Dice Into the Ruins - Exalted 3e OOC

[Sherwood]

I don't see that you have any Specialties listed, and if you look at my sheet in the Combat tab, I have stats like Join Battle, Soak, and my Defenses listed that I don't see on yours. They are not absolutely required, but having those numbers listed out ahead of a combat can help speed things up a bit.

 

[Psychie]

Your motes of Essence don't show the amount you have committed to your artifacts. By having that amount listed, it will help to keep you from dipping into those motes by accident.

 

[Eonivar]

Added the stuff mentioned. I think I should be ok. Let me know if there is anything else I need to adjust or change.

 

[Psychie]

You don't have a value for your Thrown Ability, just a listing that it has a Specialty to it. It has to be at least a 2 to be able to get your Thrown Charms that you have.

 

[Psychie]

And now we are one step closer to game time!

 

[Eonivar]

You don't have a value for your Thrown Ability, just a listing that it has a Specialty to it. It has to be at least a 2 to be able to get your Thrown Charms that you have.

I accidentally deleted it when I put in the specialty, its fixed now.

 

[Psychie]

I accidentally deleted it when I put in the specialty, its fixed now.

I thought that was what had happened. Thank you.

 

[jaydude]

Psychie
I've made a start on my Intimacies, but just wanted to check; how long would you say we've all known each other?

 

[Chowlett]

I'm planning on taking this as my Shaping Ritual, from the "Bargain with Mara", but flavoured to be as a result of learning my sorcery in the deep shaded woods rather than an infernal bargain:

The sorcerer draws power from shadow and darkness, weaving it into her spells.
Whenever she begins a scene in darkness or shadow heavy enough to qualify as concealment for attempting stealth,
she gains three sorcerous motes, which last until the end of the scene and can be spent towards any spells she casts.
Additionally, whenever she takes a shape sorcery action to shape a spell while in stealth,
she gains an additional sorcerous mote as long as the spell’s target is unaware of her.
She also receives these benefits while under the night sky during the new moon or Calibration, even without being concealed.

Does the extra mote for shaping sorcery while in Stealth require the spell to have a target? The three I'm starting with don't (unless you count a tree...), and I'd like to know whether I can get the extra mote while stealthed for those. I would assume it doesn't count if I'm hiding from nobody, but if I'm sneaking about evading guards or whatever, can I apply it to Flight of Separation?

Alternative would be to take the Talisman of Ten Thousand Eyes ritual

 

[Eonivar]

Psychie I accidentally deleted my character entry...is there a way to recover it?

If not I will just have to reenter it all, gah...its becoming one of those days.

 

[Eonivar]

Never mind, I opened a ticket and they restored it!

 

[Psychie]

Psychie
I've made a start on my Intimacies, but just wanted to check; how long would you say we've all known each other?

For the past few months.

I'm planning on taking this as my Shaping Ritual, from the "Bargain with Mara", but flavoured to be as a result of learning my sorcery in the deep shaded woods rather than an infernal bargain:



Does the extra mote for shaping sorcery while in Stealth require the spell to have a target? The three I'm starting with don't (unless you count a tree...), and I'd like to know whether I can get the extra mote while stealthed for those. I would assume it doesn't count if I'm hiding from nobody, but if I'm sneaking about evading guards or whatever, can I apply it to Flight of Separation?

Alternative would be to take the Talisman of Ten Thousand Eyes ritual

I will say that you can apply the mote to spells like Flight of Separation.

Psychie I accidentally deleted my character entry...is there a way to recover it?

If not I will just have to reenter it all, gah...its becoming one of those days.

I'm sorry, but I do not know. You might be able to get some help from the moderators, but it might be gone for good.

 

[Psychie]

Never mind, I opened a ticket and they restored it!

Excellent!

 

[jaydude]

For the past few months.

Thanks.

I might come up with a few Intimacies built around the other PC's, but otherwise I'm good to go.

 

[Psychie]

Sounds good.

 

[Psychie]

So now we have four of our five characters ready to go. We will give Chowlett a little more time to finish his character, then we can start out.

 

[Eonivar]

I am happy to work with anyone on any intimacies with Mercy, I left a lot of spaces in her backstory to include those sort of things.

 

[Chowlett]

So now we have four of our five characters ready to go. We will give Chowlett a little more time to finish his character, then we can start out.

Shouldn't take me too long - I've got my charms and merits whittled down. Just intimacies, limit trigger, and spending of bonus points. Day or two, in between other commitments?

 

[Psychie]

Shouldn't take me too long - I've got my charms and merits whittled down. Just intimacies, limit trigger, and spending of bonus points. Day or two, in between other commitments?

