/exg/ - Exalted General

Does anyone have the source for EarthScorpion's Countless Cities Clotting Malfeas charm?

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>After you win a fight using Sapphire Veil of Passion

3e rewrite when?

>>49311233
the thread is dead because from our perspective the core book came out in like 2012 when it was leaked. And then the fluff chapters came out however long ago in that leak.
Yeah new books will come out. Just for some reasons the devs seem to be moping around due to personal issues they for some reason refuse to disclose. Once they get over whatever it is im assuming they'll get in gear and things will be a bit more regular.

Do the deathlords exaltation get passed on or are they stuck with the ghosts?

>>49311961
be 2e they moved on. They somehow retain solar power through weird neverborn stuff. In 3e skies the limit

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what books cover whats in the encircled area?

>>49312035
I´ll take the 2e explanation then. Should make an interesting solar exalt background.

>>49311791
I guarantee that whenever the dragon blood book finally comes out the threads will be filled with debates about power levels.

So /exg/ does anybody have any good infernal art? I can never really picture them that well

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>>49312920

>>49312057

Terrestrial South from 2e. Rathess and Ma-ha-Suchi's clubhouse are covered in the East books and the Dreaming Sea...I forget. It's gotta be somewhere, though.

>Used to lurk the Exalted forums
>Always respected Holden when he was a fan for his mechanical knowledge but disagreed with him on design theory
>Had a similar stance towards a few of the devs
>The game line goes a direction I strongly don't want in terms of design
>Holden is taken on as a developer
>He pushes the angle that I don't like even while he has improved the mechanics

I'd game with that bastard again anytime like the olden days, but damn do I hate Solar-centrism.

>>49312920

i got nothing, but to visualize them well, you gotta remember they're supposed to be demonic progeny. And demons don't look hellish at all, more just fucking weird and alien and jewelled with ichorous colors and a penchant for bizarre things. Clothing on them often is nonsensical or headache-inducing in worse cases.

Assuming you want a mental image that screams "Infernal" anyway.

>>49311961
Logically, the Deathlords should have lost their spark. They were killed, became ghosts, and were posthumously offered power by the Neverborn. Exaltation leaves the body at death, so it wouldn't have stayed with them while they were ordinary ghosts.

>>49313026
In 2e Sol could give himself charms that mimicked Solar Circle spells.

Once you hit E10, shit got crazy

>>49311961

Exaltation doesn't stick to the dead in any scenario. Either the Hun or the Po is what makes the ghost (i forget which) but the exaltation is neither and just fucks off when someone dies and their soul splits apart to be recycled. In the deathlords' case, they just attained power somehow-clearly-surpassing what they had in life. On the other hand, >using lore from the 2e abyssals book

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I have started a 2.5e infernals game and I have three infernals of the most villainous variety signed up. Please advise me on how to make proper lunar waifus for them.

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>>49313768

>>49313768
What do you mean of the proper villainous variety?

Anyway one is Lilith who wants to kill one of the Infernals who posses what's his name's exaltation. Another is a childhood friend whose tsundere and wants to kill the Infernal to save him but always ends up having moments where they're acting like they used to. And the third Lunar waifu is a relatively young girl who doesn't understand that they are supposed to be fighting and is drawn to them thanks to their bond.

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>>49313792
Not sure if suggesting a duck totem, a duckgirl, or both.

>>49314008
>What do you mean of the proper villainous variety?
I mean that I have a trio of Killfuck Soulshitter, Killfuck Wallpainter-with-bodily-fluids, and Killfuck Eatspeople.

P.S. It is acceptable if waifus for this lot are male, have dicks, have ducks, or all of the above.

>>49314087
Ok when I get home I'll think of better waifus

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>>49314087
>I mean that I have a trio of Killfuck Soulshitter, Killfuck Wallpainter-with-bodily-fluids, and Killfuck Eatspeople.

Okay serious question. Since 3e is dead what other games are there that are based around the concept of receiving something like an exaltation?

>>49314118
Sounds like like my Scourge whose concept of stealth is sneaking in somewhere then killing everyone there.

>>49314166
>what other games are there that are based around the concept of receiving something like an exaltation?

Pretty much any system where there's a distinct line between heroic individuals and non-heroic individuals, really.

Even D&D, with PC classes on everyone who matters and NPC classes on everyone who doesn't.

Bet you wanted me to do the Godbound copypasta, didn't you?

>>49314166

just go get into godbound, realize that simple =/= fun, and come back here with bitter feelings like everyone else did.

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>>49311356

There's nothing stopping you from rewriting it yourself. May you succeed where I failed.

>>49312955

It doesn't help that they're still human beings at their core.

>>49312959

The Dreaming Sea is new to Ex3, there's nothing on it yet besides what's in the Core.

>>49314166
Well theres scio-oh wait thats still in development as well
Seriously i thought the kickstarter was supposed to be out last month

>>49312057
Jiara & Ember are new to 3e, as is everything south of Rathess and the Nameless Lair. The rest can be found in Scavenger Lords (1e) or Compass of Terrestrial Directions: The South.

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>>49311356
>Sapphire Veil of Passion

After everyone flipped the fuck out over the Abyssal book, no way thats coming back.

>>49314926

I have trouble with SMA and always have: I'd accidentally make the style way OP'd or water it down to CMA level with some funky mechanics.

>>49314971

You mean the Infernal book?

>>49314970
i thought there was a bunch of namless lair stuff in ink monkies

>>49314971

You do remember that the unofficial response over the Abyssals "controversy" was "we literally can't hear you over how much money we're making," right?

>>49314971

It was actually widely liked, in 2e, but the state of the other SMA set the bar very low, however. I think the ones most likely to come back are the big three (Prismatic Arrangement of Creation, Charcoal March of Spiders , and Citrine Poxes of Contagion were the first three SMAs made IIRC). Border of Kaleidoscopic Logic is another candidate simply for demonstrating how weird SMA could get.

>>49314987

I thought it'd be easier due to there being no Terrestrial/Mastery keyword, but I ran into the same problem.

>>49315108

I'm referring to the "rape ghost" controversy for the 3e abyssal preview, which I hear got everyone all kinds of upset.

>>49315027
I thought the official response was "Oh well we just wanted to test the limits!" and then scrubbed it from the internet?

>>49315027
>the unofficial response over the Abyssals "controversy" was "we literally can't hear you over how much money we're making,"

That's funny, because I seem to recall that when people complained "we overfunded your kickstarter by a factor of 10/half a million dollars, where is the fucking product you promised us two fucking years ago", the unofficial response to *that* was that the devs were nonetheless still in the poorhouse and all the money was being eaten by various combinations of car replacements, kickstarter taking its cut, lawyers taking their cut, taxmen taking their cut, those wicked Republicans overcharging for healthcare, having to make orichalcum-plated double-special personal signed edition books with weed inlays, and I forget what the fuck else.

>>49311356
What's Sapphire Veil of Passion again?

>>49315290
I'm not saying it was a smart thing to say, I'm saying that it's indicative of how much of a shit the devs gave about the whole kerfuffle.

>>49315236
The official response is always conciliatory, because the industry isn't big enough to look like you're trying to piss anyone off.

It means less than nothing, especially for a pack of devs that aren't even having the whip cracked over them. "scrubbed from the internet" is putting it pretty harshly considering it's not like ANY of the previews were available anywhere except via backer links until they got spread around.

>>49315336

The one functioning SMA in 2e (read: not super busted or super useless), and it was about sex in the same way Kaleidoscopic Border is about perception.

>>49315336

Blue Slut Style, the only working SMA, but it still needed errata. You'll find it in Glories: Maidens.

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So, seeing as we're in a drought of official content yet again, what's the best homebrew stuff for 3e? I liked some of that Sidereal homebrew that guy on the Onyx Path forums did (save for his SMA's, which fucking blew save for Sapphire Veil, no pun intended), and there was a few artifacts I liked in their artifact builder thread.

>>49315795
Clutch of Dragons is great

>>49315365
>>49315376

Okay just read it. I want to see more of this kind of thing.

>>49315290
The actual reason it has taken so goddamn long is their production pipeline is genuinely retarded. Everybody works in different formats, the writers refuse to learn how to use what basically amounts to a fucking text editor, and just a while back, Rich (?) was saying something like "when it's done, I'll have to manually go through the backer list to find the emails of people who bought the pdf, so it'll take a while longer." (Think it was Miracles.) It's like, hey, retard, why don't you go through the backer list before the pdf is done and put the ones who bought the pdf in a fucking text document or something?? You realize nothing is stopping you from doing that now?

>>49316204

Their dev shit is pretty sloppy, but most creatives who would enjoy working on these things lead chaotic lifestyles. I honestly think they need some MBA type to whip them into a schedule for more consistent production even though they'd hate it.

>>49316204
also, or maybe one leads to the other, aren't only like two of the devs actual employee's and the rest or free lancers?

>>49317105

Freelancing utterly fucks you on taxes/benefits is the thing. Few freelancers who aren't setting monstrously high prices or working cash-only stick around any industry.

>>49317143
Do the other lines use a lot of Freelancers or is it just Exalted?

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So how are you supposed to run a Sidereal game anyway? Do you mostly work in Heaven, or Creation? Does the Celestial Bureaucracy give a lot of leeway on how to complete a mission? Do you work around the clock or are you just given far off deadline? Most importantly, if Sidereals are supposed to be clandestine whose existence is know to only few in Creation, then how do you run a full party of them? I can imagine one in a group of DBs or Solars, but five Sidereals together seems like a bit much.

>>49317999

All of 'em. OPP, the actual company, is like 3 dudes.

The WoD half of things is a lot bigger, though, so I wouldn't be too surprised if each individual freelancer has a lighter load so they can go off and work actual jobs that make money.

>>49318014
>So how are you supposed to run a Sidereal game anyway?

>Do you mostly work in Heaven, or Creation?
Most of your actual work is in Creation, but a non-negligible amount of time is spent in Heaven.

>Does the Celestial Bureaucracy give a lot of leeway on how to complete a mission? Do you work around the clock or are you just given far off deadline?
Unless it's actually critical to how the mission goes, yes, Sidereals are given a fairly big leash, because they're usually tackling problems for which there's no clean solution.

Sids aren't sent out to faff around punching out a Blood Ape that managed to wiggle loose of Malfeas' bindings; they're sent out to deal with shit like "an entire country came into existence that wasn't supposed to, figure it out."

>Most importantly, if Sidereals are supposed to be clandestine whose existence is know to only few in Creation, then how do you run a full party of them? I can imagine one in a group of DBs or Solars, but five Sidereals together seems like a bit much.
I'm not sure how one follows the other?

Sidereals are literally all organized and gathered into one place. Their secrecy relative to the rest of Creation is immaterial because they all have each other's phone numbers.

>>49318031
It just seems that the World of Darkness branch is just so much more organized.

>>49318113

Oh, I have no doubts that it is.

Or that, at least, it has more than one project funnel, so we don't notice the fuck-ups as bad.

