City of Gem

[Caelun_Niveus]

I had a character idea for a Solar who grew up in (and has the motivation to protect) the volcanic mining city of Gem. What book would I need to find the most about Gem as possible, to make a plausible character?

 

[Teln]

Since you're playing a Solar, you'll need the core rulebook, a good imagination, and the ability to ignore anybody who tells you that your version of Gem sucks.

 

[Plague of Hats]

If the short corebook description of Gem isn't sufficient for your needs, The Compass of Terrestrial Directions, Vol. IV—The South devotes its entire fifth chapter to Gem.

 

[Thanqol]

Compass: The South would be the logical one, though I've never read that.


Careful, though, the Internet's version of Gem is a city that is always exploding, all the time.


(Having recently come out of an excellent campaign in Gem, here are some things, take or leave:


- Garbagemen are priests of the volcano god, and pray (very quietly) to the volcano as they throw trash in there. They talk softly because they Don't Want To Wake Him Up.


- Having a monopoly is how business is done. One house has a monopoly on scribes, another on paper, another on armorsmithing, etc. Only one supplier for every product.


That's all I got this very second

 

[Caelun_Niveus]

If the short corebook description of Gem isn't sufficient for your needs' date=' [b']The Compass of Terrestrial Directions, Vol. IV—The South[/b] devotes its entire fifth chapter to Gem.

Thank you very much.

Careful, though, the Internet's version of Gem is a city that is always exploding, all the time.

I actually was thinking of this, which is why the Eclipse caste's exalted motivation will be to keep the city in one piece.


Also, how many bonus points could I get for failing eyesight (-2 to any related rolls)?

 

[Thanqol]

I actually was thinking of this, which is why the Eclipse caste's exalted motivation will be to keep the city in one piece.


Also, how many bonus points could I get for failing eyesight (-2 to any related rolls)?

Merits and flaws are bad game design! Just take one dot in Perception, none in Awareness, and use the freed up points elsewhere!

 

[rattleingpython]

2 points to be nearsited or farsighted (lose two dice on all perception rolls in those situation)


Thanqol that may not actually captured the effect the player is going for. Ive met people with horrible eyesight that are still incredibly perciptive and aware of whats going on around them. They just use other senses to do it.

 

[Thanqol]

2 points to be nearsited or farsighted (lose two dice on all perception rolls in those situation)
Thanqol that may not actually captured the effect the player is going for. Ive met people with horrible eyesight that are still incredibly perciptive and aware of whats going on around them. They just use other senses to do it.

Theeenn... you have high perception and describe any successful roll as down to hearing rather than sight?


Because if you're 'incredibly perceptive' - 8-10 dice - then mechanically you're still going to see further and better than the average dude even with the -2.

 

[Caelun_Niveus]

2 points to be nearsited or farsighted (lose two dice on all perception rolls in those situation).

I was more thinking near AND farsighted. -2 to any rolls involving sight. Hm... would that be 4 points?

Theeenn... you have high perception and describe any successful roll as down to hearing rather than sight?
Because if you're 'incredibly perceptive' - 8-10 dice - then mechanically you're still going to see further and better than the average dude even with the -2.

Good point... Maybe I go with rolling any sight rolls as if I had perception/awareness 1?

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

The Flaw Diminished Sense is the cannonical answer. Diminished Vision has a variety of levels. It's a 3 dot flaw for Nearsightedness which gives a -2 to Perception rolls beyond (Perception+ Awareness yards away) and a -2 to all ranged attack rolls. If the character wears glasses, which can correct the negative effects, the value is reduced to 2. Farsighted characters have the same costs as nearsighted characters, but instead supper a 2 die penalty for reading small characters or manipulating small objects...which can interfere with more than just perception rolls as well...and could be quite troublesome with Crafts or calligraphy.


Flaws and Merits have their place in helping flesh out a character. Just because some people hate them does not mean they have no use.

 

[Kyeudo]

Merits and flaws are bad game design! Just take one dot in Perception, none in Awareness, and use the freed up points elsewhere!

I would say that Merits and Flaws as implemented are bad game design.


Merits serve a niche of benefits that can apply to any character, even those that do not have access to supernatural powers. Being ambedextrous was important to one of my characters who fought with two scimitars (no, he was not a Drizzt clone in Exalted, he was a Prince of Persia clone), just because that -1 off-hand penalty was annoying. He wasn't Exalted at the time, so using a Charm wasn't an option and being ambedextrous is a rather low reward for buying a non-Terrestrial Charm.


