reducing it to a much easier to capture dicepool of 4.

From then on, the creature or spirit is considered the owner's familiar;

You probably don't want to use the word familiar here, as that's a pre-existing Merit with it's own baggage and rules.

they will automatically obey any order given to them by their master unless they fail or pass a required Virtue roll, or

"Required Virtue roll" needs some clarification, even if I think I see what you meant.

pass an integrity roll against an order that opposes their mental or metaphysical nature (such as ordering a nephwrack to defend a living being).

In Exalted, you would word this as opposing Intimacies or their Motivation. If you're, say, a zombie, you're "metaphysical nature" doesn't make you do anything, but you probably have a built-in Intimacy of hate and/or hunger towards living beings, or a Motivation of "Eat brains".

You also need to reword the "integrity roll" as something like (Willpower+Integrity).

Additionally, though they can disagree with their master, they will not actively oppose them unless under the effects of unnatural mental influence, and if owned by a player character, their actions in combat are completely directed by the player. Captured beings automatically pass their rolls on future capture attempts. Whilst inside the sphere, beings heal and respire (For applicable beings) twice as fast, and are immune to environmental effects outside the sphere. For the purposes of respiration, underworld denzins are considered inside the underworld whilst in a soulsteel Sphere.

Say "creatures of death" instead of "underworld denizens".

As mentioned before, Spheres can be made of any material, and provide a -3 penalty to the rolls of the target creature should it be made of a specific material:
Orichalcum and Starmetal Spheres apply the penalty to devas and gods.
Jade Spheres apply the penalty to elementals and kami.
Moonsilver Spheres apply the penalty to Wyld creatures and mutants with 5 or more mutations.
Soulsteel Spheres apply the penalty to all types of ghosts.
Adamant Spheres apply the penalty to Autochthonian elementals and examachina.
Any vitrol-corrupted Sphere applies the penalty to demons instead of their original targets.

"Deva", "kami", and "examachina" are not Exalted terms. I don't know what you meant by those.

Also in the Moonsilver sphere entry, it should be "5 or more points of mutations".

Adamant Spheres should probably also give the penalty to Autochthonian gods. Or you could just say that the penalty applies to anything under the Design of the Maker.

I'd also suggest making Moonsilver Spheres apply their penalty to mundane animals, because relying on the Wyld for anything can be tricky depending on your ST.

Additionally, Spheres are much more common than other artifacts. A set of six Spheres of identical material can be purchased for Artifact ●● at startup, and Jade spheres can be purchased in most towns in a Second Age setting by any character with Resources ●●●+ or equivalent (purchasing more than 10 Spheres in a month subtracts one dot), with Spheres of other materials available from more specialized shops. In a First Age game, Spheres of any material (Excluding Soulsteel and, after Autochthon's exile, Adamant) can be purchased by Resources ●●+ or equivalent with no such restrictions. In Autochthonia, Spheres of any material can be purchased for resources ●●+ or equivalent (●●●+ in the Second Age).

I would take issue with this with anything else, but this makes sense, given that it's a Pokemon thing.

Beings above essence 5 require specialized Spheres for capture, which raises the artifact level to 4 and rendering them entirely unavailabe for purchase in the Second Age (They can be purchased in the First Age for Wealth 3 or equivalent). Attempting to capture beings of essence 6 or 7 with an unspecialized sphere imposes a -3 penalty to the user's rolls, while beings of 8+ impose a -5 penalty.

I would personally add a line saying that you can't capture a being with an Essence that's equal to or greater then your Essence plus two or three (except worded a bit more eloquently then that).

This helps prevent power creep, and also fits in with the videogames pretty well. Also I am totally imagining Cecelyne making these, so go with (Essence+2).

You also might want to address creatures that can be quite a bit more powerful then their Essence makes them seem (Behemoths, primarily).

Also also, you probably should add that you cannot capture extras.

Additionally, succesfully capturing an essence 8+ being with an unspecialized Sphere causes it to explode in a perfect 75 foot ball of shimmering, concentrated essence in the colour of its component material, glowing with the intensity of a star. Beings within 300 feet of the blast are blinded for six months unless underground or inside a windowless building (Exalted and essence 4+ beings may roll Resistance), while those inside the blast suffer both this roll and 10 levels of unblockable, undodgable Aggrivated damage.