Like I know for a fact that some Werewolf or Vampire splat has been taking FOREVER to come out, but you don't notice it because Beast, Mage, Changeling etc. are all coming out anyway.

>>49318014

My favorite thread on this subject, though the premise for it is somewhat exceptional: https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?145696-Exalted-Actual-Play-How-my-Sidereals-game-works

In practice you run a game for five Sidereals by giving them an enormous amount of responsibility. Conventions are good for this, gives an excuse for why you have Sidereals with mixed political alignments and divisions.

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>>49318084

Thanks for the help.

>they're usually tackling problems for which there's no clean solution.

You mention this, and I was thinking if the following would be an appropriate first assignment for a fledgling Sidereal.

There exists a White Stag in forest near a city. The Stag is the prized possession of a forest god, and is blessed to be able to evade any hunter. The king of a local city has come into conflict with the local god, and has called upon his court sorcerer to make it so that the kings hunting hound will successfully catch anything it chases.

The unevadable Hound will hunt the uncatachable Stag, creating an Unstoppable -Force/Immovable-Object paradox which needs to be resolved. This is what I imagine Sidereal jobs are like and should introduce a new player or character to what his future jobs will be like.

Is that accurate or have I got it all wrong?

>>49318258

Seems legit to me.

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Is pic related a good template for a take on a Chosen of Venus?

>>49315336

Only the best martial arts style in the game anon.

It's a bondage themed martial art, but it really is pretty good.

>>49320882
Hey now, only the upper half of the style is bondage-themed.

>>49320927

Right, second half is after glow/feelings themed.

>>49320882

>someone else watched that series

Spot on for a Chosen of Serenity.

So how do I get into Exalted?

Is it as anime-sque as I think? Gotta draw my animefag friends into it.

Do I get it right that Exalts are separated by power levels hard, and it's crap for party balance to mix different exalt levels, 'cos a Solar can do everything a Terrestrial can and then some with his left pinkie. While blindfolded?

And said power levels, as I gather, are
Solar, Infernal, Abyssal
Sidereal
Lunar
Alchemical, Dragonblooded
right?

Which are essential sourcebooks?

What sort of game should I expect? I doubt Exalt would be facing evil kings, black wizards and dragons right? It's more like kicking lesser gods around and battling billions of demons at once?

>>49322636
oh, and about Infernals and Abyssals

Can they mix, or they are supposed to be enemies?

Does a campaign with Abyssals and Infernals basically an Evil campaign?

>>49322636
>Is it as anime-sque as I think?
It can be, if you want to.

>Do I get it right that Exalts are separated by power levels hard
Yes. It's not as much of a concern as you describe it, and a specialized "lower tier" character is able to beat a dabbling high tier character.
Relatively spot-on on the power levels, Sidereals and Lunars are on one tier, however, and Alchemicals are stronger than Dragonblooded, although they're also in a very different subsetting.

>Which are essential sourcebooks?
Core book, and then the books for whatever Exalted you want your players to play. Mind, however, that there's only the core book (with Solars) for the newest edition.

>I doubt Exalt would be facing evil kings, black wizards and dragons right? It's more like kicking lesser gods around and battling billions of demons at once?
There are evil kings and black wizards, and also battling millions of demons. However, the black wizard will be less likely to throw a fireball and more likely to sacrifice villages to his fleshcrafted war titan.

>Abyssals and Infernals
All Exalts are individuals, so while they may metaphysically not align, they can be allies, friends and lovers.
And it doesn't have to be an evil campaign, but it won't be heroic heroes of sunshine.
More goth byronic heroes of green sunshine.

>>49313016
Nice job not elaborating on a single thing you disagreed with about.

>>49314987
Since there is no high essence arena in 3e, they probably will be mastery-level MA with funky mechanics.

>>49322636
>Is it as anime-sque as I think?
It has quite a few anime and jRPG inspirations. You can play it like a shounen or sword & sorcery Conan story or anything in between. The tools are all there.

>I doubt Exalt would be facing evil kings, black wizards and dragons right?
You absolutely can. I think there's that weird perception when Solars have to deal with over-the-top universal threats only. No working on overthrowing the corrupt government of your beloved country and defending it from raiders, no winning the ice cold heart of that beautiful half-nymph, no vendettas against Lyntha. Little things should matter because they ground your character in the setting, their interactions with "mere" mortals give them context and texture.

>>49323822
but I thought a Solar can conquer a country and convince all the people to be nice and follow the fair and just king and be home before lunch... or my information was somewhat exaggerated?

>>49323846
Its exaggerated.

>>49323846
Ssssort of. If we're talking a kingdom in the Hundred Kingdoms region, where most "Kingdoms" are more like small fiefs than kingdom so, then maybe. But not like a region as large as the Realm; A solar -could- gain control of a region that large, but he would need a circle to back him and a lot more time than just a single day.

Think of a Solar like Hercules or King Arthur. Sure, they're badass, but they can't just conquer entire kingdoms in a single day.

>>49323846
If you are an optimized Dawn then most mortal and supernatural enemies won't pose much of a threat. Higher level enemies and stacked odds are a problem, especially if you are still Essence 1 with limited Charms. But even if you do conquer a kingdom it is not guaranteed the people will listen to you and even if they will because you have a Zenith or Eclipse with you, it is not guaranteed the influence won't be countered by someone else or won't diminish while you are away. And even then, it's not that things should be hard. It's that they should matter and it's an entirely different thing.

>>49323846

No, that's actually impossible.

See, influencing the people directly around you is not difficult. However, making sure that a system WORKS is really hard. You'd have to dedicate your attention to it full-time, and even then you're not going to be guaranteed of success.

It IS possible to do something like that over time, however. See Admiral Sand taking back control over the Confederacy of Dunes, or the Bull of the North drastically reordering Icewalker society.

>>49312084

Yeah, here's one of the craziest scenarios I've seen.

My Eclipse, in RotSE, turned out to be the inheritor of the Exaltation of Grand Admiral Arkady. Arkady was the mentor of Leviathan, his Lunar mate, who is now currently a gigantic whale-behemoth worshipped by thousands of beastmen.

Through a long series of events, we managed to secured Leviathan's aid against the Silver Prince. However, when we boarded the flagship, the Silver Prince turned out to actually BE Arkady's ghost. And boy, was he pissed that someone was taking his name in vain.

That's actually a really interesting theological question: The Silver Prince, in this case, is undeniably Arkady. But my PC also has his memories and his Solar shard, so he's like Full Frontal to Arkady's Char.

Also, it turns out that the Admiral was a complete asshole and a rapist, so there's that.

>>49322680

It depends.

Abyssals are about death. They're all mournful and emo, and they do a lot of hanging out in graveyards and kneeling to their dark masters. They exemplify the 'tormented evil rival' thing. 'Good' Abyssals are basically the edgiest antihero you can imagine, the kind who is half-vampire, wields a katana, and has so much angst that he cuts himself to feel alive.

You know, it's the kind of "I love her...But I MUST choose darkness!" thing.

Infernals are really different. Infernals are the 'hot, brightly-colored' kind of evil. They're associated with demons. While Abyssals would be terrifying specters of death, their aesthetic is more like Chaos. Blasphemous runes and sigils everywhere.

More importantly, a recurring theme with Infernals is spite. Basically, Infernals were on-track to earn a Solar Exaltation, then they failed or fled at the crucial moment. So there's an undercurrent of shame, ressentiment, jealousy and so on compared to the regret and self-loathing of the Abyssals.

>>49324162
is it okay to find things like Abyssals cringy?

>>49324178

Well, yeah. That's sort of the point.

But at the same time, they're not meant to be ironic. The thing about Abyssals is that, in-universe, they're genuinely frightening. Sure, you can go "God, those fucking emo freaks", but they still have the power of a Solar, except inverted.

Generally, your options for Abyssals are 'cringy and something of a joke' or 'really, really disturbing and morbid', like the darkest parts of Wraith: The Oblivion.

>>49324199
worst part is one of the buddies I plan to draw in the game would most likely play an Abyssal absolutely straight.

>>49311284
I think he wrote it for his own Worm/Exated crossover fanfic on SB.

>>49324162
>>49324047
>>49313768
On the subject of Infernals, has anyone ever run a game wherein Infernals and Solars have clashed? How'd it turn out? After all the whiteroom calcs for both splats I'm fascinated in the truth of what happens when they throw down, in combat or otherwise.

>>49324162
>>49324199
Eh, not all Abyssals necessarily -have- to be that way. Some of them can be surprisingly nice, albeit with darker end-goals.

For example, I'm working on an Abyssal NPC right now whose actually acts surprisingly chivalrous. He's honorable, he's kind to ghosts, and he legitimately tries to console them and their living loved ones as best he can (albeit with the suggestion that the Void is a better option than being reborn and feeling this kind of pain again).

That said, he's still very brutal at times. For example, if he meets a young ghost child who says she can't move on because her stepmother killed her and was never discovered, he would look for any sort of evidence that could incriminate her, make it public knowledge so that everyone knows what a monster she is, then drag her out of her home and hang her by her entrails where everyone can see.

And then he'd go comfort the young ghost girl, letting her know justice has been done, and that she can slip into the Void now.

>>49324394
I see no problem with this. Sounds like the darkest incarnation of a "street justice" kind of vigilante. Kinda biblical if you get my meaning.

>>49314166
>Since 3e is dead what other games are there that are based around the concept of receiving something like an exaltation?
If you mean starting off like a normal human and then becoming a superpowered inhuman badass, you could look into World of Darkness game lines. Vampires, Changelings, Mages, they've all got that thing where they start as ordinary people in an ordinary world, before a fateful encounter with the supernatural leaves them as something else, with strange magical powers and an understanding that there is much more to the world than they know.

If you're into Warhammer 40K, there's also Deathwatch to consider. Space Marines are a lot like the Exalted, with the whole "gene-seed" thing. And they're a lot stronger than most things they're likely to encounter, able to fight against whole armies and make a difference, but not so much so that they can't be threatened by the things they're likely to encounter.

>>49324481
Yeah, I get what you mean, and that's not far off from it. I wouldn't describe his philosophy as street justice so much as "I'm an agent of death, I've come to ensure that justice is done. Your mortal laws don't matter to me, for I act on behalf of a far greater power."

Thinking on it, I think I'll actually take that example and make it an actual thing that happened prior to the start of the campaign. So like, he killed the stepmother and told the girl she could move on, but she's hesitant. She's not sure if she wants to accept Oblivion or go to Lethe and be reborn, and while he kind of encourages her to choose Oblivion, he's kind enough to let her travel with him and think about it before she makes her decision. Should make for a good way to add more character to him, and kinda hint to the circle that he's not 100% baby-eating evil. He works for people like that, but he himself isn't.

On the topic, I'm debating whether I should make him a Dusk or Midnight caste. Either works really, but I'm also not positive if I want him to be a Melee or Resistance supernal. I envision him as kind of like a knight; Wearing heavy armor, carrying a heavy weapon, with a chivalrous and surprisingly honorable personality, while still worshipping Oblivion (maybe not so much the Neverborn). What do you guys think; Dusk or Midnight?