Flaws, if they were chosen right, would bring their negative benefits to bear in a wide variety of situations and could not be easily avoided and so could provide interesting plot situations and would reward the player from choosing to take such a disadvantage to enhance play. However, being sensitive to cold climates while in a campaign set in the South is not a Flaw, but is perfectly permissable by the current rules.

 

[rattleingpython]

Flaws, if they were chosen right, would bring their negative benefits to bear in a wide variety of situations and could not be easily avoided and so could provide interesting plot situations and would reward the player from choosing to take such a disadvantage to enhance play. However, being sensitive to cold climates while in a campaign set in the South is not a Flaw, but is perfectly permissable by the current rules.

If you read the end of climte Sensitive:

The Storyteller should veto any form of climate


sensitivity that would apply only if the character were to


enter an area the story is unlikely to compel him to go.


Likewise, a character who has access to Charms or other


magic that negates penalties for harsh climates should not


be permitted to take this Flaw.

Just saying between that and the bolded note that the storyteller has the right to veto any combination of merits and flaws. They arnt so bad if your on the ball...


If your not you end up with a 40 hardness super infernal fiend taking your custom Isidor charms with brutal attack and the heart from the infernal book. Dice pool of like 21 before Excellency or weapon Accuracy applies. (shudder)

 

[Thanqol]

I'm mostly opposed to merits and flaws because they're a whole huge host of exceptions, exceptions which are unnecessary given the current point based system.


Want perfect recall? High intelligence! Crappy vision? Low perception, possibly specialities in hearing! The ability to breath for long times underwater? Stamina! The ability to survive in really cold climates? Specialities! Almost all these gaps can be filled with dot arrangements and specialities.


What merits and flaws actually are are D&D style feats. They're a big pile of exception rules, each given their own text and abilities completely divorced from the core gameplay mechanic. They're clunky, they have unforseen consequences with the current system of rules, and they're unnecessary. All this stuff can easily be done with the point based system, a charm, or a stunt without need for an entire category of new mechanics.


It's bad game design.

 

[Virjigorm]

It's bad game design.

Agreed. Allowing a player who is willing to game the system to gain a free advantage over players who make their characters creatively and in good faith is like saying a thief deserves to be wealthy since they are willing to break the law.


There really isn't much that you can't represent with attributes, abilities, specialties, or backgrounds. For those things which are "so important to your concept" that you must take flaws to represent them, go for it. Just forgo the extra bonus points. If you aren't willing to do that, you've admitted you're just trying to squeeze points out of a broken mechanic.

 

[Caelun_Niveus]

I guess then I'll take a Diminished Sense flaw, but not add the bonus points from it until I get ST approval.


I thank you all for your advice.

 

[Kyeudo]

What merits and flaws actually are are D&D style feats. They're a big pile of exception rules, each given their own text and abilities completely divorced from the core gameplay mechanic. They're clunky, they have unforseen consequences with the current system of rules, and they're unnecessary. All this stuff can easily be done with the point based system, a charm, or a stunt without need for an entire category of new mechanics.

How else would you handle Ambedexteriy? Knowing more than 6 languages? Virtue specialties? Quick Draw? Brigid's weakness with normal Charms but excessive skill in Sorcery?

 

[Thanqol]

How else would you handle Ambedexteriy? Knowing more than 6 languages? Virtue specialties? Quick Draw? Brigid's weakness with normal Charms but excessive skill in Sorcery?

Ambidexterity: Suck up the -1 penalty on your offhand and say they're both as good.


Virtue Specialities: Have a virtue be high. Possibly take the solar edition of Cosmic Transcendence of (Virtue)


Quick Draw: Call the Blade


Sorcery: Take lots of sorcery and few charms and say you're weak in charms.


Languages: I actually run a houserule where languages go 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 as dots increase. Five dots in Linguistics really should be "Yeah, I speak that."

 

[Kyeudo]

Ambidexterity: Suck up the -1 penalty on your offhand and say they're both as good.

But they're not and that penalty is annoying.

Virtue Specialities: Have a virtue be high. Possibly take the solar edition of Cosmic Transcendence of (Virtue)


Quick Draw: Call the Blade

How about as a Heroic Mortal?

 

[Thanqol]

But they're not and that penalty is annoying.

