Motivating a 1-compassion character

M

Mort1

New Member
Before I begin my post, general information: I am a new ST in a planned one-on-one game. Never have GMed before.


The character is an Eclipse martial artist (Mantis style) who learned from books whose Motivation is creating in the south something similar to the Realm.


My plan is before giving him a place to control and advance, I want to show him he will need to deal with Immaculate philosophy and DB if he wants to actually rule. For that, I thought he would help a village in a way that shows he is a solar, and they (or local DB) will go against him. I have some more solid idea, but that's not the point here.


The problem is, he has 1 point in compassion, means he won't help a village when he got no interest there. And I have problem with thinking how to motivate him helping a village - he got 3 resource, so he does not need money. He has no relatives or known friends, and I can't blend the MA here, because the Mantis is not very.. common.


Have any ideas or tips for me? Things that I should read on the net? You have my thanks in advance.
 
Resources he doesn't need... but artifacts are a different matter. If some scavenger lord totters into the village with a pack of artifacts and keels over from some supernatural malady, the village's council will be left with a bunch of magic nick-nacks, most of which they can't use... but which would serve as a hefty paycheck for any Exalted who'd like to do them a service.


Of course, in that case you might end up with some Exalted just trying to ransack the village, in which case you could avoid that by making one of the artifacts they can use some sort of impressive weapon.
 
Is he compassion one because he doesn't care about anything?  Or just individuals?   I played a compassion 1 general/leader type and he was more of a "thinking of the big picture" kind of compassion.  If I had to use mind influence to send a fang of men to their deaths to save a whole Wing I'd be perfectly fine with that.   If I had to let the fair folk butcher a village while I completed marshalling my forces I'd let them, etc.


A machiavellian type who recognized the importance of being loved, but used it as a means to the end, not the end itself.
 
Fame, money, cheap pleasure and the orichalcum mine under the townsquare usually do the trick.
 
Mort said:
whose Motivation is creating in the south something similar to the Realm.
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For that, he needs followers. Acting compassionate is just as useful for gaining them as being compassionate is if the resulting action is the same. The first is just more selfish than the second, with an drive/expectation of a non-tangible, but still very real, reward.
 
This problem is coming about because of the way Virtues can hamper characterisation. While they help as easy coat hangers to put your personality on they are restrictive as well. They do seemed more designed to enable a flaw mechanic to work than to be actual elements of character.


Firstly does a Compassion 5 dot player always have to be compassionate? No, people are too complex to sum up with a Nature and four virtues. Your player may have played his great dislike of “somethingâ€
 
Another option would be to require he have a compassion of two. You are a new ST, I'd say use it. It's not very like the Sun to exalt heartless bastards that won't even help creation unless there's something in it for them...


I know it's been done before, but really, in my opinion, for an exalt of perfection nothing should be below average. Virtues included
 
Yeah, the problem IMHO is that compassion is just mechanically very crummy compared to ones like Valor or Conviction.
 
Thanks for the variety of replies. I think I wrote my message giving the false impression the thing limiting me is the mechanical dots in compassion.


Although you wrote some interesting points, my problem here is in the character's personality, not in it's mechanical appearance.


I asked the player for conformation, and he said his character is truly an egoist, and will help only when it furthers his goals. But I think I'll take your advice - as it is, it makes morale dilemmas impossible. I guess I will talk to the player about deepening his character's personality.


So thanks again, and I'll be back with questions when I have a better idea about what is going on.
 
Yeah' date=' the problem IMHO is that compassion is just mechanically very crummy compared to ones like Valor or Conviction.[/quote']
Eh? I don't think so. If you are say, protecting a loved one, fighting to defend others, trying to help someone in any way, really, then, it's actually one of the most rapeable virtues there are. If anything, Temperance is the hardest virtue to channel. Now, does it limit your character? No more than Conviction, which keeps you following your cause, no matter the consequences, or Valor, which compels you to never back down from a fight...Compassion compels you to help people. All the virtues have advantages and disadvantages. Compassion is a highly useful virtue, both mechanically, and thematically.


It also has one of the most nifty martial arts styles based on it...go Art of Victorious Concession. ;) Not that this really matters for this discussion.


