Four Factions (slots full)

[xarvh]

Re: Four Factions


Thank you Isley.


You complete our roster.


No more subscriptions allowed.


By the questionable assumption that people with more post are more experienced or know better the rules and the way to exploit them, I'm trying to mix people with few posts with people with more posts.


Feel free to comment on your level.


I'm requesting the forum, soon you'll be PM'd with the team assignment.

 

[saganite]

I'd like to think that I've got a relatively firm grip on Exalted's system, but your assumption may not hold water with everyone. Though I certainly could exploit the rules, it's not really in my play style to do so, so I'd prefer not to unless you specifically are looking to run that type of game (which in that case I may have to rethink things :/ ). Having characters that start off with a slew of 5's and 1's doesn't really suit me.


By the by, are you going to have any houserules on specific Charms? There's the obvious contenders (Void Avatar Prana, Ebon Lightning Prana, etc), and then there are the slightly less obvious, though potentially obscene ones (Glorious Solar Saber, Bottomless Depths Defense, etc).

 

[Chaka]

I'm fairly capable with regards to mechanics, but I also don't believe in min-maxing. Knowing the rules is not the same as exploiting them. That said, I do plan on making a combat-oriented character, and it's quite hard to NOT min-max that kind of thing if you know what you're doing and intend to focus. It's the nature of the game, I guess.

 

[saganite]

It is, to an extent, and it isn't. It's quite possible to make a Combat-focused character with somewhere between three and five Combat ability Charms, two and three support ability Charms, and around two to three other Charms that branch out and broaden your character's capabilities. You could also make a character with seven to ten Charms all in the same combat Ability, and somewhere between none and three Charms in support abilities. The categorical difference between those two is pretty clear to me .

 

[xarvh]

Yes, using the post count is definitely an act of desperation on my part. =)


With "exploit" I was thinking more to know the general strength and weaknesses, such as being able to exploit the DBs reflexive charms against a Celestial.


I do expect that your PCs will have some maxed dicepools here and there.


However, excessively maxed-out players will inevitably have a lot of weak spots.


Unlike a classic game, I expect that PCs will be able to easily exploit such weak spots.


Someone wasting all his charms on the Dark Messiah tree up to Void Avatar Prana will be short work for a good assassin.


In general, I'd like to stick as much as possible to the manuals (any official errata does apply).


I'm trusting the players not to peek in threads they shouldn't, I can trust them not to exploit badly written charms.


This said, I'm far from an expert of charms and rules and am open to any suggestion, especially if it makes charms more playable... fixing Void Avatar Prana as suggested in Fixalted seems a good idea.

 

[saganite]

I'd actually just drop Void Avatar Prana all together if it were my call. Fixalted's change for it works, but realistically the Charm shouldn't exist at all (the guy who wrote the Charms for Abyssals didn't actually write VAP; it was added afterwards by higher-echelon-types, who in addition to mangled a whole bunch of other Charms, including Ebon Lightning Prana). Illustrative Overkill Technique makes for a fine pinnacle for the style, and all you have to do is add Bone-Shattering Blow and Lashing Tempest Palm to its prerequisites.


As far as other Charms go, I've got a few suggestions for Abyssals specifically:


-Ebon Lightning Prana: Remove the Join Battle/go first effect, as well as the auto-draw for your weapon. Join battle effects belong in Awareness, not Melee. Blazing Solar Bolt does not have an auto-draw or join battle power, so there's another major reason for it not existing, as well as the auto-draw. Change it from being automatically unexpected to providing a Reflexive attempt at making the attack unexpected, with a pool of (Dexterity + Stealth + Melee). This puts it more in line with Blazing Solar Bolt, albeit more destructive and powerful overall because of the attack having the piercing tag.


-Vengeful Riposte: Make it Combo-OK. This was the writer's original intent, and what it was before the higher-echelon-guys took a hacksaw to it.