>>49324178
Well I'd wait for the book to come out. In 2e they were basically straight up cringey edgelords OCS, but 2e handled alot of stuff poorly. It's possible to do that trope well though, it's the basis of alot of Gothic stories. In fact alot of medical tales have evil knights that are obsessed with death who still manage to be engaging.

>>49324884
See. I had a alchemical that I wanted to interact with ghosts and stuff once upon a time in a campaign. But, wrong game, wrong type of character for it, and I definitely wasn't seasoned enough to know what I was doing. Always wanted to take another crack at it.

>>49325098
Medieval tales even

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So, I want to adapt the Solar Circle spell Technique Mirror to 3e.
1e version is pic related.
2e version barring its examples is :

TECHNIQUE MIRROR
Cost: 50m
Target: Caster
The powerful techniques of the Exalted take time to learn and even longer to master. Luckily, a skilled sorcerer need never bother. The Solar traces the Sign of Reversal on a small, ordinary mirror with his finger while reciting a palindrome. With a flip of the wrist, he sets it spinning above his head, where it continues to rotate for the rest of the scene. For an instant when the caster completes this spell, and every time it takes effect, the sorcerer appears to be surrounded by several body-sized distorting mirrors.
Each time someone attacks the sorcerer within the scene, a perfect duplicate of the attacker appears without flash or fanfare and uses the same attack on the sorcerer’s foe. The mirrored attacker looks and acts just like the original did while attacking, and it uses the same dice pools. Attacks and other dice pools are rolled again. After attacking, the duplicate disappears.
When the duplicate disappears, any Charm or attack effects cease if they require the attacker’s continued presence. A warrior cannot be grappled if there is no body to grapple him. Victims of a grapple are forced into a single Inactive action before regaining control of their facilities. Destroying the mirror that spins above the sorcerer ends the spell, but such attacks are defended by the sorcerer’s normal DVs and mirrored by the spell. The spell incidentally grants the mirror 10L/14B soak and 20 health levels.

Does anybody have any input? It needn't be anything in-depth, just some mechanical features that need be noted or general balancing concerns. Of note are what the Control Spell add-on and distortion of the spell should be like. One idea I had for the former was having the 2e version of the spell be the basic effect while the 1e version was the transformative Control Spell bonus.

>>49325894

Sounds like it reflexively Clashes with an attack identical to the attacker's.

>>49325894
I actually tried my hand at converting that spell to 3e a while back. Not sure how balanced it is though, and the control effect I wrote back then probably needs to change. Here's what I had though.


--------
Technique Mirror - 30sm 3wp. One scene.

This spell requires a small mirror, which the sorcerer uses as the catalyst for the spell. Upon completion of the spell, the mirror begins to spin and float around the sorcerer. When an attack is directed against the sorcerer, three body-sized distorting mirrors appear around the sorcerer, reflecting the sorcerer’s attacker.

Each time someone attacks the sorcerer within the scene, a perfect duplicate of the attacker appears and uses the same attack on the sorcerer’s foe, ranged or melee, replicating the same charms the attacker used. The mirrored attacker looks and acts just like the original did while attacking, and it uses the same dice pools. Attacks and other dice pools are rolled again. After attacking, the duplicate disappears.

When the duplicate disappears, any Charm or attack effects cease if they require the attacker’s continued presence. A warrior cannot be grappled if there is no body to grapple him. Victims of a grapple are forced into a single Inactive action before regaining control of their facilities.

This attack is not a clash attack. The sorcerer is still targeted by the original attack, but at the same time the attacker is simultaneously attacked by his reflection. Resolve these attacks as though they occurred at the same time; The original attack cannot be stopped by killing the attacker before the original attack lands.

This spell may be ended prematurely by destroying the mirror floating around the sorcerer. However, the mirror shares the sorcerer’s Evasion DV, and thus may benefit from any charms the sorcerer uses to evade the attack. The mirror may not be targeted by a withering attack, only a decisive. This spell grants the mirror 20 HLs, but no hardness.

(Cont.)

>>49326266
Control effect:

A sorcerer who knows Technique Mirror as his control spell may commit to memory one charm used in an attack against him during the duration of this spell. He may replicate that charm’s effects for the duration of the spell, but loses the ability to replicate it the moment the spell ends. He must still meet all prerequisites for the charm, including Ability and Essence minimums.

-------
So yeah, like I said, the control effect is probably garbage. Looking back at it now, 20 HLs on the mirror may be overdoing it as well. Not 100% sure how to balance the spell so it can be ended prematurely but not so easily that channeling all those sorcerous motes and spending all that willpower is a waste.

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>>49324884

I agree with this quite a bit.

At the risk of evoking the hurrdurr emogoth faggot stereotype, Oblivion and its agents are best used when they're dark and creepy and morbid, but not always baby-eating evil. It and its ideologies are straight up inimical to the existent world, but the reasons for doing so and methodology needn't be sadistic or cruel.

As far back as WTO, you had spectres seeing themselves like:
>They vow then to sacrifice all to end their pain, if they can. They are not being cruel, nor selfish, in this desire. If they could end all pain, the pain of the world, of every being in existence, then should they not be called saints? But those to whom they whisper their plans look at them as though they were mad. To them, it is those wraiths clinging to lost dreams of the flesh who are insane. But they forgive those poor souls - they even try to save them, even as the foolish Wraiths resist. They are as forgiving as they are sharing. They work for Oblivion, for the end of all life, all hope, all torment and fear. Life is a burden. They would set us free.

Kind of the reason why the nihilistic edgelord Wyrm/Nephandi/Baali/Oblivion/Raveners worked ironically well together compared to all the other constantly in-fighting splats is because they all had the same goal and just wanted to throw the WoD, shitty and horrible as it was, down the toilet even if it meant swan diving in themselves. From their perspective, no amount of transient joy justified the degree of suffering possible in the WoD.

And it's a similar principle here, because let's be honest - life in Creation sucks hardcore. The average life is one spent in backbreaking toil, the gods don't give a fuck, and you're likely to be made a tool for some greater being's purposes.

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>>49324884
>>49326424

At a base level, true believers in Oblivion can be kind of seen as nihilistic buddhists. Everything is useless by virtue of its destiny, which is to end, something which no act is sufficient to abate. Because they are finite, all manifestations are rendered useless in advance. Yet all lives in Creation are trapped in this perpetual cycle of rot, their souls forced to awaken into the nightmare of being again and again and again. They accept with great aplomb their current incarnation didn't exist before they were born, so there should be no reason to fear non-existence. This would be sound if sapient beings were consummately rational, but they aren't; rationality is unfortunately irrelevant to people being afraid or not afraid of anything. So of course they fear their own liberation from suffering.

There's no need to go out of one's way to fuck people up in this ideology. They're already fucked. Rather, you should be sympathetic to those shackled to the painful illusion that life represents. Agents of Oblivion exalt in death, entropy, and endings because they see it as the fundamental principle, that which permeates every act, at once making the world a pointless affair and yet offering an escape.

So if an otherwise "pretty nice" Abyssal is going to fuck someone's day up and be especially cruel and brutal about it, then they're trying to teach a valuable lesson about the nature of the absurd, worthless, awful world the Primordials crafted and why you shouldn't want to keep being in it.

The Neverborn are eldritch horror gods, but as mysterious and immense and terrifying and mind-raping and soul-destroying as they are, they're also miserable and suffering and confused and babbling in their sleep, not entirely conscious. They crave liberation, the sweet release of Oblivion, but they're chained to Creation by their attachments. Spectres and Abyssals could hardly ask to have more fitting deities on their side.

>>49326309

The control effect is just a bit too limited when you take into consideration stuff like Gloaming Eye of Understanding and similar effects Solars get which ignore Charm prerequisites. Personally, I'd make it:

A sorcerer who knows Technique Mirror as his control spell is able to duplicate the Charms he observes. The Exalt may select up to (Essence) Charms that were used in his presence while the spell was active*; for the duration of the spell, he gains the ability to use these Charms*. This power explicitly allows the Solar to utilize Charms that cannot be learned through the Eclipse anima power at the Storyteller's discretion. The Exalt must meet the trait requirements for the Charm, but does not need to have learned the Charm’s prerequisites. The sorcerer pays any costs required by the Charm from his own reserves of Essence, Willpower, anima levels, or otherwise.

*1: Alternatively, replace the text after (Essence) with: "Charms that were previously mirrored by the spell during this scene." This means the sorcerer can't duplicate the Charms of his allies and thus them getting something useful every scene they use this spell is no longer ensured.
*2: Alternatively, add to the end of this sentence: "as long as he keeps (3m per Charm) committed to the effect. Releasing these motes causes the sorcerer's ability to use the Charms to fade." You could also lower or raise the commitment from 3m if you want to raise or lower it compared to Gloaming Eye of Understanding. This introduces a choice between replicating many charms or having the motes to pay for them.

Don't use both restrictions (or get too crazy with restrictions in general) though or the spell stops being fun.

I think I'll probably split the core spell itself into you being able to choose between a reflexive Clash or a counterattack. Perhaps attacking the mirror itself is always a Clash attack.

>>49326424
>>49326463
Gonna agree with most of what you said as well, with the tidbit that not all Abyssals (or even Deathlords) necessarily buy into that philosophy. Granted, none of them would actively and openly refute that philosophy for fear of inciting the Neverborn's wrath, but a lot of them promote Oblivion for entirely different reasons (or might actually not want to pull Creation into Oblivion, in the case of the Bodhisattva in 1e).

So, there's definitely straight-up evil Abyssals and Deathlords that see murder as a vindictive act rather than a merciful one, but not -all- of them are like that. Some legitimately think they're doing Creation a kindness, and those are the ones you have to watch out for the most.

>>49327421
Fair enough, wasn't sure how okay it would be to let the control effect get to out-there since it's essentially letting a Solar use charms of any other exalt type (as well as any spirit charms). Think I'll go with the first change, it seems simpler and makes more sense.

>I think I'll probably split the core spell itself into you being able to choose between a reflexive Clash or a counterattack. Perhaps attacking the mirror itself is always a Clash attack.

See, the tricky thing about letting it clash is that the reflection is using the same charms and dice pool as the attacker, which means any of their attacks essentially boil down to "who's luckier?", and that doesn't seem fair. With the way it's set up now, the attacker at least is able to apply any defensive charms he needs and his attack still goes through. If it clashes, the attack might not go through, meaning the sorcerer essentially gets a coin-flip to decide if he gets hit or not. Not only is that bad for the attacker, but it's bad for the defender as well. You can't use dodge or parry charms on a clash attack, so if that sorcerer invested in either, they are officially useless.

The key thing that needs fine-tuning though is the mirror's "health". 20 HLs is more than some sorcerers will have, and the attacker will have to blow his initiative pool on each attack he tries to break it, which could take multiple Decisives. It shouldn't be so easy to destroy that the spell is a waste, however, which is what has me stuck. Any ideas /exg/?