Okay. Take one dot of speciality with "Dual Wielding". You now have a +1 to both hands and are better off.


EDIT: It's also a one dice penalty in dice pools that will range from 10 to 18. How annoying can it really be?

How about as a Heroic Mortal?

Who plays heroic mortals?


Also, as a Heroic Mortal having a virtue at 5 is already insane. 6 is unnecessary. Have it at 5 and say it's at six. Quick draws, take an awareness speciality that applies to your join battle.

 

[Fabricati]

Who plays heroic mortals?

Presumably, the people who wanted to buy the book. Just saying.

 

[Thanqol]

Who plays heroic mortals?

Presumably, the people who wanted to buy the book. Just saying.

Point, but that was mostly tongue in cheek.

 

[Kyeudo]

But they're not and that penalty is annoying.

Okay. Take one dot of speciality with "Dual Wielding". You now have a +1 to both hands and are better off.


EDIT: It's also a one dice penalty in dice pools that will range from 10 to 18. How annoying can it really be?

I took three specialties in Dual Wielding. The penalty was still annyoing. It made calculating my dice pools when making flurries of four to six attacks a pain because I had to remember which hand was which attack.

Who plays heroic mortals?

I do. It's a great way to start a series and allows you to make Exaltations an important IC moment, instead of just something from their backstory.

Also, as a Heroic Mortal having a virtue at 5 is already insane. 6 is unnecessary. Have it at 5 and say it's at six. Quick draws, take an awareness speciality that applies to your join battle.

You haven't actually read Quick Draw, have you? It allows you to draw a weapon reflexively and has nothing to do with Join Battle.

 

[Thanqol]

I took three specialties in Dual Wielding. The penalty was still annyoing. It made calculating my dice pools when making flurries of four to six attacks a pain because I had to remember which hand was which attack.

So we need an unrelated subsystem to compensate for a counter-intuitive core system? That's also bad game design.

I do. It's a great way to start a series and allows you to make Exaltations an important IC moment, instead of just something from their backstory.

I actually do the same fairly often. I just remain unconvinced of the necessity of an entire subsystem, which has noted negative impacts on balance, to add some minor points of flavour to a temporary stage of play. Especially when the core mechanic can obliviate or replicate most of those so-called advantages.

You haven't actually read Quick Draw, have you? It allows you to draw a weapon reflexively and has nothing to do with Join Battle.

Yeah, I know what it does. But it's actual effect is to save you some time at the start of battle, which is the same effect as the Join Battle roll.


Do it according to the core mechanic and say you didn't. Flurry your draw-weapon-kill-dude attack and get some stunt dice out of it. There's still no need for a superfluous subsystem that inflicts balance headaches.

 

[Kyeudo]

I actually do the same fairly often. I just remain unconvinced of the necessity of an entire subsystem, which has noted negative impacts on balance, to add some minor points of flavour to a temporary stage of play. Especially when the core mechanic can obliviate or replicate most of those so-called advantages.

Some people play whole games as Heroic Mortals. Some effects are really nice to have across Exalt types but not quite worth more than a Terrestrial Charm. There's a place for the subsystem if we could just clean the crap like "someone owes me a favor but I decided not to model it as a dot in Contacts, Mentor, or Ally" out of that subsystem.

Yeah, I know what it does. But it's actual effect is to save you some time at the start of battle, which is the same effect as the Join Battle roll.


Do it according to the core mechanic and say you didn't. Flurry your draw-weapon-kill-dude attack and get some stunt dice out of it. There's still no need for a superfluous subsystem that inflicts balance headaches.

It's not for the Iajitsu stunts that you get Quick Draw. It's so that you can actualy use thrown weapons that don't return as a main combat strategy or use any style where you use more than two weapons in a single combat. Every Miscellaneous Action you use is one more action where he's pulling ahead in the mote wars because he doesn't have to spend motes on a perfect defense that action.

 

[Thanqol]

It's not for the Iajitsu stunts that you get Quick Draw. It's so that you can actualy use thrown weapons that don't return as a main combat strategy or use any style where you use more than two weapons in a single combat. Every Miscellaneous Action you use is one more action where he's pulling ahead in the mote wars because he doesn't have to spend motes on a perfect defense that action.

So we need an unrelated subsystem to compensate for a counter-intuitive core system? That's also bad game design.


EDIT: I mean this in terms of "One specific merit fixing one specific instance of stupid in the rules does not justify the entire subsystem."