This is quite a bit over the top compared to similar effects.

I'd work the blast something like this. Regular mortals should be blinded for six months, heroic mortals should get a (Wits+Resistance) roll, Essence 2-3 supernatural beings should make a (Wits+Resistance) roll or be blinded for one day, and Essence 4+ supernatural beings make a (Wits+Resistance) or be blinded for one turn.

While a person can possess any ammount of empty spheres, they may only possess six occupied Spheres at any one time. Should they possess a Manse, excess Spheres are automatically transported to a vault in said Manse should they have their hearthstone somewhere on their person. This vault can be accessed remotely while meditating uninterrupted for over five minutes with the hearthstone. Otherwise, succesful captures are automatically released. While these vaults are practically unlimited in most games, Storytellers may impose a limit on the capacity of these vaults. In this case, these vaults are considered to have a maximum capacity of (Manse levelX5). At the Storyteller's discretion, a manse with definite statistics may have a specialised vault, increasing the capacity to X10.

This all sounds good.

You also probably want to rule that Incapacitated creatures cannot be captured.

Hope this all helps!

Incidentally, although Alchemical Akuma are usually impossible, what happens if we throw an Alchie into a vat of vitrol?

Same thing that happens if you throw a Solar or a normal mortal in a vat of vitriol.

We don't know.

The demons composing the vitriol lashing out at them makes a certain amount of sense (Malfeas doesn't control vitriol).

Originally Posted by SurlySeraph

Because having the ultimate attack of a fate-themed martial art be easy to completely ignore leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus I think "You can perfect away this attack for free, but if you do your rolls are at +1 TN or +1 difficulty for about 6 actions" isn't terribly unbalanced.

I can see why this would bug you, but perfect defenses are a fundamental (probably the fundamental) aspect of high-level Exalted play, because it's undodgeable rocket tag at that point. Giving anyone a way to ignore them is a very very bad thing, unless you want to your style to be regarded as on the Zeal or Obsidian Shards of Infinity level.

Not to mention that even if this was acceptable, +1 TN or +1 difficulty for only six actions is an incredibly minor penalty for an attack that good.

[Tavar]

Originally Posted by SurlySeraph

Because having the ultimate attack of a fate-themed martial art be easy to completely ignore leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus I think "You can perfect away this attack for free, but if you do your rolls are at +1 TN or +1 difficulty for about 6 actions" isn't terribly unbalanced.

Except, essence expenditure is, by canon, the thing that messes up fate. That's one reason the Exalted are so powerful; fate says one thing, and they can tell fate to stuff it. And perfect defenses are the pinnacle of that.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Originally Posted by Tavar

Except, essence expenditure is, by canon, the thing that messes up fate. That's one reason the Exalted are so powerful; fate says one thing, and they can tell fate to stuff it. And perfect defenses are the pinnacle of that.

Also, yeah, this.

It's also important to note that a style dealing with Fate isn't really appropriate for a Sidereal style philosophically.

Sidereal styles take a fundamental facet of existence, things like perceptions, dreams, reflections, movement, or entropy, and use it as a weapon and lens to view the world through.

They also have a tendency of emulating the principles and abilities of other sorts of beings. Obsidian Shards of Infinity (intentionally) emulates the Ebon Dragon, and Quicksilver Hands of Dreaming has some very close ties to the Fair Folk in powers and theme.

...really, it's a shame Sidereal styles tend to be so broken. They're awesome, both in powers and in thematics.

[TheCountAlucard]

Speaking of SMAs, would it be at all unreasonable if I refluffed or outright remade some of them in my games to be in-theme with the different Spheres of Magic in oWoD Mage?

Not really going anywhere with this yet, just an idea I thought I'd throw out there...

[Xefas]

Originally Posted by TheCountAlucard

Speaking of SMAs, would it be at all unreasonable if I refluffed or outright remade some of them in my games to be in-theme with the different Spheres of Magic in oWoD Mage?

Absolutely not. If you do, the homebrew police will break into your parents' place of residence and imprison your mom's soul in a giant robot.

You don't even wanna hear about the last guy that happened to.

[Kyeudo]

Originally Posted by Xefas

You don't even wanna hear about the last guy that happened to.

