Lunar Casteless...

[Persell]

Im trying to design a casteless lunar...


Im envisioning her being something of a bandit, in the realm (this is at the point where the realms practicaly on its death bed...)


So I need to ask, can you help me deide on good charms...


I just got the 2nd edit lunar book yesterday and couldnt make too much sense of some 1st edit lunar charms...

 

[Flyck]

Knacks are always good to look at.  I'd recommend some basic knacks, and a few of the Attribute Excellencies, then maybe grabbing some charms that would help him with stealth or keeping his arse alive.  Toss in an Ox Body or two so he doesn't die to the first DB that stabs him, and I think that'd be a good place to start.

 

[Forn Clakes]

Have you yet decided on a totem animal yet?


~FC.

 

[Haku1]

Personally, I recommend this.


The 1e Lunar book? Put it in a dark place. NEVER open it again.


Now take EVERYTHING that you know from 1e Lunars and forget them. Utterly. Place them in the howling wastelands in the distant reaches of your mind and memory.


Now... open up the 2e Lunar book and read from the start to the end. Just take your time. If you want to, skip the Thousand Streams section, it's something you'll see being used by Tattooed lunars.


To build a lunar, you need a concept, you've got one. Now think on what sort of animal would best represent the lunar. Perhaps a rat for an urbane bandit. A wolf for a ravager of the weak or wealthy... etc etc.


Now, when you look at your charms, think on what the lunar needs to be able to do. And base it from there. In terms of knacks, note that being able to assume a DBT form could be... BAD in the realm. Shapeshifting between various human forms could be useful. And so on.

 

[Arthur]

You people in the ECR seem to like realy much 2e lunars. I personally loved the 1e ones. What are the big differences? Are they even more powerful?

 

[Haku1]

You people in the ECR seem to like realy much 2e lunars. I personally loved the 1e ones. What are the big differences? Are they even more powerful?

There are mighty big differences. But MORE power? No, it gives you power as befits a Celestial Exalted, different ways to get that power. Also, note that the charms were written up by a writer who LOVED lunars and who wanted to do right by them. The writer was also experienced with 2e rules and DID NOT use any copy and pasta unless it was absolutely necessary.

 

[Arthur]

Humm, gonna try to find that book, I'm not sure if it sells anywhere here. Have the shapechange changed?

 

[Haku1]

You can always try http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php


It's a legit way of getting PDFs of rpg books, and getting the money to people who it should go to.


Also note that the index of the 2nd ed lunars is... words fail to describe how sparse it is.  

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Pants. That should describe it pretty well.

 

[Haku1]

Pants. That should describe it pretty well.

Yes, it does. And it did NOT amuse me at all.

 

[Flagg]

I'm not sure if it sells anywhere here. Have the shapechange changed?

Not tremendously, except that now all powers which modify the Lunar's innate shapechanging power are something called Knacks, which are similar to, but separate from, Charms.

 

[Persell]

You people in the ECR seem to like realy much 2e lunars. I personally loved the 1e ones. What are the big differences? Are they even more powerful?

I just got Lunar 2E, and from what I've seen it's pretty nice.  With regards to Charms, it's not that they are more powerful, it's that the Charm trees are more streamlined and consistent.  For instance, in 1E, the Charm trees were made up of several Attributes, so, for example, if you got one Charm that required Strength 3 the next Charm in the tree required Dexterity 4 and the one after that required Wits 4.  This means that to advance in just about any of the Charm trees, you needed high scores in all of your Attributes.


2E streamlined the Charm trees by making the trees based on all of the Attributes and keeping them within that Attribute - for example, all of the Strength Charm trees are self-contained and all you need to worry about is Strength for those Charms.  Same thing for the other Attributes.


Another plus for 2E is that there are actually Appearance Charms, which there aren't any (no, not one) in 1E.  This made Appearance a useless Attribute in 1E, but now in 2E they actually put it to use.


So if there's love for 2E Lunars, it's not that they're more powerful, it's that they're more coherent.  The Charm trees are self-contained in one Attribute and they make use of all the Attributes.

 

[Persell]

Im thinking on tiger for a totem animal...


But I agree that Deadly beastman transformation will likely shift her problems from the black helms to An entire large wyld hunt,


not sure on any good mutations other then the banal claws and fur.... to represent a tiger totem...


maybe a speed or smell enhancing one?

 

[Haku1]

Im thinking on tiger for a totem animal...
But I agree that Deadly beastman transformation will likely shift her problems from the black helms to An entire large wyld hunt,


not sure on any good mutations other then the banal claws and fur.... to represent a tiger totem...


maybe a speed or smell enhancing one?

Camoflague? Strength? Speed? Endurance?

 

[Ker'ion]

Enhanced Hearing?


Padded Hands and Feet as something?

 

[Persell]

Well, actually "tiger" is not a totem, it is an animal.


Stalking tiger is a totem.


Roaring tiger is a totem.


Totems are the animals acting out some part of their domain. Like for example the tiger who stalks human settlements, or the tiger who charges roaring and openly into battle.


If you have stalking tiger as your totem, then I would have your lunar fight in human form. Stalker of man. Get prey's skin disguise and perhaps an easy to hide khatar or something and voila, you are an excellent stalker and murderer. Now load up on a few charms and go kick some butt.


Roaring tiger on the other hand can go two routes, you either take deadly beastman transformation, or you actually fight as tiger. Both are pretty viable. Fighting as tiger is pretty powerful, because the tiger has only a low dex of 2 and high stamina and strength of seven. And dex is something you can easily fix with knacks.


There are of course a lot of other totems imaginable, but you should make a clear choice before choosing any skills or charms or knacks. Otherwise they just will not match later on.


Other totems I could imagine, is the tiger mother defending her brood, but that would better fit a thousand stream lunar. the tiger brave seeking out great challenges etc.

 

[Ned]

If you are going to be Casteless then make sure to take the Wyld-mutation defence knack(quicksilver something or other, it's in a box somewhere in the Chimera chapter.) If you fail the mutation roll then, rather than getting a mutation, the storyteller chooses a random animal from your heart's blood collection.


If you're planning on getting tatooed ask the storyteller if it would be possible to swop that knack for another afterwards, seeing as it's useless to a tatooed lunar. Despite giving my players this option no one took it and one got a derrangement in the first session...

 

[Dracogryff]

That knack isn't necessarily canonically existent, note. It's a knack they invented to go along with a 'the Tattoos are an unnatural abomination that the No Moons created way back in the First Age so they could keep there spiffy sorcerous powers all the time and the Casteless are how Lunars are really supposed to be' sort of game storyline. It's a setup for a particular storyline, not an actual canonical knack.


However, if an ST wants to allow it, that's their choice, of course. Personally, I wouldn't, unless I wanted to run that storyline (which I don't, really), as it really detracts from the concept of being Casteless, IMO. But that's me, and others won't necessarily feel the same way. I just wanted to point out it was a knack designed for a particular twist on the setting, not considered a canonical absolute, so best not to assume you'll be able to freely take it on a casteless.

 

[Flyck]

If you're planning on getting tatooed ask the storyteller if it would be possible to swop that knack for another afterwards, seeing as it's useless to a tatooed lunar. Despite giving my players this option no one took it and one got a derrangement in the first session...

In all honesty, I probably wouldn't grab that knack until after acquiring at least 1 derangement.   Some of my favorite characters I've ever played were anything but sane.