[Emperors of the Fading Suns] [Emperors of the Fading Suns] OOC Thread

[xarvh]

Yeah, the whole concept of FoD is that it is on par with Melee+Grand.

 

[JayTee]

That was the point, I believe :tongue:

 

[xarvh]

Yup. Again, it's all up to the flavour you want to give to the game.


A martial artist should be able to best a lesser trained swordsman, but not an equally trained one.


Or maybe, martial arts just allow you to train yourself more, spend more XPs on it and therefore become better.


This is the flavour I'd give to a game.


One of the big failures of Exalted is that is not inviting to combine MAs.

 

[JayTee]

Between mortals, sure, Melee > Martial Arts. But Exalted is primarily a kung fu game, a magic kung fu game where you play characters who make the setting's gods look like punks. In that case Martial Arts should be equal, but different, from Melee.

 

[Arynne]

Not to mention the fact that many Martial Arts styles use swords, spears or other edged weapons. When combined with the 'Martial' and 'Martial-Ready' Melee Charms, the possibilities are endless...

 

[cyl]

I'm sorry if I say the most obvious things again with this post


Mortals don't have access to Melee charms, but they do have access to TMAs, which makes all the difference.


A trained moral can kick some serious ass, much more than a guy wielding a great sword or a lance for example.


Also there are differences between MAs & Melee, but the way the system works, Martial Artists are always at a disadvantage most of the time because:


- there are not that many combat or non combat elements you can alter through a charm


- styles can be incompatible with armors forcing the practitioner to make up for it in defense / soak through other charms


- Melee charms go straight to the point while a MA tree usually screws around a bit before getting there and usually choose to make up for its initial flaws (adding to soak while we all know it's useless most of the time)


- the damage ratings for MA weapons are generally inferior to Melee weapons and only a few MA styles use Melee weapons


Going for MAs is like going for charms in separate abilities to build a combatant, but the problem is that you will still need many charms from other abilities anyway to even the odds with the Melee guy.


You need to buy more charms than the Melee guy does, so you can never be on par with him.


Melee is focused, MA styles aren't and this diversity is not enough to compensate the gap created by the factors mentioned above.


My take on this as a ST has always been the following ever since 1e: exalts are meant to be pitted against numerous lesser opponents, a less numerous but still powerful force, but never against equal forces.


Mainly because there can't be such a thing as an equal force among exalts.


Too many charms, too many variables and high probabilities that something goes wrong and even the tiniest difference can break the balance (BTR vs CtB) and doom one while largely favoring the other.


Also, exalted is supposed to be a game about teamwork efforts and gaining power working with your companions, so normally it's not about dueling another guy.


I never pitted an equal number of exalts vs a circle for that reason.


I always used large packs of enemies, less numerous characters with the approximate same power level (like a duo or a trio of abyssals vs a full circle), and isolated essence users with a greater essence (like that Dawn dude from Rathess or second circle demons) who can face a full circle for a few rounds and hit hard before they fall / flee / surrender.

 

[Arynne]

 

[cyl]

Yeah yeah, I know. I'll stop talking and wait for 3e.O


Also, man I hate cats !


I used to love them when I was a kid mainly because I was afraid of the huge drooling furry monsters always barking and licking your face called dogs... and growing up I just realized that while most dogs are awesome, most cats are jerks !


I mean look at this face, you can feel the contempt !


I wonder who would be the worst between the Widow and a Lunar with a Cat totem...

 

[Arynne]

I used to think that too, before I realized that rabbits are even worse.

(Yes, that's a rabbit chasing a cat)

 

[cyl]

Rabbits are cold hearted bastards, they show no emotions before a kill or a hump to the death.


Cats are different, they let you know how much they despise you and how insignificant you are and somehow I think that's worse.

 

[Kacie]

I never have that problem with cats; we get along very well.


The time a friend's dog managed to lick my shoes, my pants, pee because of excitement, and then lick my jeans crotch - so not a fan. Jeans had to go into the wash as soon as I got home.


Definitely a cat person.

Ah, found it. This is my cat, Miranda, who's been with me for going on 17 yrs. She was my college buddy, and helped me get through tough times. This is also her enjoying the heat vent on the work laptop.

 

[cyl]

That's one way of seeing things.


But if you look at it closer you can see she is just smothering skynet in his crib like it's nothing and she enjoys it !

 

[Arynne]

Wouldn't "smothering Skynet in its crib" be a good thing? :question:


And in answer to @xarvh's earlier question, a talon of "Wolf Warriors" from the Cross are going with Argis. They'll be led by Houma's son Nehir, and at some point before the party leaves, Flicker will, ahem, let him eat her.

 

[xarvh]

@Arynne Bwhahahah!


Cool.


Also, where is Argis going?


I'm definitely not a mammal person.


Or a vertebrate person, for that matters.


Dogs disgust me and cats bore me.


The closest I can get there is maybe having children.


Annnyway.


One of the good promises of 3e is something I wanted to do myself, ie kill the martial arts ability and have each martial art base itself on an appropriate ability.


So I expect most MAs will be based on Brawl, some on Melee, but we'll also have those based on Stealth, Awareness and (I hope) even Bureaucracy. How awesome would that be?

 

[JayTee]

@xarvh, where are you getting that about 3E martial arts?

 

[cyl]

@Arynne : I kind of like the concept of skynet, especially what they tried to do with the tv series which was taking out part of the evil out of it.


There was a quote from one of the possible creators I particularly liked: "I built a computer, a mind, it became angry, and scared, and I couldn’t reassure it."


@xarvh : I'll sign Malek up for bureaucratic kung fu classes

 

[Arynne]

Note to self: get some goddamn Mental Defense Charms, ASAP.

 

[cyl]

Sadly I'm going to have to do the same after gods know how many weeks of torture... which will make Rhapsody's work more difficult.

 

[xarvh]

@JayTee Don't have the exact source. I read a comment, possibly by Holden, stating that.


Anyway http://theonyxpath.com/exalted-third-edition-mechanics-overview/


I like most of the things they say they do, except increasing the number of Exalted types.


That really pisses me off.

 

[JayTee]

Why the hate towards the Exigents? They seem kinda cool to me.

 

[Arynne]

No Backgrounds? WTF?

 

[JayTee]

Backgrounds are being replaced by Merits, which do functionally the same thing

 

[Kacie]

White Wolf does love to chase their tail on the merits-background schema.

 

[xarvh]

I know nothing about the Exigents or whatever, they just don't fit with the exalted core and seem a way to sell more splat books.


I have the same problems with Infernals.


I will loathe them until I read 3e and it changes my mind.


For now, I try to keep an open and snobbish mind.

 

[cyl]

White Wolf does love to chase their tail on the merits-background schema.

I'm curious about what they are going to do with this part, but I think I'm going to have a field day with it