What do you mean? That guy got his own TV series! His fanbase is still going strong.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Originally Posted by Kyeudo

What do you mean? That guy got his own TV series! His fanbase is still going strong.

Yes, fanbase. *snrk* "Bitchbase" would probably be more accurate.

But speaking of all of this, go read up on the Eva units. Now flip to Chapter 6 of the Infernal book, and read up on hellstriders.

There is no way in Malfeas that wasn't intentional.

Originally Posted by TheCountAlucard

Speaking of SMAs, would it be at all unreasonable if I refluffed or outright remade some of them in my games to be in-theme with the different Spheres of Magic in oWoD Mage?

I don't know a lot about oWoD, but if you made SMAs as certain "aspects" of the Spheres, they could make a lot of sense.

The Border of Kaleidoscopic Logic is Mindrape: Martial Art Edition, Charcoal March of Spiders is entirely based around entropy with a little e, and Citrine Poxes of Contagion would work as some sort of Life/Spirit hybrid. The Prismatic Arrangement of Creation works very, very well as a Prime thing, and Quicksilver Hands of Dreams is probably another Mind one. Scarlet-Patterned Battlefield Style works well as martially-inclined Correspondence discipline. I would make Obsidian Shards of Infinity Sphere-less.

[Xefas]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bookworm

There is no way in Malfeas that wasn't intentional.

*cough*

(To reignite the Abyssal hate) Hellstriders totally kick Bonestriders' collective asses.

[kts2008]

Hey! Some of us like the Abyssals. Damn Infernals getting all the love these days. . .

[golentan]

Only because Infernals know more than one chord from the "It's Good to be Bad" Rock Opera.

[Tavar]

So, I might be running an exalted game IRL, mostly for newbies. Any tips on what I should/shouldn't do?

[Cyborg Mage]

Nitpicking of the nitpicking. I'm breakin' the universe, one step at a time.

Spoiler

[quote=Mr.Bookworm;10209717]Assuming these are intended to model Pokeballs, this should probably be more like Speed 6, Rate 1, and Range 10. They also don't apply magical material bonuses, as they are not attuned.

Yeah, sorry. I was using the only throwing weapon that came to mind. Concealed-Knife Brace knives.

A better wording would be "non-mortal" instead of "non-human". Mortal is a Exalted term that does what you're trying to say here.

Thanks.

You need to use the standard Exalted roll format here, (Attribute+Ability). I would also add Essence to the target's roll. The target should be something like (Stamina+Integrity+Essence) against the user's (Dexterity+Thrown).

Okay, forgot that. I just thought it was (X+Y(+Z)).

OR, to represent how in Pokemon wounded creatures are easier to capture while they're low on HP, you probably want to do something with wound penalties. Maybe you could make the initial roll something like (Willpower+Essence), or something else that would generally result in a high dice pool. Then double wound penalties for this roll. So a Creature with Essence 4 and Willpower 8 would have a dicepool of 12 normally, which you're not going to beat even with maxed Dexterity and Thrown. Get it down to it's last healthbox, and it takes a -8 penalty to this roll, reducing it to a much easier to capture dicepool of 4.

... Crap. I had something in mind-creatures can only be captured with remaining health levels equal to, or lesser than, (8-Target Essence+User Essence), but that works too.

You probably don't want to use the word familiar here, as that's a pre-existing Merit with it's own baggage and rules.

I was wondering if that rule system would fill the idea of having a Pokemon. But it's probably quite different. Will change that.

"Required Virtue roll" needs some clarification, even if I think I see what you meant.

For example, passing a Compassion roll to prevent you from killing someone. Failing a Valor roll to punch Juggernaut in the face.

In Exalted, you would word this as opposing Intimacies or their Motivation. If you're, say, a zombie, you're "metaphysical nature" doesn't make you do anything, but you probably have a built-in Intimacy of hate and/or hunger towards living beings, or a Motivation of "Eat brains".

I was thinking metaphysical nature=(Neverborn-serving) GHOSTS CAN'T SAVE PEOPLE. Could factor the intimacies in, though. Gives a sense that the captured beings are still themselves.

You also need to reword the "integrity roll" as something like (Willpower+Integrity).

Hmm... Yeah. Okay. Even though that'll be quite a large pool.

Say "creatures of death" instead of "underworld denizens".

