Exalted's Most Egregious [Contest]

[Flagg]

Exalted's game mechanics allow for some really ridiculous stacked effects. Let's hear what you've got.


Best entry (by user vote) wins a patternspider.net email address. We'll accept submissions until this Saturday. Entries must be nominated by another user to qualify for the final vote.

 

[Chaka]

Essence level?

 

[Flagg]

Unlimited.

 

[wordman]

I've never been munchie enough to fully exploit this, but there may be something here that inspires somebody to figure it out...


As you know, many charms based their effect on an Ability or Attribute rating. If the charm is particularly potent, often the designer will base it on Essence instead, with the idea that Essence progression is slower, therefore nerfing the charm slightly compared to basing it on an Ability/Attribute.


With that in mind, the charm Soul Fire Shaper Form (monk.136) becomes even more exploitable than it already is. Having an effective Essence of 10 would basically turn the previous notion (i.e. that charm designers use Essence instead of Ability/Attribute when they want to limit a charm's power) on its head.


As an example, a solar with Stamina 5 using Soul Fire Shaper Form would be able to spend 1m to activate Essence-Gathering Temper to gain back 50 motes. And, of course, since Essence plays a part in the calculation of essence pool size (personal pool is probably at least 36, peripheral at least 80), he probably has space in the pool to hold these new motes. (Soul Fire Shaper Form explicitly mentions both increasing pool maximum and that it does not automatically fill the expanded pool.)


A sidereal using Soul Fire Shaper Form and You and Yours Stance (exsi.150) is beyond a perfect defense: most entities in Exalted simply wouldn't even be able to attack in the first place. Barring stunting, only someone with a Conviction of 5 as any chance at all, and that chance is only 1 in 100,000.


There are most likely other charms with effects based on Essence rating that would be even scarier (Ice and Fire Binding, maybe. Probably some sidereal social-fu, like Cash and Murder Games).


(The really sad part is that the "effective Essence of 10" thing isn't even Soul Fire Shaper Form's best power; it's also probably the best charm control charm in the game.)

 

[Aasharu]

Alright. Essence 7 Eclipse that favors Archery. They know Boundless Arrow of the Unconquered Sun, (Lords of Creation pg. 56,) and Generalized Ammunition Technique, (Manual of Exalted Power: Sidereals pg. 151.) They also have a single Soulbreaker Orb. At any point during the day, they can set the Soulbreaker Orb to 5 seconds, use Generalized Ammunition Technique to turn it into an arrow, then use Boundless Arrow of the Unconquered Sun to shoot it at anyone they've ever seen, anywhere, as long as they aren't indoors. The arrow hits them, then within seconds, explodes, destroying everything in a five mile radius. Good way to take out armies, or really send a message that you don't like someone.

 

[Flagg]

Alright. Essence 7 Eclipse that favors Archery. They know Boundless Arrow of the Unconquered Sun, (Lords of Creation pg. 56,) and Generalized Ammunition Technique, (Manual of Exalted Power: Sidereals pg. 151.) They also have a single Soulbreaker Orb. At any point during the day, they can set the Soulbreaker Orb to 5 seconds, use Generalized Ammunition Technique to turn it into an arrow, then use Boundless Arrow of the Unconquered Sun to shoot it at anyone they've ever seen, anywhere, as long as they aren't indoors. The arrow hits them, then within seconds, explodes, destroying everything in a five mile radius. Good way to take out armies, or really send a message that you don't like someone.

I nominate this. :lol:

 

[Persell]

Solar at Essence 9+ First use World-Scarring Solar Glory to "store" one or more uses and pay the 5 motes surcharge to allow what ever damage you want. Then use Sharp Light of Judgment Stance to use it on all enemies with in (Meleex100) yards. Not as cool as a Soul Breaker Orb arrow from any where, but meh.

 

[Moonstone Spider]

Hmm, I'll give this a try for what it's worth although I'm not too good at min-maxing. Here's an attempt at highest-possible sustained (scene long or better) speed.


