Dice [OOC] The Best Laid Plans of Gods and Men

[Epiphany]

I think the Soak/Health and Movement bits are more optional but otherwise Rykon's list is exactly my list.

 

[Rykon]

Ah that's true! There are times I may choose to make a sacrifice and leave a gap in one area or another. If so, those are usually the first on the chopping block regardless of splat.

 

[Epiphany]

Maybe 3e Sidereals really is more unique and distinctive than it's been in the past two editions. I freely admit I'm still reading and learning. But, to me, one of the signature differences compared to other splats is broad competency.

With a Solar or Lunar, you can have an occult/lore specialist, a melee specialist, a stealth sneaky specialist, and a social combat specialist and whoever is needed steps up and the others don't ever have to fill that niche. And with Sidereals, you do still have specialists. But there's also a general need for every Fellowship member to know their paperwork, to be able to sneak, be able to know and work with spirits, to have the social grace and poise to navigate a world that doesn't remember them while at the same time playing to the trope that they're all Kung Fu masters. Oh, and they all work for a bureau, work for a convention, may work for a faction, and may have their own interests and the sign of a skilled operative is one who can further objectives with all four during the same mission.

This isn't Firefly where crew members were specialists whose competencies didn't overlap much. This is Star Trek, where it doesn't matter if you're in security, engineering, or navigation or ops, everyone knows how to work a computer, how to spacewalk, basic first contact protocols, basic communication skills and technologies, everyone shoots a phaser and everyone can throw a punch.

It's one of the things that makes Sidereals distinctive in the game line and I admit that in my reading so far I'm sad to see the mechanics don't seem to play to that anymore. This isn't a problem you need to solve, Random Words. This is just edition shock setting in. You just have the good (or bad) fortune of being the first storyteller of mine to see it.

 

[Random Word]

I will amend character creation: Old Realm, High Realm, and Seatongue are free merits (Add another if one is your native tongue). One free dot in Bureaucracy, Lore, Occult, a Martial Art, and Linguistics. This represents baseline Sidereal education.

Sherwood, you get the languages, plus three first dots in skills your Shahan-Ya (or the school of hard knocks) taught you, and two extra dots of Hearts Blood.

 

[Esbilon]

After reading up on the Gold Faction in 3e, I think Spirited Breath would actually support it. Though she would also have supported the Solar Purge.

 

[Sherwood]

I will amend character creation: Old Realm, High Realm, and Seatongue are free merits (Add another if one is your native tongue). One free dot in Bureaucracy, Lore, Occult, a Martial Art, and Linguistics. This represents baseline Sidereal education.

Sherwood, you get the languages, plus three first dots in skills your Shahan-Ya (or the school of hard knocks) taught you, and two extra dots of Hearts Blood.

That certainly helps out. Thank you.

 

[Sherwood]

It was suggested earlier that we may be combining points to be able to purchase a fancy ship of some sort. Is this still a thing that we're doing, or have we moved on from that already?

 

[Rykon]

Depending on how low a profile we wanna keep, the Floral Ferry spell may not be a bad option. If only cause it presents one less asset to fret over.

Edit: Also lets us stow away without worrying of leaving the ship behind.

 

[Sherwood]

True.

Random Word I'd like a version of the Unsurpassed Sanxian from 2e; basically a magical instrument that improves my Performance rolls while playing. What stats and cost for this are we talking about? I'm not looking for an earth-shattering powerful item, just one to add a few dice to my pool.

 

[Random Word]

If you want a single die, you just need an exceptional quality instrument. If you want to get fancier than a single non-Charm die for 0m, you'll want an artifact with evocations that add dice. There isn't really much of a middle ground this edition, but we can have a look and see if there are any two dot artifacts that grant bonuses to skill checks and copy them. Three dots is usually when you get into evocations.

 

[Sherwood]

Ok. I'll probably just stick with an exceptional quality instrument then.

 

[Sherwood]

Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[Epiphany]

Hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season more than they're not enjoying it.

You know what I mean.