Thanks.

"Deva", "kami", and "examachina" are not Exalted terms. I don't know what you meant by those.

Just read over the article and found that deva is a practically obsolete term in storytelling. For reference, kami=Gaia's "demons, and examachina= Autochthon's "demons".

Also in the Moonsilver sphere entry, it should be "5 or more points of mutations".

Thanks.

Adamant Spheres should probably also give the penalty to Autochthonian gods. Or you could just say that the penalty applies to anything under the Design of the Maker.

As mentioned before, examachina=Autochthon's souls. Gods=2nd and 3rd circle "demons"=examachina.

I'd also suggest making Moonsilver Spheres apply their penalty to mundane animals, because relying on the Wyld for anything can be tricky depending on your ST.

Hrm. Mabye.

I would personally add a line saying that you can't capture a being with an Essence that's equal to or greater then your Essence plus two or three (except worded a bit more eloquently then that).

Hrm. Mabye. (Again)

This helps prevent power creep, and also fits in with the videogames pretty well. Also I am totally imagining Cecelyne making these, so go with (Essence+2).

Yeah, kinda see what you mean with the videogame thing.

You also might want to address creatures that can be quite a bit more powerful then their Essence makes them seem (Behemoths, primarily).

Creatures over Essence 5 or Strength or Stamina greater than, say, 7?

Also also, you probably should add that you cannot capture extras.

Don't those fall under "non-mortal"? Usually?

This is quite a bit over the top compared to similar effects.

Trying to get across what happens when you try to squeeze the Unconquered Sun into a ball no larger than your fist.

I'd work the blast something like this. Regular mortals should be blinded for six months, heroic mortals should get a (Wits+Resistance) roll, Essence 2-3 supernatural beings should make a (Wits+Resistance) roll or be blinded for one day, and Essence 4+ supernatural beings make a (Wits+Resistance) or be blinded for one turn.

Seems good.

This all sounds good.

You also probably want to rule that Incapacitated creatures cannot be captured.

Good idea.

Hope this all helps!

Me too?

[Xefas]

Originally Posted by Cyborg Mage

Just read over the article and found that deva is a practically obsolete term in storytelling. For reference, kami=Gaia's "demons, and examachina= Autochthon's "demons".

Not sure what you mean by "deva" being an obsolete term. It's the catch-all for subsidiary souls in the soul hierarchies of Primordials that have not been deemed Creatures of Darkness yet.

In addition, the First Age Solars categorized every Primordial soul hierarchy with its own set of names.

Malfeas: Nihilem
Adorjan: Sheridan
Ebon Dragon: Aphotes
Cecelyne: Lament
She Who Lives In Her Name: Trace
Kimbery: Barzinoi
Gaia: Kami
Autochthon: Exmachina

These are the ones that have been divulged so far.

[Cyborg Mage]

I mean that it's an obsolete term as in both free Primordials have their own specialised terms for their souls. The only place that capturing devas would make sense is in EXTREMELY early, or even pre-First Age. Really, how much material do we have on that?p

[Xefas]

Well, there's also Spooky Secret Plot Hook Primordial (I like to think that's actually his name) who is still out there in the Wyld. Not to mention the soul hierarchies of hypothetical Heretical Titans. Both of those cases would involve devas.

Really, I just don't see the point in being specific when there's literally no downside to being general.

[Cyborg Mage]

The downside is that some spheres would be better at catching things that have nothing to do with them. Really, what does Gaia have to do with Orichalcum?

[Terraoblivion]

Say, could any of you more rules focused people tell me where the alternate character creation for Lunars can be found. I might need it soon.

[Cyborg Mage]

If you're talking about Schaefer's rules,here. I think the alternate rules are here.

[Terraoblivion]

I meant Schaeffer's didn't even know about the other set before posting.

[Kyeudo]

Originally Posted by Tavar

So, I might be running an exalted game IRL, mostly for newbies. Any tips on what I should/shouldn't do?

Well, one of my tips is that if you don't want backgrounds about how their characters fought off an entire army as they Exalted and yet the Wyld Hunt still doesn't know about them is to have them start unExalted and play through their Exaltations. It gives a little more depth to the characters. However, it takes a while and mortals have problems to deal with.