Beep Beep the Roadrunner-totem Lunar has decided to open up a pizza delivery service. Since this requires getting Pizza to customers while it's still hot, Beep Beep focuses on speed.


Beep Beep has 11 dexterity thanks to Impossible Dexterity Improvement, and Devastating Ogre Enhancement for a total dex of 13. This gives Beep Beep a base dash of 19 yards a tick. But Beep Beep also has Cheetah's Pace as a mutation adding 6 more to dex for 25 yards a tick. Beep Beep further has a 3 dot specialty in dexterity (Movement speed) raising that to 28 yards a tick.


Beep Beep possesses Moonsilver Wings of the Raptor, set with a Wind Jewel. This adds 10 miles per hour to Beep Beep's speed when flying, which translates into 5 yards a tick for 33 yards.


Beep Beep knows Instinct Driven Beast Movement, Second Dexterity Excellency, and Instinctive Dexterity Unity. Beep Beep has also picked up Silver Lunar Resolution 10 times. Beep Beep's total essence available at essence 10 would normally be 30 peripheral and 80 peripheral. But Silver Lunar Resolution adds 100 extra motes for 210 motes total, but alas 11 precious motes are used up on Wings of the Raptor. 20 additional motes are spent on Instinctive Dexterity Unity, allowing Beep Beep to spam Second Dexterity Excellency for 5 automatic successes endlessly at no cost for 38 yards a tick. This leaves 179 motes.


Each 4 motes spent on Instinct Drive Beast Movement multiplies Beep Beep's movement. Expending the remaining essence nets Beep Beep a speed multiplier of x45, for 1710 yards a tick. The Wings of the Raptor grant a character to fly at 5 times her dash speed raising Beep Beep's speed to 8550 yards a tick, or in overland travel speeds 17,100 milers per hour.


This means that starting from the Blessed Isle, Beep Beep can easily deliver a pizza in well under 30 minutes anywhere in creation, even if he has to take a few minutes off to eat some birdseed and evade whatever magitech device his No-Moon nemesis Wile E. has come up with. Fortunately Wile E. managed to break a deal during the Eclipses of Creation Convention and is still working off the 600 or so guaranteed botches from that so those inventions rarely work.

 

[Aasharu]

I'd like to nominate Moonstone Spider's idea. I had been trying to work out a similar speed freak idea using Adorjan's charms in the Infernal book, but Spider's creation blows that out of the water.

 

[magnificentmomo]

Could you make Beep Beep an Adorjan Akuma and make it even worse or are they not compatible?


I would do the Lunar Adorjani Akuma as a Hedgehog personally, but Beep Beep is good too.

 

[Aasharu]

Yeah, what I think it was, you have an essence 10 infernal, with 10 purchases of Wind-Born Stride, who then adds 100 to their dexterity for calculating out dashing speed. If they have 10 dexterity, then their total speed is 116 yards per tick. Then you take Running to Forever, Murder Is Meat, Unimpeded Perfection of Exertion, Foam-Dancing Haste, and Gravity-Rebuking Grace, and then as long as you kill one large creature a year, you can literally run forever without stopping, stumbling, or slowing. You can run on water, on lava, up a cliff, upside down, you even gain essence and willpower. Pick up three purchases of Earth-Skimming Gale Tread, and at ten essence, you can fly at these speeds for as long as you want, for free. Pick up Faster then Sight, and for five motes, you can do all this invisibly and inaudibly. Pick up Racing Vitaris, and for five more motes, you can triple that speed for an hour. Also, the 116 yards per tick thing counts as your base speed for all other speed enhancing things, so yes, it is compatible.


Edit: Also, I just realized a problem with this contest. If we see some totally broken idea, we then are driven to break it even more. But yeah, add all this and you get 34650 yards per tick. That's 70875 miles per hour. Given that the entire bounded area of Creation, as seen in the map at the front of the core book, 42400 miles, (8400 miles from top to bottom, 12800 miles from side to side,) you could run all the way around Creation in less then an hour.