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>>49327508
>not all Abyssals (or even Deathlords) necessarily buy into that philosophy

Certainly not the Mask of Winters or First and Forsaken Lion, of course, but the obligatory Bishop, Dowager, and Lover are downright rapturous in their desire to scour every last scintilla of creative potential from Creation and the Wyld so as never to give rise to consciousness ever again. Too bad all three are pretty fucking far gone. At least the Lover is chill about it. Well, I guess that's not that hard when you're an emotional black hole.

Silver Prince may not actually want to drop Creation into the Void and surely seems to want to rule over it for awhile, but it seems he's made peace with the fact that it's inevitable and it'll inevitably come time to pay the piper, unlike the other militant Creation-conquering Deathlords. Guy is pretty realist about everything, really.

And then you've got Walker in Darkness, who believes in Oblivion but is way too derpy to actually get it, Princess who is in the same boat as Falafel getting ass-railed by Not-Mardukth, and Eye who is Forever Alone. But I digress.

Oh, and there's definitely just straight up asshole Nephwracks who stopped caring about anything except power centuries ago and are basically just living natural disasters, but that's not aaaallllll of them, one presumes.

>>49327508
>>49328044
You also have to take the nature of each abyssal into account. All abyssal were people of a heroic character, to rival that of a solar, who through some occurrence had a close experience with death. They're all going to have views that are strange, but abyssal or no anyone with those experiences would.

>>49324577
>If you're into Warhammer 40K, there's also Deathwatch to consider. Space Marines are a lot like the Exalted, with the whole "gene-seed" thing. And they're a lot stronger than most things they're likely to encounter, able to fight against whole armies and make a difference, but not so much so that they can't be threatened by the things they're likely to encounter.

Deathwatch is dead since GW revoked the license.

Is there a way to get Alchemicals to interact with ghosts and shadowlands? (Not sure if that's the right name.) I know it's kinda Abyssals' purview but I'd be interested in chasing ghosts and putting them to rest as a magic robot person, wanted to know the possibilities, and am not finding many.

>>49328195

Ghosts aren't even a thing in Autochthonia, let alone shadowlands, so your Alchemical probably IS inventing the tech to do so by himself.

>>49324116
>My Eclipse, in RotSE,

Say no more.

>>49328302
So I'd be playing Egon from Ghostbusters as a Magical robot golem Demigod. Alright. I'm down. Also not afraid of ghosts.

anyone know where to find any homebrew 2.5 yozi charmsets for ones not in the books?

>>49328530
>Ego-Driven Ectoplasm Synthesizer
>A small reservoir made out of soulsteel is installed near the Alchemicals uvula, enabling her to produce a grey, oily liquid that forces ghosts to materialize for half the usual cost if they touch it.

>>49324178

If you want a compelling version of a renegde Abyssal and an entertaining watch, go look up Vampire Hunter D.

>Dhampire who hunts vampires because he can't belong in the world
>Constantly has to fight against his vampire half
>Is just a stoic, resigned badass who fights for good, even if he's a bounty hunter

File: Yozi Charms.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
A bunch of Yozi

File: OramusFanmadeCharmset(1).pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330154
Oramus

File: HegraCharmsetTDO.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330169

Hegra from The Demented One

File: Hegra Other TDO.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330198
Other Hegra Charms from the Demented One

File: Hegra Devil Tiger.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330222
Even more Hegra since she's the best Yozi

File: EllogetheSphereofSpeechRevlid.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330241

Elloge from Revlid

File: IsidorosRevlidCharmset.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330259
Isidoros from Revlid

File: MetagaosRevlidCharmset.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330275
Metagaos from Revlid

File: MetagaosExtraCharms-PleaseSirIWantSomeMore.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330292
Other Metagaos charms

File: Huge amount of Infernal Charms.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49329688
>>49330308
A shit load of Infernal Charms

>>49326424
>the nihilistic edgelord Wyrm/Nephandi/Baali/Oblivion/Raveners worked ironically well together compared to all the other constantly in-fighting splats
fucking reason 1 the oWoD was fucked
all the crazy death cultists who wanted to end reality were selfless bros and most everyone else was an egocentric dick

>>49330004
Wait. Is that a real thing? And is that the only charm that Alchemicals have that involve spirits/ghosts?

>>49331481

or they're making it up on the spot as a favor to you.

>>49331590
If it's that one then I super appreciate it! I just have done independent research and not found much. So I wasn't sure if I missed one or not.

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Still thinking over details for >>49324394 >>49324884

I've decided on Resistance supernal, which could be either Dusk or Midnight, so I'm trying to decide which is the more appropriate caste. On one hand, he's a warrior, but on the other hand, he firmly believes in the wisdom of Oblivion, but on the griping hand, he worships Oblivion itself rather than the Neverborn, so I don't know if Midnight is quite appropriate or not. Thoughts?

Also, post Abyssal art! I could always use more. Have plenty of stuff for this character while he's in his armor, but nothing much for when he's out of it. I was thinking he'd look like he used to be quite handsome, but then his skin turned pale and there's this rather nasty, possibly rotten scar that covers most of one side of his face. Anyone have something that might fit that description?

>>49329688
Go fuck yourself

>>49317999

I've heard a few times that outside of WotC or Paizo, literally every single other line uses Freelancers for the most part.

>>49322636

Alchemical power levels a bit odd.

Solar, Infernal, Abyssal
Sidereal, Alchemical (Specialized)
Lunar
Alchemical (Not specialized), Dragonblooded

Specialized meaning you go balls deep into that specialization, grabbing the attribute upgrades and abusing the shit out of the dicecap.

>>49332102
Rpg's are not a big market. even the most successful aren't making huge bank or anything. Its all most can afford to do.

>>49332152

Aren't Sidereals and Lunars on the same level? What divides them?

>>49328195

Multiphase Divinity Regulator

Its worded oddly, but you can smack dematerialized objects when it is active.

>>49332222

In 2e? One had a comprehensive 2.5e errata and the other didn't.

Don't get me wrong, Lunars got some errata, and BOY did Sidereals need errata badly. But Sidereals in 2.5e feel actually close to being a Sidereal in terms of power and can do some really scary shit without feeling too OP. I mean sure SMA is still fucked but hey the native charms are good.

Lunar charms function within 2.5e, but do just that, function. Holes exist in both design and power, varying from either decent to horrifically broken (River Dragon grappler).

Unlike sidereals they at least work without a complete rewrite, but they still need one at least in my opinion.

>>49332222
In prior editions Sidereal Charms were a little bit stronger than Lunar Charms.

However, Sidereal Charm trees were short and static - Sidereal Exalted could not make new custom Charms. The Charms in the book were the only Charms they ever had. Furthermore, these Charms, which powerful, tended to be a bit weird and hit things from different angles (for example, there was a Charm that ensured that anyone who heard you say something would believe it was a lie and would act accordingly).

Sidereal had to "fill out" the rest of their powerset via Sorcery or Martial Arts, which tended to be strong but limited in their own ways.

For a Lunar however, if they ran into a problem they could just make a new Charm to handle it. So even if their Charms were slightly under what Sidereal Charms could do, Lunars had a huge amount of versatility compared to Sidereals (and even Solars in some respects).

Of course, while that was the design goal in reality the mechanics didn't always play out that way.

>>49328134

Shame all the PDF's in the 40kRPG thread just evaporated into fizzing pixels.

Damn shame.

>>49332560

Will they be keeping the short, static, esoteric charmsets? I liked the fact that they had to find creative applications for what little they had, even if it meant that every single Sidereal needed to favour Martial Arts.

>>49332578
Wait happened to the all the PDFs?

>>49332618
Last I heard Holden and Morke said that they wanted to open the Sidereal Charmset up a little bit liked the static design and thought the esoteric way the Charms functioned were vital to retaining the Sidereal playstyle, so they didn't want to move too far from the core ideas about Sidereal back in 1st edition.

>>49332629

GW sent a worm out online to automatically delete all traces of 40K RPG's across the entire internet since they decided to stop them. Includes any files a person may have offline too.

>>49332618

Almost certainly, since it is such a mainstay of Sidereals.

Plus since their Excellency is so fuckbendingly powerful, there isn't a lot of room for double9s and other dice-tricks.

>>49332663
Oh I thought the folders might have been taken down or something.

>>49332665
I doubt release Sidereals will have the QC excellency.

>>49333939

Why wouldn't they? It's basically what they had in the previous editions.

does anyone know how to find a copy of the old yozi body unity charms that were up onl the old old forum?

My miricales just came in. Know this is probably a late question, but does that little note at the end about dragon blooded mean DB's are going to be the very next book? I thought it was arms?

>>49334326
Dragon Blooded are the next splat book. In theory arms is still supposed to be the next actual book, but with the clowns at Onyx Path who fucking knows?

>>49334348

I honestly wouldn't mind DBs coming out next. That'd be just swell, as a matter of fact.

Anyone else find it ironic where in 2e the pattern was releasing books as fast as possible, even if the mechanics were shit vs 3e's 'take so long in the name of perfection that the new ice age begins.'

Two completely opposite methods, yet both piss people off.

>>49335599
What they should be doing is releasinga stream of fluff books (directional guides, historical books. or in-setting character musings like the old Aspect Books) since those don't need playtest the information and without the new PDF era you don't have to worry about moving actual products as much.

This keeps people interested in the game, since material is being published, plus that stuff gets people hyped for the actual crunch books that re in the pipeline. Finally since your fluff authors (like Minton and Shepherd) working on that stuff, it's not like it's taking away from your crunch author's time.

>>49335599
And its not like 3e is perfection or even remotely close to it.

>>49335664
That's actually a pretty good idea.

Though of course the fluff I want most is about the various exalt types.

>>49335599
I'd be more happy with that. As it is though they're taking forever mostly because apparently they're going through some personal stuff.

>>49335786

damn shame. better keep calling them shit authors for not giving me my number books quicker.

>>49335866
I don't do that. They're not shit authors because they're books are good. They're shit business runners

>>49335866
Any author given free reign is going to take forever to get anything done. That's why most companies give authors deadlines. Unfortunately Onyx Path doesn't seem to want to give any of the EX3 authors deadlines so they're going to take their sweet time.

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>>49331905

what was the 2e charm that let you throw an opponent through scenery such as buildings without hurting them, tranfering the damage solely to the structure

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>>49331905

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>>49336616

>>49335781

Best official version of Exalted we have yet to date though.

>>49336597

Hellraiser's Instinct, Ink Monkey's Ultimate page 10.

Ironically enough before errata, you could blow up mountains by throwing rats at them.

The leaks were a mistake. We've basically had the core for years at this point. It might not even be that long until the next book hits but from our perspective it's been forever. I would have preferred the general fucking dying over the wait and then coming back to the wasteland we have now.

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>>49331905

i'm not 100% on your definition of handsome but i'd say if Jonah Hex was a wuxia thing instead of a western that you'd have your match.

>>49336720

it dies pretty often. i think the weeks without one we've had recently has made everyone feel like coming back to this and making these half-assed attempts for a couple of days.