Starting with Solars is probably the best idea, as all the other Exalts have their particular niches to deal with and its hard to screw up a Solar completely.

[Tavar]

Good idea, thanks. And, yeah, besides the one experienced person, everyone else is limited to Solars.

[Cyborg Mage]

Now with 44% more errata.

Spoiler

Essence-Compressing Capture Sphere
Artifact ●,●● or ●●●●

Essence-Compressing Capture Spheres are roughly fist-sized metal orbs, split horizonntally in half and held together by a white metal stud and a hinge-like mechanism and covered in arcane symbols and occult patterns. They can be made from any material, require no attunement and are considered throwing weapons of speed 6, rate 1 and 10 ft range until they actually contain something. They cannot be attuned, but suffer no penalties as such. When they succesfully hit a spirit, elemental or non-human creature (Alchemicals and Jadeborn are considered human), instead of calculating damage, the target rolls (Willpower+Essence) against the user's (Dexterity+Thrown). On the target, wound penalties are doubled for this roll (Incapacitated creatures cannot be captured). Should the target fail the roll, they are converted into a stream of compressed essence and sucked into the Sphere. From then on, the creature or spirit is considered the owner's companion; they will automatically obey any order given to them by their master unless they fail or pass a required Virtue roll, or pass a (Willpower+Integrity) roll against an order that opposes one of their intimacies, or their arcane nature (Such as ordering a nephwrack to defend a living being). Additionally, though they can disagree with their master, they will not actively oppose them unless under the effects of unnatural mental influence, and if owned by a player character, their actions in combat are completely directed by the player. Captured beings automatically pass their rolls on future capture attempts. Whilst inside the sphere, beings heal and respire (For applicable beings) twice as fast, and are immune to environmental effects outside the sphere. For the purposes of respiration, creatures of death are considered inside the underworld whilst in a soulsteel Sphere.

As mentioned before, Spheres can be made of any material, and provide a -3 penalty to the rolls of the target creature should it be made of a specific material:[list][*]Orichalcum and Starmetal Spheres apply the penalty to gods and other heavenly spirits.[*]Jade Spheres apply the penalty to elementals and kami.[*]Moonsilver Spheres apply the penalty to animals (Wyld, conventional or spirit) and those with over 5 points of mutations.[*]Soulsteel Spheres apply the penalty to all types of ghosts, and other creatures of death.[*]Adamant Spheres apply the penalty to Autochthonian elementals and examachina.[*]Any vitrol-corrupted Sphere applies the penalty to demons instead of their original targets.

Additionally, Spheres are much more common than other artifacts. A set of six Spheres of identical material can be purchased for Artifact ●● at startup, and Jade spheres can be purchased in most towns in a Second Age setting by any character with Resources ●●●+ or equivalent (purchasing more than 10 Spheres in a month subtracts one dot), with Spheres of other materials available from more specialized shops. In a First Age game, Spheres of any material (Excluding Soulsteel and, after Autochthon's exile, Adamant) can be purchased by Resources ●●+ or equivalent with no such restrictions. In Autochthonia, Spheres of any material can be purchased for resources ●●+ or equivalent (●●●+ in the Second Age).


A being using a sphere cannot capture creatures with Essence greater to their own plus 2. Beings above essence 5, or Strength/Stamina 7, require specialized Spheres for capture, which raises the artifact level to 4 and rendering them entirely unavailabe for purchase in the Second Age (They can be purchased in the First Age for Wealth 3 or equivalent). Attempting to capture beings of essence 6 or 7 with an unspecialized sphere imposes a -3 penalty to the user's rolls, while beings of 8+ impose a -5 penalty. Additionally, succesfully capturing an essence 8+ being with an unspecialized Sphere causes it to explode in a perfect 75 foot ball of shimmering, concentrated essence in the colour of its component material, glowing with the intensity of a star. Beings within 300 feet of the blast are blinded for six months unless underground or inside a windowless building (Heroic mortals or essence 2+ creatures may roll (Wits+Resistance). Beings of essence 2-3 are blinded for one day on failure, essence 4+ are blinded for one turn.), while those inside the blast suffer both this roll and 10 levels of unblockable, undodgable Aggrivated damage.