 

[Persell]

A Fiend works better. Presume max in all applicable stats and possible total essence pool of 460. 10 Wind Born Stride gives you a base dash of 116 yards. Add perfected Boos for commitment of 1 mote adds 6 to dash speed for 122. Flawless Dexterity Focus (Dashing) bumps this to 125. Impossible Dexterity Improvement makes it 126.


Gem of Perfect Mobility in a Skin Mount Amulet for +10 motes and an x2 speed. Racing Vitaris bumps it up an another x3 (for x4 total) for one hour for 5 motes. This leaves 464 motes. Instinct Driven Beast Movement can then be activated 116 times for a total modifier of x120/x118.


That's 15,120 yards a tick for an hour, and 14,868 for the rest of the scene. That's 30,972 MPH for an hour and 30,411 MPH for the remainder of the scene. That's about Mach 43.


EDIT: Accidently multiplied Racing Vitaris by Instinct Driven Beast Method, fixed that. Tweaked the build for better speed.

 

[Moonstone Spider]

Grumble *Doesn't have infernals yet.*

 

[Persell]

Well, you get credit for inspiration.

 

[Aasharu]

A Fiend works better. Presume max in all applicable stats and possible total essence pool of 460 with all relevent charms. 10 Wind Born Stride gives you a base dash of 110 yards.
Racing Vitaris bumps it to 330 (x3) for one hour for 5 motes. Instinct Driven Beast Movement can then be activated 113 times for a total modifier of x115.


That's 37,950 yards a tick for an hour, and 37,290 for the rest of the scene. That's 25,875 MPH for an hour and 25,425 MPH for the remainder of the scene. That's about Mach 36.

Your math is off. 1 tick is 1 second, according to the Core book. Plus, Dash speed is Dexterity plus 6, then you add the Wind Born Stride you get 116. Using Racing Vitaris, you multiply that by 3, you get 348. Then, activating Instinct Driven Beast Movement 113 times, you multiply that by 113, getting 39324 yards per tick. However, after that hour, you drop down to 13108 yards per tick. So, for the first hour, you go 80435 miles per hour, and then after that, you go 26811 miles per hour. However, if you get the other charms I mentioned, running counts as meditation, so you're getting 4 motes an hour. Have two points in Cult, and you get another 2 points per hour. Since Racing Vitaris costs 5 motes, you could activate it every hour.


Edit: Damn, we really are overdoing it, aren't we?

 

[Persell]

No, Racing Vitaris would not be multiplied by Instinct Driven Beast Movement, which is why i said its would be at x115 (x113 from Instinct Driven Beast Movement+2 more from Virtaris). I DID miss the +6 for dashing though.

 

[Aasharu]

OK, well... let's say that Moonstone Spider's original idea with Beep Beep is his entry, and your Fiend Infernal is yours. I have my Soulbreaker Orb from anywhere entry. If I can nominate 2 entries, I'll nominate your Fiend as well.

 

[Persell]

ill dig around I'm my brain to see if a can come up with something in a different theme. i thinking unarmed combat.

 

[Aasharu]

So, is it reasonable to assume that any embellishments made after the original idea aren't included?

 

[Persell]

i dunno, just dont want to gank anyones idea.

 

[wordman]

Some targets, for inspiration:

• Highest property damage
  
• Speed of crafting artifacts
  
• Ability to wear down perfect defenses
  
• Perpetual motion machines (e.g. combos that pay for themselves, etc.)
  
• Inspiring the largest crowd
  
• Fastest way to get rich
  
• Fastest way to turn a hostile enemy into willing love machine
  
• Highest Appearance

 

[Moonstone Spider]

All right, since I've been outclassed in speed I'll see what I can do with penalties. Here we introduce our readers to Reeks-of-Venoms, Eclipse Martial Artist specializing in penalties.