>>49336686
thanks

>>49336720
I think when/if Dragon Blooded drops we'll see some good/terrible conversations. Sadly there's not much to talk about right now but Solars and stuff from the older editions.

>>49336830

We can talk about how holden, morke, and rich are lairs again.

>>49336670
True but it does have some issues and questionable design decisions. It's not the masterwork piece of perfection that the designers consider it.

>>49332222

The fact that Sidereals were allowed to do more than one thing. In general, in 2E as a Lunar you had like two build options, and going out of Rargh Murder Beast or Super Pretty Social meant you'd spend the entire campaign feeling like you suck. I should know, I tried to play Lunar tricksters and Lunar crafters. That sure didn't end well.

It's always a bad feeling when you realize that any of the Solars in the party could literally spend 24 XP to be better at your party niche than your splat ever gets to be.

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>>49336745
Yeah, wuxia Jonah Hex is about what I had in mind.

>>49338530
FINGOLFIN IS BEST ELF.


FEANOR A SHIT.

>>49336720
Postponing the release for two years was a mistake. The leak wasn't.

>>49336720
If it hadn't been for the leaks, it would have taken about another entire year for anyone to see hide or hair of the actual rules, and the caustic and toxic atmosphere that brewed from the years of nothing upon nothing would have been even worse.

Isn't the side effect of Witness to Darkness such a hassle for a core charm?

>>49338641
Did they really postpone it just because of the leak?

>>49338717
>Did they really postpone it just because of the leak?

It sure felt like it. Maybe not, but they basically had an unreleased finished product for two years, and the buzz simply poofed. You can't hype people with nothing for two years straight.

The leak was actually a boon insofar the marketing was concerned. The hype attained summit with the release of the leak: it was a giant wave of hype, and a half decent marketing could have used it.

But then two years of nothing.

>Isn't the side effect of Witness to Darkness such a hassle for a core charm?

It is thematically good, though I admit the negative side effect are maybe a tad little too much.

>>49331481
>>49331590
Sorry, made it up. I'm not good with mechanics at all, but I thought the idea was nice.

>Thanatonic Realignment
>The Alchemical kicks his Ego-Driven Ectoplasm Synthesizer into overdrive, resulting in a violent expulsion by evaporation of the biomechanical fluids inside himself. This allows the Alchemical to regenerate motes in Shadowlands and the Underworld at a normal rate and halves the mote regeneration in Creation or the body-worlds of living Primordials or Yozi.
The Alchemical has to retreat to a vat facility to restore their normal functionality.

Does anyone have a link to the backer charms that we can stick in the OP? The current one is just plain text.

Any body know what the good splat conversions to 3e are? I remember a DB one was mentioned here.

Also any tips for running a game of heroic mortals?

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>>49326424
>>49326463
>>49324884
Excellent thoughts on the question.

Another Abyssal archetype I have recently played, other than the nihilist, is the nice Abyssal. The thinking is thus: Oblivion is a certainty. It is the only certainty in the world, the end of all things that encompass everything and give meaning to the world. People are murderers, rapists, hope is an illusion, happiness a delusion, but Oblivion just is, and isn't it wonderful? When you already have the ultimate answers, you don't have to be a dick about it.

A terminally nice Abyssal that accepts the world as it is, in its worst and ugliest. Outwardly happy, smiling, and helpful. The kind that helps orphan until they get captured by fair folk, shrug it off ("c'est la vie"), helps the fair folk for a while, and then decides to travel on the other side of Creation because there is some countryside she really wants to see before Oblivion takes everything.

>>49341104
Would an abyssal help Fair Folk? Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't they a force of pure unmitigated and uncontrolled creativity? The opposite of Oblivion?

>>49341272
For the most part, Fair Folk want to destroy Creation too. You get some oddballs that just want to feed from it, but they're a minority.

>>49338664
The atmosphere wasnt caustic though, it was just dead. Dead like it is right now

>>49341272
They will be swallowed by Oblivion at the end, like everything else. No need to be a dick about it.

IIRC it's more than the Fair Folks absolutely loath the Underworld, Ghosts and Abyssals because they represent the essence of stagnation and certainty, but the feeling is not mutual. Abyssals mostly figure that the Fair Folks are irrelevant. They aren't much of a threat and will be eaten by the Mouth eventually, like the rest. Deathlords cooperating with Fair Folks already happened, thus they were cloaked.

>>49341432
It was definitely caustic.

I have a problem understanding experience cost in 3rd ed rulebook.

It says
Non Caste/Favored Ability current rating x2
Caste/ Favored Ability (current rating x2)-1

That being said there is no difference in cost between Non-Caste and Non-Caste Favored ability.

Maybe I'm reading it wrong but by my logic it should be:

Favored Caste - least expensive
Caste
Favored Non-Caste
Non Caste - most expensive

So am I misunderstanding something?

>>49341888
Yes. Caste and Favored abilities are treated mechanically the same except that you can Supernal a Caste ability.

>>49341949

Maybe I'm not clear. Le't say I make a zenith guy. (NC) - Non-Caste (C) - Caste

I take 5 caste abilities: Athletics, Integrity, Performance, Lore, Presence
I take 5 favored: Resistance (C), Survival (C), War (C), Melee (NC), Dodge (NC)

later during the game I open a new ability: Sail (C)

Now here is the problem
>Dodge (NC) is my favored ability
>Sail (NC) is not my favored ability

to improve those abilities costs the same. So in a way I'm reading it there is no difference between favored and non-favored ability

So power level wise
Killing Solar>Abyssal>Infernal
Non-killing Solar>Infernal>Abyssal
?

>>49338295
>In general, in 2E as a Lunar you had like two build options, and going out of Rargh Murder Beast or Super Pretty Social meant you'd spend the entire campaign feeling like you suck. I should know, I tried to play Lunar tricksters and Lunar crafters. That sure didn't end well.

Curious what went wrong with the former for you, I felt I was able to pull off Lunar trickster well. Between shapeshifting, changing other people's shapes, lending out temporary skills, memory theft, transperfect infiltration ("roll perception+awareness. you spot a fruit fly."), the Silver Pact being arguably the best damn contacts network in Creation, pocket dimension asspulls, and miscellaneous stuff like Instant Floorplan Knowledge Methodology (Eye and Fingertip Wisdom) or the no-flaring charm, I felt I had a pretty good repertoire and still more tricks I could have learned after the campaign had been running a while.

>>49342113
You're mistaken.

Caste and Favored abilities have the same cost. (Current Rating x 2)-1

Non-Favored/Caste have the higher cost. (Current Rating x 2)

>>49342378
Well, that should be Caste OR Favored, not AND.

>>49341888
>I have a problem understanding experience cost in 3rd ed rulebook.
>It says
>Non Caste/Favored Ability current rating x2
>Caste/ Favored Ability (current rating x2)-1

You are supposed to read this as
>Non-(Caste OR Favored), current rating x2
>(Caste OR Favored) discounted a point

Caste abilities and Favored abilities lie on the same first tier.

All other abilities are in the same second tier.

You cannot have an ability that is both caste and favored.

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>>49342378

so is this a typo?

>>49342469
No? That's the same as what he typed

>>49342469
It's Non-(Caste/Favored), not (Non-Caste)/Favored.

>>49342411

okay. I get it now. Wording was hell.

so it's:

>Non-Caste and Non-Favored Ability current rating x2
>Caste and Favored Ability (current rating x2)-1

>>49312084
>I´ll take the 2e explanation then. Should make an interesting solar exalt background.

It's always a fun thing to discover in play, too.

"I... what do you mean I'm the First and Forsaken Lion? I'm totally not the First and Forsaken Lion, I mean fucking look at me."

>>49323546
The phrase "Solar-centrism" gives him away - it's a Lunarfag.

>>49343249

or just somebody who cries about "party balance" when he chooses to play a DB in a group of solars. who really knows?

>>49343275
Actually you're right, he hasn't shat up the entire thread with his endless furry asslicking, so he's almost certainly not a Lunarfag.

>>49338717
>>49338867

They did do some cuts (the new first circle demon, Unity of the Closed Fist) and made quite a few balancing edits throughout the document, but otherwise most of the work was all layout and art based. Most of the illustrations are actually excellent, but the tragedy is the fucking awful poser art that made it in anyway. I don't see why they didn't just contact artists who'd previously worked on the last two editions (like Kiyo or Adam Warren) and requested the use of certain art assets from way back when for use instead.

For example, one of the shitty poser images is actually a recreation of the famous "Lunar eats all of a Solar's pastries" images from Masters of Jade. Why not just fucking reuse that art asset, even if it required paying that artist again? Which I don't think it does, hence the whole "The Art of Exalted" book. And these artists are all poorfags, so even if they didn't just let them reuse the art, it couldn't have demanded much out of the budget. Were they afraid people would call them lazy for reusing art assets which previously represented the setting well? It would be better than what we got instead. As it stands, the poser art is an unnecessary blemish on an otherwise pretty impressive layout.

There was also the whole stupid "Scarlet Empress showing leg" fuckery that occurred because of stupid cunts getting offended over literally everything, but I digress.

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>>49341104

Interestingly, noting your Abyssal's blasé approach and branching off from the "nihilistic buddhist" baseline, one of the goals of Chan (or Zen) Buddhism, due to the influence of Daoism, is to "live spontaneously," to not be muddled by thought, to be a person of pure doing and therefore pure being. You're supposed to not be "sticky" - and I don't mean "avoid" being sticky, it's something intuitive. If you're actively trying to do something, that means you're attached to the notion of it. The state of mind Chan/Zen Buddhism seeks is one that doesn't get attached.

It's kind of a paradoxical thing to describe. It's why the Buddhist dialogue begins with the Four Noble Truths, the (HUGELY abbreviated) thrust of which ends up being "desire is the cause of suffering, so don't desire." But if you're trying not to desire, you're desiring not to desire. It's why you get parables like: http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/82nothingexists.html

Incidentally, this is what Yoda is getting at when he says "do or do not, there is no try." So you can even go as far as "Abyssals as Jedi" ironically enough. Although, actually, the main thrust of the six Lucas SW films is pretty on the nose about asserting Yoda's way (and the way of the previous Jedi Order) are not necessarily correct. Luke still has to interrupt his training to go save the people he cares about... 'cause he's attached to them. The second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, if you've ever watched that show, does something really incredibly similar when Aang ditches Guru Pathik (who is pretty hardcore entrenched in Hindu/Buddhist/Indian philosophy for a children's cartoon).

It's funny, in any case. Buddhists stress compassion for the other sapient beings around oneself under the illusion that they are real and seek Nirvana - liberation from Samsara, the cycle of incarnation into a world of suffering - and this essentially amounts to extinguishing oneself. The inspiration for "good" Abyssals is easily drawn.

>>49343541
>an otherwise pretty impressive layout.
The page numbers are in the middle of the page rather than the corners.

>>49344049

Buddhism as a whole is basically "fight your human urges because they're an affront to nature" in different methodologies and levels of shame involved.

which is why the only people who're proud buddhists are teenagers still looking into it and thinking it's spiritualism/meditation where in reality it's level-headed nihilism.