While a person can possess any ammount of empty spheres, they may only possess six occupied Spheres at any one time. Should they possess a Manse, excess Spheres are automatically transported to a vault in said Manse should they have their hearthstone somewhere on their person. This vault can be accessed remotely while meditating uninterrupted for over five minutes with the hearthstone. Otherwise, succesful captures are automatically released. While these vaults are practically unlimited in most games, Storytellers may impose a limit on the capacity of these vaults. In this case, these vaults are considered to have a maximum capacity of (Manse levelX5). At the Storyteller's discretion, a manse with definite statistics may have a specialised vault, increasing the capacity to X10.

[Lix Lorn]

Looks awesome.
I'm also considering making a game using DB-capturing versions soon. >_>

[Cyborg Mage]

Just control yourself, m'kay?

[SurlySeraph]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bookworm

I can see why this would bug you, but perfect defenses are a fundamental (probably the fundamental) aspect of high-level Exalted play, because it's undodgeable rocket tag at that point. Giving anyone a way to ignore them is a very very bad thing, unless you want to your style to be regarded as on the Zeal or Obsidian Shards of Infinity level.

Not to mention that even if this was acceptable, +1 TN or +1 difficulty for only six actions is an incredibly minor penalty for an attack that good.

Well, that's the thing. The idea is it's basically just a way to slap a Descending Destiny on someone, and the "You can choose between being hit by an attack and having a Descending Destiny" is to make that fit in a martial art, because if inflicting the Destiny requires you to actually damage the target it's never going to work on another Exalt.

Originally Posted by Mr.Bookworm

Also, yeah, this.

It's also important to note that a style dealing with Fate isn't really appropriate for a Sidereal style philosophically.

Sidereal styles take a fundamental facet of existence, things like perceptions, dreams, reflections, movement, or entropy, and use it as a weapon and lens to view the world through.

They also have a tendency of emulating the principles and abilities of other sorts of beings. Obsidian Shards of Infinity (intentionally) emulates the Ebon Dragon, and Quicksilver Hands of Dreaming has some very close ties to the Fair Folk in powers and theme.

...really, it's a shame Sidereal styles tend to be so broken. They're awesome, both in powers and in thematics.

Fair criticism. My concept was basically "There are Celestial martial arts that are about things in the sky. There should be a Sidereal martial art that's about stars. And is very fate-y and Sidereal-y."

Originally Posted by Xefas

(To reignite the Abyssal hate) Hellstriders totally kick Bonestriders' collective asses.

I wish I could deny this, but I can't. Infernals definitely get their fair share of awesome.

[Drascin]

Man, I probably shouldn't have accepted that invitation to a Fae game without having so much as acquired the supplement until yesterday. Trying to internalize the weirdness of the Fae in such short notice is hard - especially since I have to read with the GWM PDF on one window and the Scroll of Errata in the other...

Have to say, if we went by fluff alone, Fae may climb to being my second favorite splat after reading this. Whoever wrote this piece, certainly knew how to keep someone interested .

[Weimann]

Dr. Jenna Moran, previously Rebecca Borgstrom. Her style is quite unique.

Exalted really does suffer from the "5 different sources" problem these days, though. I feel you. Be happy though, because the errata is quite recent and I hear it improves the Fae experience a lot.

Edit: Or wait, maybe Dr. Moran was only involved in 1e Fae? I forget.

[Xefas]

Originally Posted by Kyeudo

Well, one of my tips is that if you don't want backgrounds about how their characters fought off an entire army as they Exalted and yet the Wyld Hunt still doesn't know about them is to have them start unExalted and play through their Exaltations. It gives a little more depth to the characters. However, it takes a while and mortals have problems to deal with.

Alternatively, take the distance and location into account. If they Exalt and kill an army in, say, the Hundred Kingdoms - that's somewhere between 3000 and 4000 miles away from the Realm. It's going to be a while before the word gets back to anyone capable of forming a Wyld Hunt, and by then, the word will have been warped by 3-4000 miles of travel (rumors do that - even if they're true). Then consider the state that the Realm is in and if they'd go that far on a questionably reliable word to kill one Anathema when their own motherland is at the breaking point and has plenty of Anathema in it to deal with already.

Now, if they, for instance, Exalted in an Immaculate Cloister in the Imperial City and then proceeded to beat up an army of their former monk-mates and then fly away - yes, I think that's good cause for a Wyld Hunt.