Now, does Compassion tend to prevent one from playing an asshole? Yes. Rather like Valor prevents you from playing a coward, or Conviction from being wishy washy, or Temperance from being easilly tempted...whether by lust, rage or whatever.
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Yeah' date=' the problem IMHO is that compassion is just mechanically very crummy compared to ones like Valor or Conviction.[/quote']
In games I've been in, virtually every Solar has channeled every virtue equally.  Compassion comes up just as much as, say, Conviction.
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Another possibility is use the Virtues the character does have. Does he have a high Valor? Then have a group of Immaculates/DBs call him out when he's in the village. They're followed soon by a contingent of soldiers. Now if the character fights, he's lumped in with the villagers and, in order to protect himself - or even to prove he's the best martial artist and/or better than those lowly DBs - he has to help the village. It doesn't have anything to do with his Compassion, but his Virtues are employed in getting him into the plot/fight/what have you. If Conviction is his primary Virtue, maybe the village has some artifact and/or knowledge that is crucial to his Motivation. As such, in order to get that artifact and/or knowledge, he has to help the village.


Another thing you can do is look at his motivation. Ask him how he's going to build this empire. Wordman had it right in that the appearance of Compassion is often more important than actually having Compassion. But ask the player how he wants to go about his motivation. Get him to think about that. If he has no idea of how to accomplish his goal, then he should probably start thinking about that. When he has thought about it, and has some sort of plan, then weave elements of that plan into your story as hooks to draw the character in. This way, you're using elements of the character himself to draw him in.
 
Gustav said:
Yeah' date=' the problem IMHO is that compassion is just mechanically very crummy compared to ones like Valor or Conviction.[/quote']
In games I've been in, virtually every Solar has channeled every virtue equally.  Compassion comes up just as much as, say, Conviction.
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I built a character once who used what is now the solar hero style, using the IE charms out of the COI book... plus he had the reduced limit flaw, so he had a 5 dot limit track and he had the legendary virtue merit so he had a compassion of 6, a valor of 4 and a temperance of 1.  He was brash, hot headed, fell in love with everything that crossed his path and issued duels to the death on a daily basis - all while striving valiantly to better the lot of everyone he met... plus one of his most powerful charms gave him points of limit so he practically went berserk (Red Rage of Compassion) after any major confrontation.  But, when fighting to defend the innocent, he could channel his compassion for 6 extra dice.  Most fun I've had of any character I've ever played.
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Mort said:
...as it is, it makes morale dilemmas impossible.
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I don't think this is true. Just because someone doesn't share your concept of morality doesn't mean they can't have moral dilemmas. A moral dilemma for a "true egoist" is one where he must make a choice between two things that he actually wants, when it becomes clear he cannot have both.


Example: the egoist is being blown while watching an exciting sporting event featuring his favorite team. He is building to the best orgasm of his life just as the game enters its crucial final seconds, and ending for the ages. Suddenly the remote falls out of his hand, switching the channel of the game. If he reaches for the remote, his orgasm will be ruined, never to be duplicated in the same way again! If he doesn't reach the remote, he will miss the ending, without Tivo! What will he do?!
 
The answer is, of course, that while that particular game is a unique event, blowjobs are repeatable.
 
Mort said:
Thanks for the variety of replies. I think I wrote my message giving the false impression the thing limiting me is the mechanical dots in compassion.
Although you wrote some interesting points, my problem here is in the character's personality, not in it's mechanical appearance.


I asked the player for conformation, and he said his character is truly an egoist, and will help only when it furthers his goals. But I think I'll take your advice - as it is, it makes morale dilemmas impossible. I guess I will talk to the player about deepening his character's personality.


So thanks again, and I'll be back with questions when I have a better idea about what is going on.
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too easy


Play to his Ego


A Gold Faction Sidereal decides that your player is the best chance creation has to be saved.


So he shows up and offers to be your guy's personal advisor.


This, by definition, helps the char with his goals.


The Sidereal talks about being an icon for peope to flock to and asks if your Eclipse wants him to find a good place to start. When the Eclipse accepts the aid, point him to the town.


Basically pay the guy as helpful and open, ready to answer any request for advice, healing, or aid.


problem solvered
 
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