>>49344072
Some lines are missing from the index and contents page.
Various headings and subheadings are poorly differentiated.
A large piece of fluff text is difficult to read.
They're idiots that don't understand modern layout programs and trusted the supposed 'best in the business' person to handle layout.

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>>49341418

Creation is presently the one thing capping the Maw of the Void. Once Creation is unshaped, the Neverborn will either lose all their fetters/passions and all be consumed by Oblivion or some (perhaps even all) of them will remain; it depends on if attachment to Creation (and the nature of Creation's death being unable to process the immensity of a Primordial) is actually what's keeping all of the dead titans present in the state they're in.

In the former case, the Underworld will no longer be sustained by their dying dreams and will collapse, leaving the Void as the center of the universe. Creation caused -massive- changes to the narratives permeating the Wyld when it came to be simply by virtue of its existence, particularly the fact it established true causality. What do you think a gaping, churning wound in reality will do? My own presumption is that it'd expand infinitely outward, growing ferociously as it sucked up everything in the Wyld until all creative potentially was blotted out.

In the latter case, well, the Neverborn or some Neverborn are still around, the Underworld/Labyrinth now bordering the Wyld. Where the hell do you think they're going to turn their omnicidal sights next? Going by 1e and 2e, Abyssals have the most devastating anti-Raksha Charms in the game for a reason.

So >>49341434 is right, that's how it goes.

I would assert, however, that the relationship raksha have with Creation is a bit more complicated than "most of them just want to destroy Creation" as >>49341418 notes. I'd put it more like: https://desuarchive.org/tg/thread/49120344/#49134682

>>49344133

Ehhh... Fundamentally, the core Buddhist sects don't even consider the world to be real as such, so it kinda depends on what you mean by "nature." Are you talking about the nature of the human species, like the sort of "humanity is an animal that uniquely possesses wisdom and doesn't function solely on instinct/defined behavioral patterns" deal? Or do you mean nature in the broad, mother nature sense? Or a bit of both? Or are you just saying that the innate nature of existence from the Buddhist perspective is emptiness? But in that case, it's not a matter of being an affront to anything. "You" are striving for Nirvana for "your" own benefit, to escape the pain which comes with existing.

If we're going to wrap Buddhism is a nice little bow, you can pair it with Hinduism and say they're both about how "living beings are secretly aspects of the divine masquerading as mortal lives, playing at existence to achieve some end." For Hinduism, everyone is secretly Brahman and for Buddhism, reality is an illusion created by our selfish desire to cling to what brings us an inherently transient happiness (Nirvana isn't divine as such, but is transcendent).

And it really, really depends on the type of Buddhism. Theravada is pretty consistent, but the various Mahayana Buddhist sects are so divergent that there's even stuff like Pure Land Buddhism where they say "the Amitabha Buddha, in the Pure Land of the West, will dissipate all of a worshipper's bad karma upon death," and this place started as a waystation on the trip to Nirvana, but somewhere along the line it became the destination. The Pure Land became paradise and instead of a means to attain moksha it became the afterlife. It even believes in souls. The entire structure contradicts a ton of the original religion's suppositions. By appealing to a worshiper's sense of materialism, it attracted followers by ironically defeating its own point.

Buddhism is essentially nihilistic, however. That's definitely so.

>>49344072
>>49344325

I was more talking about the art itself and just used layout as a blanket way of saying "the book mostly looks really cool/pretty." Except for the poser art.

>>49344133
Interestingly, from a purely efficiency standpoint, Buddhism will help you to get more efficient in life: when you aren't burdened by pesky things like ego or even self-conscience, you are increasingly better at everything.

Maybe it's edgy nihilism, but it's the only edgy nihilism that can move you forward at increasing pace.

>>49345263

I wouldn't really call it edgy since so much of it is also about being compassionate and considerate and meditating and at the base level it can really be pretty boring. I mean, obviously a Buddhist wouldn't feel that way, but from an outside perspective... well, yeah. Unless it's like Shaolin monks or some shit, but even they're only interesting because of their feats of athleticism and overall mystique - most of the shit they do is just work and practice and whatnot.

Edgy nihilism is the type of showy pessimism that parrots about how existence is fundamentally pointless and whatnot while making a big deal out of it and shoving it down people's throats as though it's some profound realization. Actual nihilism entails acknowledging that since nothing matters, there's nothing to actually worry about, so just do what makes you feel fulfilled. Sometimes that just so happens to be anti-natalism.

"Edgy" is a term that gets thrown around way too much anyway. It's just to point out things pretentiously trying to make itself seem serious, meaningful or "adult" and doing it in really childish, simplistic, or braindead way. People labeling anything that tries to have a certain aesthetic or explores certain themes edgy is counterproductive.

Charms cards PDF has gone out to the backers and it's apparently three PDFs. Can any backer tell me if it's worth using them over this: https://www.reddit.com/r/exalted/comments/4yby39/madletters_charm_cascades_version_3_including/

>>49345569
Not for online play.

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>>49345498
I agree completely. At its core, (canonic, Theravada/core Mahayana) Buddhism is strangely about embracing life, though in a way that can seem nihilistic.

Self-consciousness, and everything that it brings, like doubt, fear, hate, lust, is inherently inefficient. The most efficient systems (i.e most able to interact with the outside world) are the one that are not self-conscious. I have recently read a scify book about this subject, though for the love of god I can't remember its name.

Buddhism is basically reaching the point where self-consciousness disappears. It's a noble goal, and arguably the only nihilism that will actively helps you getting out of depression.

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>>49345601

Yeah, Buddhism is called "the middle way" for a reason. I would still agree that it's essentially nihilistic - by Buddhism's estimation, the world is transient and without clear intrinsic meaning or value, while Nirvana is without a doubt the cessation of self... but Buddhism distinctly does not promote suicide, for example. You shouldn't go to extremes of either indulgence or mortification, you should be comfortable in the middle, taking what you need, feeling and acting earnestly. At least in theory, I guess - still have fucking Bodhidharma meditating till his fucking legs atrophy, for instance. But eh, mythology is fluid like that.

>>49343541
>There was also the whole stupid "Scarlet Empress showing leg" fuckery that occurred because of stupid cunts getting offended over literally everything, but I digress.

I thought it had to do with her pose? Honestly either reason wouldn't surprise me.

>>49344325
Honestly tell me how incompetent are the devs?

>>49344072
I don't see anything wrong with that

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>>49346638

The pose was a bit odd, but nothing that crazy - she was just bending her waist in a way that looked like she was reclining, but the angle was somewhat strange. Even if that was the supposed motivation, then the edit certainly didn't fix this otherwise minor problem - her posture is still weird, there's just shitty photoshop covering her leg now.

Rather, this started during the Kickstarter when the image was first shown. The initial outcry was by people on the OPP forums and RPG.net doing what they do and getting their panties in a twist over even the slightest amount of skin showing. They just have to signal their virtues, you see - WOMAN SHOWING SKIN BAD, SCARLET EMPRESS OBJECTIFIED, MALE GAZE, etc. Only after the image was brought to public scrutiny by that vapid bitching did anyone start to point out that their might be an anatomy issue. Cue shitty photoshopping by the time we got the corebook proper.

There are other examples of skin showing in the book itself. This image in particular is curiously the only one that was altered. Funny that the one image people bitched about (or really had the chance to bitch about) was censored in such a way, don't you think?

Can we get back to discussing shitty photoshops of the Scarlet Empress now? At least that's tangentially related to Exalted, unlike quips about hurr hurr rednecks incest lol.

>>49347375
You know where you actually find family trees sans branches?

MENA muslims, where they have a specific word for "marrying your father's brother's daughter". Especially in Syria, where the majority of marriages are consanguineous.

But by all means, do go on pissing on rednecks who are some of the most outbred people in the world, and make sure to simultaneously call them ignorant and bigoted while you're at it.

>>49347471
To get this thread BACK ON FUCKING TOPIC, I imagine this must be how a lot of recently-started beastmen tribes are, since they have small numbers on top of almost all sharing Glorious Lunar Dickinserter as their father/grandfather.

And it probably doesn't get better over time since new beastmen are still being spawned from GLD, and trying to fix the bloodline by breeding with humans repeatedly over generations winds up with only one-eighth and one-sixteenth beastmen who have cat ears and not much more.

Beastmen: either mutant freaks or only lightly furry weeabait?

>>49347524

Can't they also breed with animals? Relatedly, what's the lewdest thing any of you have done in Exalted? It's not like this game shies away from sex.

All this reminds me of the debate a zenith player had with a midnight that wound up sounding like Buddhism clashing with the consolation of philosophy

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>>49347567
Beastmen breeding with animals just gets you the opposite problem: now you have mostly animals with one-sixteenth human traits, pic related.

Glorious Lunar Dickinserter sticking it in all the heifers still gets you the original problem that now all the bullmen are incestuous as fuck.

And regular humans can't breed with animals outside of the Deep Wyld, AFAIK.

>>49347577
All the abyssal talk I should clarify

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>>49347608

Do what Genghis Khan did, and expand your borders to expand your dynasty. Also, considering the subject we're talking about, incest is probably the least perverted aspect of it. What's a few genetic abnormalities in an army of super humans that (rightfully) worship you as godqueen? Do the children of Exalts even get genetic fuck ups like that?

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>>49347567
>Relatedly, what's the lewdest thing any of you have done in Exalted?

The party had a Solar-exalted beastwoman who was in a bit of a funk.
Someone suggested she go out and get laid, which had the little problem that there weren't any same-sort beastmen in the nearby brothels, and humans would probably result in too much fear and confusion to be any help.
So I suggested my Lunar could use Life of the Hummingbird + Twin-Faced Hero to turn into an opposite-sex clone of the Solar.
The plan was decisively vetoed by the other players on the grounds of 'HOW ABOUT NO' and never actually happened, hence picture, which I suspect miiiiight apply to other answers you get too.

Of stuff that actually happened on screen, my groups never really get that lewd, preferring to fade to black and summarize afterwards who's been doing the do with the who.

>>49346864
It makes it hard to thumb through quickly to find a page because the page number is hidden by the next page up. Hope this helps.

>artifact weapons in initial leak had 10-15 evocations
>Artifacts in book we have all have 4-5
I hope arms has artifacts with beefier evocation trees.

>>49348113
They cut them down for design reasons, not for fun.

>>49348113

Doubt it. This is the new paradigm. Reduce everything to its essential elements so it doesn't take forever to master a weapon. It'll be interesting to see how the whole "Some Exalts are better at Evocations than others" will be handled.

>>49348147
I imagine that it's just going to go with the line that "Evocations are only accessible by exalts that resonate with the MM of the weapon, or Solars." that is either in the core or the leak, I can't remember.

so whats up with gia? we know what the other primordials are 'doing' but is she just somehow shattered into elementals or something? sleeping? what

>>49348186
It was in the leak, but not the core.

>>49348252

Fucked off into the Wyld. I think she's looking for the Shining Answer. The "Gaia" in YuShan is just a humaniform jotun.