No rush! We can hold a little bit longer.

 

[Rykon]

Alright, I'd had the chance to read over the character's backstories a bit earlier and I'm really excited to play with this group.

I've only just recently had the time to review the crunch and mechanics. I apologize for this long post, since most of us have asked for review I figure I might as well give some thoughts across the board. Hopefully, this is constructive information. I don't want to pressure anyone into doing something they'd prefer not to or change what they've established on my account.

Anyhow, here are my thoughts for things that impact the numbers:

General: I think I'm the only one that took the resources merit. So question for Psychie , would you allow those that don't have artifact armor to purchase mundane armor through Aredin's Resources merit if they can make use of it since we've been a circle for a decent span of time?

Amara: Everything seems solid and cohesive. I see she has a brutal scar and a missing arm. Did you want to play this up mechanically with the Hideous Merit (0) (To enable appearance to enhance intimidation instead of persuasion) and the Amputee flaw (cause there's no such thing as enough Solar XP, especially for a martial artist)? I don't have much to offer other than that, I'm mostly just curious to see how her personal story arc plays out as things are.

Gray Stone: Yet again, Gray Stone is on theme with solid and cohesive. The only thing I can think of for the present is intimacies. He seems like an older, wiser character, I'd be curious to see if he had any mentors or organizations that seemed to shape his current way of thinking or that define past or present connections or contacts. Speaking of way of thinking, any particular philosophies or proverbs that speak to this character?

Silent Glade: Given that's it's a work in progress I reckon I'll take this from a perspective of where I'd go from what I currently see on your sheet. I advise spending 2 bonus points to get Melee to 5, it's definitely worth it if you don't absolutely need the points elsewhere. The Thaumaturgy ritual merits Reading the Tea Leaves (2), Unquenchable Flame (1), Second Bread (1), and Exorcism (2) could let you spend up to another 6 bonus points in rare but useful abilities that really mesh with your shamanic mysticism. If you did all of those things that leaves another 4 bonus points that could be spent on a hearthstone or two, likewise with artifacts. However, I do have one last suggestion to round things out in that department too. I don't see a shaping ritual marked, if you want to take a different path from Mercy then The Talisman of Ten Thousand Eyes looks like a compatible one for you. The Astral Meditation (1) and Eye of Crimson Warning (2) merits would interact with your character's talents and spell selection well. It will also leave you one last free point to take Occult 4. The easy alternative being Melee 4 and Occult 5, but either way you slice it, investing in abilities above 3 provides a lot of value for the trade off. Speaking of...

Merciful Fire of Emancipation: I like the direction and story of the character. There's some min-maxy optimization you can do if you want to. That said, it really feels nice when a character still has room to grow both narratively and mechanically and I think you've done that well here. Most min-maxing efficiency gains are in attribute distribution given how heavy the scaling cost is in XP. Rather than ruin a good thing with stat cheesing though, I'd prefer to focus on some low-hanging fruit you can take in the near future. In case you don't have the Dragon-Blooded book there is a Terrestrial spell called Virtuous Guardian of Flame...

Spoiler: Virtuous Guardian of Flame

Cost: 15sm, 2wp
Keywords: None
Duration: One day
The sorcerer draws a flaming sword from her own heart, shaping a fiery sentinel to keep vigil over her. As she completes the spell, the burning blade collapses into a will-o’-the-wisp no larger than a torchlight — the sorcerer may conceal the Virtuous Guardian of Flame by commanding it to rest within an existing lit lantern or torch she carries. Should she be attacked, the wisp flares back into sword shape to fend off her enemy, protecting her as per the defend other action (Exalted, p. 196) with a Parry of ([higher of Essence or Intelligence] + 1). The virtuous guardian can even notice threats of which the sorcerer is unaware, rolling (Essence + Perception + Occult) to detect hidden enemies. Wooden projectiles or weapons successfully blocked by the guardian are burnt to ashes. If it parries an unarmed attack or other natural attack, the attacker suffers one die of lethal damage, ignoring Hardness. Even when its parries fail, its flames blunt the force of attacks against the sorcerer, adding (Essence) natural soak against all but unblockable attacks.

The guardian has soak (Essence + 5), Hardness (Essence), and (Essence + Intelligence) -0 health levels. When the sorcerer Joins Battle, it gains Initiative equal to hers. It cannot take any actions of its own; instead, this Initiative is used solely as a buffer against withering attacks. If the guardian is crashed, it dissipates for a scene, unable to protect the sorcerer, but reforms after that. If its health track is filled with damage, it’s utterly destroyed, and the sorcerer cannot resummon it until its full duration has elapsed.

