Fantasy Sidereals - New Beginnings OOC

[Random Word]

BKL doesn't seem that good for its entry requirements? It's just nonstop bad touch shaping effects. One shaping negator and the entire tree appears to do basically nothing. It seems like one of the less bullshit styles. I'll take broken-as-written PAoC's "You're E10 now!" and "You can cancel Charms on strike, and on attacks targeting you!" BS over BKL any day. I don't think a sane game of 2.5e is possible without a homebrewed replacement for PAoC. It's just too strong.

 

[Rykon]

Any objection on the homebrew replacement that was used last time?

 

[Psychie]

Yes, we can use the rewrite of the PAoC Charms. I will post them to the Character thread for easy reference.

 

[Rykon]

I've made all the crucial mechanical decisions for Tien I think.

The tldr; I dropped the Throne Shadow Extensions as the limit breaker charm is no longer necessary. Instead I took a First Excellency and Fateful Excellency for Investigation which I plan to use with a Scrying Stone (Oadenol's p106-107, technically 105-106 based on the print) so we can enjoy front row seats to our enemy's planning sessions in between conniving and slaughtering our way across the various realms of the cosmos. He's also now completed two SMAs, both Scarlet Patterned Battlefield and PAoC, while retaining the two charm dip in Citrine Poxes of Contagion.

Other notes... I decided to take the tried and true Dragon King Artifact, Globe of Transport. Also a Starmetal Reaper Daiklave for the day Tien can power through Even Blade style via Swallowing the Lotus Root. Wishlist charms include all the Ox-Bodies, some Stealth charms and Performance Excellencies he could learn from his Serenity Co-Conspirator, The Citrine Poxes of Contagion Charm that actually heals, and again, Even Blade style to one day spread Exalted Samurai dojos in his wake or perhaps a springboard for a 2.5E version of Single Point Shining Into the Void for rule of cool.

 

[Random Word]

Okay, let me see if I can't add some more colour. Looks like Varangians get Caste City Given names, so Daivaja Yane Euphemia. At some point she became fed up with bureaucracy and went AWOL, stepping outside fate and vanishing completely, doing only what she interprets as the revealed will of Venus and ignoring her duties. She's audited, doesn't show up for her hearing, and only has a cryptic note from Venus as evidence in her defence, so she's sentenced in absentia and is still avoiding any contact with Heaven when the Lotus Massacre happens. She's now spent the better part of a decade outside fate, where only demons, Abyssals, Raksha, and things similarly alien to Creation can even perceive her. If anyone actual notices and reacts to her, she assumes they're seriously bad news. She probably finds out about the Lotus Massacre either by noticing the destinies of almost all the other Sidereals are suddenly pointing to their next incarnations, and so returning quietly to Heaven to investigate.

When she was born to her Daivaja (astrologer caste) to her poor parents they named her Lucky Star for the windfall of the small stipend they received to feed and educate her. When she turned 16 and was taken to Heaven by two strangers, instead of being forgotten she transitioned into a sort of family legend and object of worship. She chooses favourites from amongst her family's many descendants, and on their deathbeds makes them an offer: Join her as servants in Heaven, living for centuries in luxury, or pass on to Lethe. If they choose to serve her, she makes them into divine servants and warriors with Imbue Amalgam. They serve as her bodyguards, majordomos, and research assistants.

 

[Psychie]

Okay, let me see if I can't add some more colour. Looks like Varangians get Caste City Given names, so Daivaja Yane Euphemia. At some point she became fed up with bureaucracy and went AWOL, stepping outside fate and vanishing completely, doing only what she interprets as the revealed will of Venus and ignoring her duties. She's audited, doesn't show up for her hearing, and only has a cryptic note from Venus as evidence in her defence, so she's sentenced in absentia and is still avoiding any contact with Heaven when the Lotus Massacre happens. She's now spent the better part of a decade outside fate, where only demons, Abyssals, Raksha, and things similarly alien to Creation can even perceive her. If anyone actual notices and reacts to her, she assumes they're seriously bad news. She probably finds out about the Lotus Massacre either by noticing the destinies of almost all the other Sidereals are suddenly pointing to their next incarnations, and so returning quietly to Heaven to investigate.

I actually had a plan in mind that you would both be together in the opening scene, working a case in Looksky when you received a cryptic warning from the Maiden of Secrets Herself, that on her authrority, to ignore all orders to return to Yu-Shan for the next six hours. You would then get a series of messages from Chejop and Ayesha Ura to come back for an emergency conclave of the Fivescore Fellowship.