>>49348252

Most of her is wandering the Wyld in search of the Shining Answer. A tiny part of her, the comet Gnosis, lingers to be with Luna, iirc.

thnx

>>49347274

Just by looking at the thumbnail I should she was pregnant

>>49347274
>Rather, this started during the Kickstarter when the image was first shown. The initial outcry was by people on the OPP forums and RPG.net doing what they do and getting their panties in a twist over even the slightest amount of skin showing.
Odd how everyone who defends this sort of thing resorts to hate-filled exaggerated strawman attacks on its critics. It's almost as if they actually CAN'T defend the things they want to go unchallenged.

>>49347274
It's sort of dumb to have the strongest woman (well, strongest politically, obviously any Solar Dawn girl could blow her the fuck out in a fight) in the setting showing leg in the middle of what looks like a court meeting for cheap fanservice. I mean, it's already weird that the lady (although it's so poorly drawn it might just be a dude, who fucking knows) kneeling before her is wearing assless chaps while all the dudes back there are armored from neck to toe (or wearing robes in the case of that Air Aspect over there).

Really they should've just used the 2e version of that pic where it's the Roseblack kneeling before the Empress. Much better.

>>49350873
>Odd how everyone who defends this sort of thing resorts to hate-filled exaggerated strawman attacks on its critics. It's almost as if they actually CAN'T defend the things they want to go unchallenged.
Odd how anyone defending this sort of behavior resorts to smugly calling the critic someone hate-filled and only using a strawman. It's almost as if they actually CAN'T defend the behavior they want to go unchallenged.

>>49350873
>Down with this sort of thing!

fuck off mary, no one likes you

>>49351051
I mean, really, what makes it different from the countless amounts of other pictures with ladies showing some leg (like that Night Caste in the book, panda-skinned lady, etc.) that no one complained about is that the Empress is going way out of her fucking way to show some leg in the old pic. Like, with that dress she's got on, she's gotta be doing that shit on purpose to show that much skin, and she's doing it for no reason in what looks like a simple award ceremony where she's giving some Deeb a sword. It would be like me hiking my pants up to show somebody my bulge while I'm giving them their Employee of the Month plaque or some shit.

So is it possible for the Solar to defeat the Dragon-blooded during the usurpation? I feel like there's no point in playing as anything but DB or Sidereal since you will be dogpiled sooner or later

>>49351151
Also, and I cannot stress this enough

WHO EVEN FUCKING CARES

it's a picture in an elfgame book

EVERY ONE OF THESE CUNTS NEEDS TO GET A FUCKING LIFE

>>49351172
When all you have in your life is elfgame books, you become incapable of brushing it off.

>>49351172
Hey, man, nothing wrong with critiquing stuff you don't like. Everyone's got a right to do so. If people don't like it, they're free to tell Onyx Path their feelings and Onyx Path can act upon that or not.

>>49351200
Oh, yeah, of course, their fucking peasant feeeeeeelings

>>49351200
I think the problem starts when people treat their critiques as sacred moral imperatives, which is kind of a tendency that nerds have.

>>49351225
Everything you do is based upon feelings.

>>49351244
the shit I did to your mum certainly wasn't

>>49351244
Personally, while I don't think anything is wrong with being critical of a thing, there's a tendency for those same critics to become defensive when their critiques are called into question, and a tendency to conflate their opinions as universal.

I'm not saying everyone does it, but a lot of supposed culture critics keep doing this and it's just irritating.

>>49351236
>I think the problem starts when people treat their critiques as sacred moral imperatives, which is kind of a tendency that nerds have.

I'm not convinced that's a tendency common to all nerds. More a couple of particular subgroups who have come into prominence in recent years, one of which presents as wanting everyone to be able to create and criticise freely, and the other one of which wants anything that upsets them to be fired into the sun and the authors fed to dogs.

And then there's the silly little pricks who try to draw an equivalence between these two groups.

>>49351158

Uh, what? The Usurpation was hundreds of years ago, it's ancient history even from ancient history's perspective.

The DBs and Sids have other problems to deal with now; it's not like they're sitting around jerking off to go rushing out the literal moment a Solar's on their radar.

An alternate Creation that takes place in the flaming wreckage of a world where the Usurpation failed might be interesting, but it's also not the kind of setting where you'd be any better off, since everyone would hate the mad god-kings of gold.

>>49351319
>hundreds of years ago
Read the damn book, you scrub.

Usurpation was thousands of years ago, it's why Creation is such a shitty place.

Hundreds of years would still have most the First Age infrastructure in place and functioning.

>>49351314
I mean it not in the sense that nerds want things that offend them censored, so much as "you didn't use the specific mechanics that *I* like? REEEEEEE" and then conflate the offenders with the devil or something.

>the other one of which wants anything that upsets them to be fired into the sun and the authors fed to dogs.

And if you tell them that they're being stupid, of course you're the one who actually can't handle criticism!

>>49351402
>I mean it not in the sense that nerds want things that offend them censored, so much as "you didn't use the specific mechanics that *I* like? REEEEEEE" and then conflate the offenders with the devil or something.

Or come up with endless fucking threads about supposedly "sub-optimal" shit. Yeah, you got a point.

Alright moving from this stupidity, has anyone done any fan addons to Scroll of Swallowed Darkness?

>>49351087
Actually, it's as if hateful people tend to use a lot of exaggerated strawman arguments. It stands to reason that they'd get called out on it frequently, A good example of this is the post that provoked that bit of criticism to begin with.

>>49351621

I've been working on a completed 3e version of Swallowing Darkness style.

>>49351200
>Hey, man, nothing wrong with critiquing stuff you don't like.
Except that it violates the unquestionable dogma of free speech, much like many other forms of self-expression and several verifiable facts.

Hot damn, I didn't expect my Scarlet Empress image explanation torile so many different idiots. What, first we have a tumblrina and a /pol/tard duke it out till they got all their shitposts deleted and it's still going even now? wew

The point of the post was that it was all a bunch of shitty, stupid concerns that led to us getting a worse product anyway.

>>49351707
>no one can write, post, perform or create things I don't like

Gotta work on that spelling, regressive-kun

>>49351705
Sample please anon-kun

>>49351303
The thing is, people aren't calling those critiques into question. They're trying to stamp it out under the weight of hate and dogma while screaming about how their own opinions are synonymous with freedom and anyone who disagrees is evil incarnate.

>>49351314
And the hateful censor-happy folks who claim that they represent free speech while trying to socially lobotomize the planet of any concepts they find inconvenient to their freedom, while preaching insane strawman versions of those same concepts in hopes that people will react to them with blind hatred rather than logic.

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>>49351756
>tfw a poster describes themselves and doesn't realize they in fact come off as exactly the thing they hate

>>49351879
Yeah, the freedom-thumpers tend to do that a lot. Like when they strawman the critics whom they hate, when the attitudes they attribute to said critics are pretty much exactly how they treat anyone who speaks against the specific forms of speech they deem "free". Which is a suspiciously specific category.

It's usually pretty obvious that those people don't actually value freedom. The best part of free speech is that it allows ideas to be judged and considered fairly and reasonably, but they only invoke it to stop exactly that from happening. They invoke it as a dogmatic law to claim that statements such as "this form of expression may have negative consequences" is bad speech and shouldn't be tolerated, without noting the irony that they're using free speech to restrict speech.

>>49352001
It depends on what the negative consequences, if any, are.

I'm pretty sure the actual harm caused by problematic content in elfgame books is minimal, at worst.

Why was 3e's art so shit? Didn't they get a bunch of money for art?

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>>49352001
See, I'm not even sure how we got to this point though, man. >>49347274 didn't mention a thing about free speech or censoring people, they were just explaining the situation and said some complaints were stupid.

>>49352176

Not all of it was shit. A lot of it was good or great. It's just some of the art was inexplicably shitty poser art.

>>49351748

I dunno. It's pretty murky as is.

>>49352199
That's not what he said. He didn't display the ability to perceive, let alone address, whatever the complaints actually were. He just raged out of habit at the thought of art being criticized in that way and attacked it with cookie-cutter strawman arguments. His previous comments make it clear that his hate was against the concept of criticizing art more than the validity of that particular instance.

>>49352101
>I'm pretty sure the actual harm caused by problematic content in elfgame books is minimal, at worst.
No, y'see, it's super important because elf-kin might be upset by it

and one time someone said a bad thing about a black person

or a woman

or something

anyway the important thing is you have to boycott everything we tell you to boycott

or you're on the wrong side of history

I mean it's 2016

I can't even with this conversation any more

Educate urself shitlord

>>49352380

Jesus fuck, dude, do you ever even read your own posts?

Or can you not see the screen through the walls of your rectum?

>>49350873
It's not exactly an exaggeration though. Basically every time i can think of that a major female NPC appeared in art with skin showing there was some outcry or another about it, regardless of it if actually made sense for there to be so.

>>49352380
My friend, I want you to realize something a little bit tragic.

>>49351879 was talking about you.

>>49352101
It's not a matter of "art literally has no effect on how people think or feel" because that's known to be untrue. It's really a case of "art can't possibly ever have negative consequences", because if it has consequences then it's logical to judge it by them, and that would mean there's a good way and a bad way to make it, and the concept of some art being wrong is a restriction on expression, and that's censorship.

Instead of using free speech to let ideas and possibilities be discussed and judged so people can make informed decisions, it's used as a dogma to censor ideas and possibilities so that other ideas can go unjudged. It's a matter of absolutes, and when they conflict with reality, reality is supposed to lose.

>>49352574
>Basically every time i can think of that a major female NPC appeared in art with skin showing there was some outcry or another about it, regardless of it if actually made sense for there to be so.
How DARE you suggest that judging art can EVER make sense!!! You're speaking against speech, and that means your speech is CENSORSHIIIIIIIIIII-

-if you understood that the whole time, why didn't you just talk about this particular instance rather than going full rage mode with the over-the-top stereotypes?

>>49352649
please stop false flagging, youre not helping

>>49352756
If they actually believe their extremist strawman are a totally true and valid excuse to dismiss criticism as a concept, then they can't be "helped".

>>49352649

What are you even talking about at this point? Holy shit.

>>49352839
Son that right there is what we call bait
I honestly can't tell which side he is bating for, might be both. Advanced baiting tactics

>Teehee I have a new plan
>I will use the language of free speech to agitate in favour of people who actively try to censor
>And then when people disagree I shall accuse them of censorship
>It's foolproof I tell you!
>FOOLPROOF!

Man, it's like there's a school for faggots.

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>>49350873
>>49351685
>>49351707
>>49351756
>>49352001
>>49352380
>>49352604
>>49352649

How long before we get any serious look at the deathlords?

>>49353305
I'd guess abyssals. Which will probably be after lunars and sidereals.

>>49353065
Using the "language of free speech" to declare certain forms of speech unspeakable is literally what they're doing, though.

goddamn i was gonna tweet at john morke to ask him a question then i looked at his tweets and half the shit that isn't exalted or world of warcraft is him thirsting after chicks wtf

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>>49351051
>It's sort of dumb to have the strongest woman (well, strongest politically, obviously any Solar Dawn girl could blow her the fuck out in a fight) in the setting showing leg

Why?