There's probably a few other Charms in Abyssals here and there that could use some clarification or fixing, but these are what I can think of at the moment. With regards to other stuff, I'd merely suggest you put limits on things. For example, a quick and dirty balancing fix to Glorious Solar Sabre would be to limit the points spent on an individual trait of the Essence-weapon to no more than the Solar's (Melee). This prevents people from creating +10 Accuracy or +10 Defense weapons you may or may not have seen in the past. Bottomless Depths Defense, the tick-long perfect soak in Water Dragon Style, is utterly broken for a Celestial Martial Arts Charm. I'd suggest adding a Willpower cost and raising the health level cost to 3 Aggravated levels, at the very minimum. Geoff Grabowski himself (the guy who actually founded the Exalted line and stayed with it till after the 2e Core was written) said the Charm was broken, and suggested the "raised health level cost" fix.

 

[Argas]

Too bad there is no Infernal team, but Abyssals are fine too.

 

[lockepick]

Is there an official game board made for this yet?

 

[Atrius Night]

or game boardS....?

 

[xarvh]

I requested the boards, Haku is working for us, all praise Haku!!! =)


viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1104&start=0


Myself, I'm writing down all the team-specific stuff, Team Valor and Team Temperance are ready, but before giving it to you I want to cross-check them.


Depending on my RL, I may be able to provide all your intro and chargen stuff this Monday or Tuesday.

 

[Haku1]

Also, you and your crazy demands... I actually have to play with the damn forum settings to see just how the heck I can pull it off with that many players with out it going bonk on me. :shock:

 

[Myllinnia]

We break the Loom and all of Creation in one fell swoop by asking for this? xD

 

[Haku1]

Nyet!


It is rather the Primordials care for you hairless monkeys, that such care is taken that the Loom doesn't break. :twisted:

 

[Tikor]

I'm trusting the players not to peek in threads they shouldn't

Could you make it more clear which threads we can and can't look at?

I can trust them not to exploit badly written charms... This said, I'm far from an expert of charms and rules and am open to any suggestion, especially if it makes charms more playable... fixing Void Avatar Prana as suggested in Fixalted seems a good idea.

Everyone has their own ideas on what is and isn't a badly written Charm. With as many players as we have various viewpoints are bound to come into conflict, especially in a PvP context. It is your job as ST to disable such differening viewpoints from impacting fun. I leave it to you to decide how, but I would like more guidance on how you are determining which Charms to avoid and which not to avoid.

 

[xarvh]

Could you make it more clear which threads we can and can't look at?

Don't worry, I will explicitly write the team names in the title of each thread, as well as in the first post of the thread with a big warning. =)

[cut]I leave it to you to decide how, but I would like more guidance on how you are determining which Charms to avoid and which not to avoid.

A fair point.


Ebon Lightning Prana requires a wits+melee roll vs wits+awareness to be unexpected and is not piercing.


Void Avatar Prana requires 4 motes to activate the perfect defense.


The rest is untouched.


I will republish this in the House Rules thread.

 

[saganite]

Wait... So you're keeping the join battle part of it? ....Why?

 

[xarvh]

Wait... So you're keeping the join battle part of it? ....Why?

Simpler and closer to the spirit of the charm, at least the way I see it.


I'll open a thread for the discussion of house charm rules, but unless a significant number of players agree on a specific concern, I will stick to the manual.

 

[saganite]

Uh... I'm not really sure that's the intended spirit of the Charm. Check your PM box.

 

[Havok_Harbinger]

I have been looking for a game and was directed here by PM, I have a couple pf DB concepts that I would be willing to work with, and was told that you may want me here.


I have an Immaculate Wood Dragon, compassionate negotiator between the spirits and creation, eventually combat healer.


I also have a Fire Aspect combat mage idea that would relish this kind of game.


If either of these ideas are interesting please yell out team Dragon.


I also have a Zenith commander, or an Eclipse Martial Artist idea that I am willing to play if either of these would be preferred though I was kinda directed to the DB team.

 

[Havok_Harbinger]

One last question, as far as the Sorceror choice, is the Black and White Treatise available? Or Rolls of Glorious Divinity II as far as Demon summoning?

 

[xarvh]

I sent you everything by PM.


Welcome aboard. =)