 

[Psychie]

Also, Rykon , I noticed that your Permanent Essence is only at a 5, when I have you both starting at a 6. Go ahead and make that change and adjust your Essence pools, and I'll keep looking over your sheet for any other tweaks that need to be made.

 

[Random Word]

Mmm, so you want us to be in good standing as of the Lotus Massacre. Okay, I'll rethink that bit. Also holy shit Jupiter, that's a really bad look. Sparing us but getting everyone else killed is not conducive to trust.

 

[Rykon]

Also, Rykon , I noticed that your Permanent Essence is only at a 5, when I have you both starting at a 6. Go ahead and make that change and adjust your Essence pools, and I'll keep looking over your sheet for any other tweaks that need to be made.

Ah, yeah I need to update Essence, motes, WP, virtues, and DV calculations. Other than that bit of upkeep I should be good to go.

 

[Psychie]

Mmm, so you want us to be in good standing as of the Lotus Massacre. Okay, I'll rethink that bit. Also holy shit Jupiter, that's a really bad look. Sparing us but getting everyone else killed is not conducive to trust.

 

[Psychie]

I hope to get our first IC post up for this weekend, so it will give you time to finish up your edits of your sheets before we start.

 

[Psychie]

Hey Rykon ? I see that on your Martial Arts skill you have six dots of Specialties. I thought that the book says that there is a max of three dots for any one skill. Can you fix that for me, please?

Random Word How are you recording your Abilities? On your Resistance, for example, you have a 1 [1] listed. Is it a 1, or a 2? Or something else entirely? I ask because your one Charm you have for Resistance has a prerequisite of a 3 for your Resistance.

 

[Rykon]

Hmm, I was under the impression a specific specialty was capped at 3 rather than the ability. Well if that's not the case, I'll change it out when I can get to a real keyboard.

 

[Random Word]

You can ignore the numbers in square braces. I was tracking the mandatory for Sidereals of that caste separate from the extracurricular dots so I knew where I couldn't take the dots out. If I have Resistance 1 instead of 3 I'll have to shuffle dots to fix that.

 

[Psychie]

Ok, I see now. Thank you.

 

[Random Word]

Okay, I dropped my Athletics and Awareness to put Resistance up to 3, and realized I didn't have enough Linguistics either so I added more of that. Still not sure what to do with my Merits, but that's not critical.

 

[Psychie]

We still have a bit of time before we start, so you are still good.

 

[Psychie]

Random Word Did you know that you have your four Dodge Charms listed twice, once at the top in spoilers, the second down towards the bottom? I want to make sure you don't lose out on some Charm-y goodness.

 

[Random Word]

I have deleted the redundant entries - they were not being counted, but they were being confusing. Also how do you get hearthstone sockets if you don't need artifact weapons or armour? This is really tricky.

 

[Psychie]

I have deleted the redundant entries - they were not being counted, but they were being confusing. Also how do you get hearthstone sockets if you don't need artifact weapons or armour? This is really tricky.

Just wanted to make sure you weren't gypping yourself.

You can get a hearthstone amulet for one, along with your skin-mounted ones for a total of three. For the fourth, you could get a set of bracers.

 

[Random Word]

Ah yes, thank you. Alright, that's all my merits spent. An annoyingly large number had to go towards permitting me to socket hearthstones, but that's okay. I'm not quite sure what to do to represent her Amalgams. The spell Imbue Amalgam is silly complicated, but she can make some really strong Essence 5 Amalgams out of her mortal relatives, and Disguise of the New Face them to make them look like Dynasts, with the right animas and everything. Trying to buy them with Allies is going to be crazy expensive, and it only takes her a day to make one. I also don't want them to bog down the game mechanically - they're just how she's survived all these years without Tien protecting her. She doesn't really fight, she just makes everyone around her phenomenal fighters while appearing to be unthreatening eye candy to those even capable of perceiving her.

 

[Psychie]

At game start, I'll let you have three Amalgam enhanced family members as your 'fingers' for your martial art technique.

 

[Psychie]

Assuming that there are not going to be any major changes to your sheets, they both look good to get started. I'm working on our first IC post, and will have the IC thread up as soon as I'm done here.

 

[Random Word]

I'm going to have limited reception and only a phone to type for the next 3 days, but I will reply when and if I can.

 

[Psychie]

Thanks for the heads-up.