I mean, did you really think about it? Most women like to show some legs. If you are the biggest, baddest thing around, you better believe you'd want to do only what you'd want to do. What's the issue? Some prudish DB saying to her that her outfit is inappropriate for an empress?

You seem to mistakingly believe that women only show legs because they are oppressed by the evil patriarchy, and without it, all women would be prude and dress properly.

I can't even tell the two sides apart, and sometimes it looks like they're agreeing with each other in the belief that the other one is talking about their shared enemy, not themselves.
We can talk about some of these free speech and censorship issues here, but now it just seems like retards slinging shit for an internet fight.

Instead, why don't we talk about this dead game no one plays or cares about enough to have an ongoing general?

What are the merits of starting in areas other than the scavenger lands? Why do most people clump together there?

>>49356218
I have yet to run in the scavenger lands. I've used the south, southeast, and midwest.

But the scavenger lands offer the highest density of classic adventure with dungeons, lost artifacts, petty kings, feuding factions, and Babby's First RPG Trope.

>>49356218
Scavenger Lands are easy, but maybe kind of boring. Other places have more flavour, in my opinion, but also more complicatiosn, both for the ST and the players.

>>49356167

See, I was going to write something really similar, but ultimately decided "fuck it, it's just bait." Anyone who thinks a woman showing leg is somehow offensive or inappropriate, especially when it's the fucking Scarlet Empress, probably isn't worth talking to.

Seriously, sometimes it feels like faggots like that are trying to send us back decades ago.

>>49356218

Nexus is a really fucking cool place, but maybe that's just because the Guild is fucking cool.

Where can I find Orgiastic Fugitive Style?

>>49311233
Noob here, can I into STANDs if I play Exalted?

>>49359585

In theory. I basically used Erembour (a Third Circle Demon) as a Stand in 2e because she had to hide in my character's (and other's) shadow(s), but that's late game as fuck (E5) in every edition.

>>49359585
Yeah. For silly characters, I've been treating anima as stands.

I need help coming up with the next plot arc for my on going campaign

i'm not sure what direction to take the story and could use some feed back from other gms if anyone is up for giving me advice

>>49360522

What are your players like? What plot arcs have there been already? How were those arcs resolved?

>>49360542
The circle consists of a melee focused dawn from the north, an archer focused dawn from the east, an alchemist/wizard Twilight and former Cynis dynast Zenith who is running his own mercenary company

The game is set in the scavenger lands and has so far lasted for like, a year and a half in character

The last plot arc was the first and it was pretty much princess mononoke with the numbers filed off. Zenith was contracted by a non-realm dragonblooded filling the role of lady eboshi to protect important supplies and then her settlement, Twilight was contracted by her to help develop gunpowder, and both Dawns decided to sign up with the mercenary company to fight the good fight

The settlement is attacked from the east by the creatures of the magic forest lead by a dog of the unbroken earth and an as of yet untattoed lunar because industry is destroying the land and from the west by a rival scavenger lords army lead by a death knight who is an actual knight called Ivory for short and his apprentice, a musician necromancer called Wistful Dream

The exalts managed to has out a peace with the lunar and the spirits of the forest and ally with the settlement against the invading army, with the death knights breaking off from the invading forces and heading into the woods while causing enough trouble to keep everyone occupied long enough to get a head start

Bunch of immaculate monks show up in hot pursuit of the abyssals who are currently the focus of a wyld hunt, and they ally with the circle who manage to hide their solarness

fight through the now ghost infested woods to follow the death knights trail leads them to an ancient first age solar manse that was constructed in the heart of the forest, dragonblooded and solars team up to stop the abyssals from helping the ghost of the manse's former owner awakening his evil creation that was basically a tortured god
(Cont)

>>49360701
Immaculates find out that the PCs are anathema but give them a pass (For now) because they're all pretty much exhausted from the fighting and the death knight Ivory managed to escape with the help of an infernal named Mistress of the Doomsday Machine

Wistful Dream ends up as the circle's prisoner, Zenith manages to convince rival lord to work with the dragonblooded as allies, Twilight figures otu stuff to make the foundries more enviromentally friendly, everyone takes a year time skip to level up and do their own stuff

I'm still trying to get the individual sessions done for the time skip. So far the archer dawn took the Lunar under his wing to help socialize her to people on a trip back to his hometown in the far east, encountering a fae lord in the process and having to do some fairy tale challenges to get home

The Twilight took the abyssal necromancer wistful dream under his wing and took her back to his home town of Sijan, bumping into a liminal in the process and finding out that the city is in deep with walker in darkness

Melee dawn is going to fight crime in Nexus with help of one of the dragonblooded immaculates, and Zenith is going to do more mercenary stuff while tiger training his forces, focusing on going after an elemental court that had been oppressing the nearby mortals

Ivory was working for the First and Forsaken Lion, and I've also introduced plot threads involving Red Melkin and her travelling circus in the area

>>49360701
>>49360775

The Solars have allied with DBs? That could be good fo creating tension. Don't the players have any long term goals or motivations that they wish to pursue? You could create a story out of one.

>>49360522
I dunno if you've been GMing long enough to use this, but one of my standby hooks is to have the party from another game and another adventure blunder in (suitably scaled and translated, of course) and start making noise and getting in people's way and stealing and breaking stuff with a big objective and arc of their own, which this game's PCs then get to intersect and smash up.

>>49361319
The players aren't really...planners. None of them have any long term goals, at least nothing specific enough to plan around

They always look to me for cues and I am not sure how to draw them into this

>>49361350
I suppose I could smack them into an Exalted campaign i was in but that ended. Solars on a globe trotting adventure ooking for a treasure map

>>49361428
>The players aren't really...planners. None of them have any long term goals, at least nothing specific enough to plan around
>They always look to me for cues and I am not sure how to draw them into this

That's a problem, Exalted is largely character driven and needs players that will work towards a specific goal without being prompted. Are there no parts of their backstories that you can make use of?

>>49361428
I dropped a Rogue Trader campaign on them once, suitably converted into a soulsteel wyldship that travelled between reality pockets in the Deep Wyld. It blundered into Creation, landed on the circle's manse and had a lot of weird requests and demands and started grabbing people's attention.

>>49361484
There is

The melee dawn exalted after her city up north was destroyed by the stoat of the mire and killed the abyssal, could be a new stoat shows up

The cynis is still in contact with his sister who wants himt o find...something. I'm not sure what. I was thinking maybe some first age dragonblooded frozen in time or maybe some sort of shogunate super weapon?

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>>49361578

Shogunate super-weapon sounds better. Use pic related to help make plot points.

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2 questions before this shitty thread dies:
1. So, how bullshit is it to have an off-screen assassination of one of the PC's allies happen when they're not within the area to stop it?
2. If you were a douchebag Infernal Exalt overlord intent on conquering your neighbors in the West, how would you do it?

>>49361923

>1. So, how bullshit is it to have an off-screen assassination of one of the PC's allies happen when they're not within the area to stop it?

Is it something that they could have predicted would happen based on logical or narrative flow prior to that point? If so, then is this a purposeful assassination to demonstrate a threat or build up an enemy that they have to face later? Or is it just a shitty "fuck you" that you're throwing in because you can?

>2. If you were a douchebag Infernal Exalt overlord intent on conquering your neighbors in the West, how would you do it?

RotSE covered that pretty well. It would depend on what kind of Infernal and if I were still working for the Yozi.

>>49361959
>Is it something that they could have predicted would happen based on logical or narrative flow prior to that point? If so, then is this a purposeful assassination to demonstrate a threat or build up an enemy that they have to face later? Or is it just a shitty "fuck you" that you're throwing in because you can?
Well, the party just got a declaration of war from the Infernal overlord (who is also the brother of one of the PCs), so maybe? He does know where they are, after all, and he hasn't done much asides from threaten them.

Currently the party is off in Yu-Shan solving some major crime as a favor to the Convention of Water for helping them with repelling a raksha incursion.

>>49361923
>1. So, how bullshit is it to have an off-screen assassination of one of the PC's allies happen when they're not within the area to stop it?

It depends on how much this directly hurts the PC in question in both a functional and emotional sense.
Functionally, if that ally is strongly tied to the PC's current goals and endeavors, it can be pretty shitty to get slammed with a big setback that they had no control over. If this is the case, then give the player some condolences or perhaps reward them doubly for being able to solve this unforeseen problem.
Emotionally, this ties into the "PC has a family" issue where if you lean too hard on fucking with their loved ones to get at them, they begin to see their character having such bonds as a vulnerability and annoyance and are thus discouraged from doing that. So even if the assassination can be played for drama, don't do it just for the sake of drama.

Ideally, major plot occurrences should be foreshadowed, but sometimes that's not feasible. In another sense, the fact that the character is a person politically relevant enough to warrant assassination is good enough - it's a known risk that comes with the profession. Better yet is when the assassination is a consequence of the PC's own acts, even if it's not an immediately foreseeable one.

Otherwise, sometimes death just happens. Not everyone can be saved, not even by the Exalted.

>2. If you were a douchebag Infernal Exalt overlord intent on conquering your neighbors in the West, how would you do it?

That depends. What type of Infernal am I? But off the top of my head, Cecelyne (the evil genie branch charm that drinks other people's milkshakes/steals their backgrounds, Palaces like Sandcastles) and TED charms (annexing via malevolent diplomacy) are the best suited for this. You could just be a Slayer warlord steamrolling their neighbor, though.

>>49362082

>Well, the party just got a declaration of war from the Infernal overlord (who is also the brother of one of the PCs), so maybe? He does know where they are, after all, and he hasn't done much asides from threaten them.

You're in the clear then.

>>49362082

Yeah, what >>49362097 said. You're good.

>>49352238
>>49351748
>>49351705
>>49351621

Tell you what, I'll polish it a bit and post it in the next thread.

>>49362094
Essentially, the gist of it is that the Infernal hates his brother because he got kidnapped by some nomads as a slave when they were young and his brother never bothered to look for him, instead spending those years repairing shit and getting a cushy job as a vizier. So, the Infernal believes that PC is essentially a massive douchebag who only cares for artifice and not people.

So anyways, the target of said assassination is the Dragon-blooded leader of a mercenary corps/cult to Siakal that the Circle hired to help them fight raksha and now the Infernal. So the Infernal (A Slayer Caste) is going to send one of the others on his Circle (A Scourge, of course) to murder his ass and leave a message essentially saying, "Why don't you get people who actually like you and not your coin to fight with you?"

>>49361638

Pic is super helpful, thank you

>>49314115
>Ok when I get home I'll think of better waifus
Did I miss the better waifus post somewhere? ;_;

>>49363470
Shit I completely forgot about that. Too busy getting my car serviced.

>>49363598

Do it in the next thread.

New thread. To the void with this one!

>>49363936
Don't look at me, I have no dots in Craft(Thread).