A sorcerer with this as her control spell may awaken Evocations from it, enhancing the guardian’s defensive power or wielding it offensively.

Distortion (Goal Number: 15): Distorting the virtuous guardian lets the distorting sorcerer temporarily usurp it from its caster, stealing its protection away from her for one scene.

The tldr; version is that the spell lets the caster carry a wisp with them that will manifest into a levitating burning sword to defend them if they get attacked as if they had someone using a defend other action on them. If you weren't already planning on doing so, it could be a nice spell to add to your list early on as XP permits as both a helpful defensive boost and further driving home the fiery power theme. Speaking of fiery power, Flight of the Brilliant Raptor is a good damage alternative to obsidian butterflies when at higher levels of initiative where the butterflies really shine at crippling or wiping out battle groups.

***

Alright, outside of the sheets themselves, I would like to work on the character's understanding of each other individually for making intimacies. So if it helps to make a little mini-game of it I'll start with what I'd expect the circle to know about Aredin and then a single question he'd ask each character.

Aredin introduces himself as a merchant prince with his "fortunes" being a product of treasure hunting and capital investment mostly in real estate and the transport business. He sought out and maintained both the title and guild standing as a means to hunt leads on the White Wraith cult that was responsible for otherworldly creatures pillaging many settlements including his hometown. He has two surviving kin, his brother and their uncle, who he had kept loose contact with before being forced to go on the run. His apparent pastimes are looking for new sites to excavate for treasure, practicing with a couple of musical instruments, fishing, and trying to learn how to sail in order to better understand his late father's old profession as a fisherman of the Riverlands.

To Amara: "What does being the greatest swordsman mean to you?" (ie. At what point would she say she's achieved that goal)

To Gray Stone: "I see you take protecting creation very seriously. What do you see as the greatest threat currently?"

To Silent Glade: "Since you come from a place with a lot of oral traditions... What's your favorite song, and what's it about?"

To Merciful Fire of Emancipation: "When we get to a point where we can stop running, where are you wanting to go now that you're free?"

 

[Sherwood]

General: I think I'm the only one that took resources, and the only one that took the Resources merit.

My magic change purse gives me the equivalent of Salary 1/Resources 3 for normal purchases, and I can make a Resources 5 purchase once a month. IIRC, another character has something similar to it, so we have several people with money available to us.

 

[Sherwood]

Amara: Everything seems solid and cohesive. I see she has a brutal scar and a missing arm. Did you want to play this up mechanically with the Hideous Merit (0) (To enable appearance to enhance intimidation instead of persuasion) and the Amputee flaw (cause there's no such thing as enough Solar XP, especially for a martial artist)? I don't have much to offer other than that, I'm mostly just curious to see how her personal story arc plays out as things are.

To be honest, I had forgotten about taking Flaws to represent her injuries. I'll have to add that to my sheet. Perhaps not the Hideous one, but the Amputee flaw for sure.

EDIT Psychie As we progress in the game, I wouldn't mind coming across a First Age artifact that will let me buy off the Amputee Flaw with an artificial arm. It might be kinda cool to have a mechanical one down the road someday.

 

[Rykon]

My magic change purse gives me the equivalent of Salary 1/Resources 3 for normal purchases, and I can make a Resources 5 purchase once a month. IIRC, another character has something similar to it, so we have several people with money available to us.

Ah, that's right. I'd seen mention of that before and it slipped my mind. Still, either way, just thought I'd mention that mundane armor is worth noting even though it's not as impressive as an artifact for those that aren't style restricted.

To be honest, I had forgotten about taking Flaws to represent her injuries. I'll have to add that to my sheet. Perhaps not the Hideous one, but the Amputee flaw for sure.

Yeah ordinarily I wouldn't bother mentioning the merit, but reading over it made it seem like appearance normally didn't provide any benefits to intimidation. Figured I'd mention it just in case you wanted to double down on scaring or threatening people.

 

[Sherwood]

Thanks for the suggestions. I certainly don't mind the feedback, and getting more Solar Xp is never a bad thing!

 

[Psychie]

General: I think I'm the only one that took the resources merit. So question for Psychie , would you allow those that don't have artifact armor to purchase mundane armor through Aredin's Resources merit if they can make use of it since we've been a circle for a decent span of time?

Between those that have Resources, you have enough money to easily to afford mundane armor and other equipment (such as horses if you wish) for the party.

Psychie As we progress in the game, I wouldn't mind coming across a First Age artifact that will let me buy off the Amputee Flaw with an artificial arm. It might be kinda cool to have a mechanical one down the road someday.

I will keep that in mind for the future. Perhaps you'll get lucky and find something worth your time.