Haven't really had time for char gen in the last few days, hopefully I'll get a chance to dig in this week.

 

[Rykon]

Been super busy this week leading into a new years gathering here. I'm mostly just missing merits and probably swapping around charms and favored statuses for excellency spread/coverage.

 

[Sherwood]

I'm still working on my background, but the rest of my sheet is done and posted.

 

[Epiphany]

I'm eyeing Throne Shadow. Question, though: Master's Useful Fingers in 3e explicitly requires shadow fingers to be people who've actually learned gained a dot of MA or learned an MA specialty via exp debt. This sizably disadvantages the Charm (to the point of becoming a niche build only, for a Sidereal who goes through the trouble of buying up Retainers/Allies that they not only train but then take with them on all their adventures).

It would be ideal if it were possible for the Fellowship to be shadow fingers for the sake of the Form Charm. However, most of the Fellowship will probably be better at Martial Arts than my Harbinger, making it seemingly impossible (without me making people spend their precious bonus points on a MA specialty they don't need/want just to advantage me). 2e typically handled it as "You teach someone something via a conversation, a demonstration, etc." (3e's kept 2e's limit on shadow fingers being limited to Essencex2). Any thoughts on if I could follow that convention and thus have the love of my life + a best friend be viable fingers?

 

[Random Word]

Mmmmm... Okay, let's say anyone with a Major Tie to you (Trust, Respect, etc), who has at least 3 dots in any MA, can willingly consent to become your Finger without you needing them to go into XP debt. This represents you teaching them the required techniques to align their essence to receive your guidance in combat. This process would ordinarily happen automatically through the normal invocation of the Charm.

 

[Epiphany]

Awesome. I can roll with that. Thank you!

 

[Rykon]

Any chance I can just take an artifact that will raise unarmed attacks to the artifact level? I'm not seeing a good option for that at the moment, but I might be missing or forgetting something.

Edit: I guess I stand corrected, the charm for natural/unarmed attacks to artifact quality is an E4 form charm in Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style. After reading Deadly Starmental Offensive I am starting to reconsider backing this and future 3E products.

 

[Sherwood]

Mmmmm... Okay, let's say anyone with a Major Tie to you (Trust, Respect, etc), who has at least 3 dots in any MA, can willingly consent to become your Finger without you needing them to go into XP debt. This represents you teaching them the required techniques to align their essence to receive your guidance in combat. This process would ordinarily happen automatically through the normal invocation of the Charm.

I am having to guess that in order for me to be able to qualify for this with my character, I'll have to put the four Merit points into Martial Arts before I add the needed attribute points.

 

[Random Word]

Yup, but the normal use of the Charm lets Epiphany grant someone the Martial Artist merit while making them a Finger. You'd go into XP debt for it, but could pay it off with Lunar XP.

 

[Sherwood]

Ok. Understood.

 

[Sherwood]

My backstory is up, so I hope everyone enjoys it.

Now I am debating putting points into some Martial Arts myself, going for some White Reaper Style action. Not sure yet.

 

[Sherwood]

Now I need to determine my Flags and Garret will be set.

 

[Random Word]

Minor Principle: The Solar Exalted (Wary Curiosity)

You grew up in Lookshy, an Immaculate stronghold, remain a loyalist, and live in Heaven hanging out with and/or being carefully watched by Sidereals, several of whom kill Solars for a living. Where in the world did you go from possibly-lapsed Immaculate to curiosity about Solar Anathema? This isn't an admonition or a veto, but something important happened to your character to create this belief and sustain it in such a hostile environment. What prompted your character to form this belief, and why is it merely Minor, given how you must have clung to it to hold it still? How have you hidden it from your detractors in Yu-Shan? This seems like yet another reason to mistrust your character, and something the powers that be would seek to 'fix' whether by persuasion or coercion.

Concept: Explorer who wants to rebuild the First Age

What does rebuilding the First Age mean to her? She doesn't appear to have any intimacies about Solars at all one way or the other, which is interesting. Does she want to forge a Lunar-Sidereal Deliberative?