Using Unarmed attacks one can combo a huge number of martial arts together so by crossing disciplines on a character who seemingly has two or three billion experience to blow, we get:


Introduction to the Stone Prince from First Pulse Style lets us curb-kick whichever sap was dumb enough to annoy us for a -2 penalty.


Unhealthy Miasma Stance is our only Simple charm in the combo, granting us up to essence penalties applied to our enemy for another -10.


Stumbling Inconvinence Attack taken from Even Blade Style gives us another -1 if used properly, which is to say to get penalties.


Northern Lotus Petal Discernment Meditation taken from Crimson Pentacle Blade Style doesn't give internal penalties, but rather a -10 DV Penalty making our hit just about guaranteed against non-perfect defenses.


Vindictive Concubine's Pillow Book Understanding is drawn from Dreaming Pearl Courtesan style, and applied to reduce armor by essence + martial arts (23 in this case with an appropriate specialty). We could do a bit better using Snake Style and ignore armor entirely but then it wouldn't be a penalty, and the gods would surely punish us for going out-of-concept.


Kiss of the Whip from Laughing Wounds style adds 1 to Wound Penalties.


Aria of Tranquility yanked out of means enemies that succumb to a mental attack have to spend a willpower point to do anything, and even then suffer an additional internal penalty equal to their own temperance + compassion, for -2 to -12 more. At essence 10 an enemy has to spend 10 willpower to resist this effect, a fairly unlikely scenario.


Naturally we're not quite finished, as a snake-totem Reeks-of-Venoms can't possible leave out snake style. Snake Form gives a penalty loss of essence (10) dice for any enemy seeing Reeks-of-Venom's hypnotic movements. It's not combo okay but is scene-long and thus can be stacked in. Also it's not specifically called a penalty so one might rules-lawyer that it can't be offset by penalty-removing charms.


The Lunar Stamina Tree lets us access the Scorpion and Toad Mastery, which adds poisons on the scene (and incidentally also helps fuel Orgiastic Fugitive style by keeping Reeks-Of-Venoms stoned to the eyeballs 24/7.) For 10 motes Yozi Venom gives a nifty -5 penalty. Coral Snake venom adds another -5 for only 2 motes. Arrow Frog venom gives us -4 for 6 motes and Reeks-Of-Venom's Lunar mate spammed all 24 of her mutation points in DBT to get a custom toxin with a penalty of -13. Adder's Eye gets us Luna's Spite which nabs us another -10 penalty, and Chosen Bane that gets us a penalty equal to the target's essence, probably another -10 in this case. The other's aren't so good. This is obviously where our hero gets his name as his hands apparently shoot poison like a firehose from the sheer number of substances he reflexively creates.


Altogether this nets Reeks of Venom a total penalty of -83 to -93 to his target with a single combo strike, many of these effects stack, however. His target also loses 10 points of DV against this attack and his armor takes a -20 penalty.


But there's more. Borrowing from Solar Hero Style, Ox-Stunning Blow has an uncapped penalty adder equal only to the number of motes spent. Unfortunately the exact penalty will depend on the enemy soak and the total penalty this can inflict will depend on how many pool-expander charms are available, many of which are in books I don't have so I won't add the umpty-hundred penalty from this charm. Suffice to call it equal to the number of motes left which will number several hundred.


Against Creatures of Darkness add:


Paralyzing Combustion Imbuement. This adds -1 to the targets internal penalties, -1 more for each level of damage capped at Essence for up to -11.

 

[Persell]

:shock: *slowly claps* I guess I keep the speed demon as my entry then, and nominate that.

 

[Flagg]

Since this thread got off to a slow start, I'm going to keep it open through tomorrow. We can start the voting on Monday.

 

[Persell]

As cool as the Speed demon and Penalty MArtist are, I still vote for the Boundless Arrow of the Unconquered Sun+Soul Breaker Orb. "Whats that? I can't hear you over the sound of your soul evaporating..."