Socketed Hearthstones

T

Torak

Junior Member
This may sound like a typical newbie question (which is why it's in this category) but what effect does a heartstone has once inserted in a daiklave, for example?


Does it keep it's abilities? Does it add bonuses to the weapon? :?


thnx


-Torak
 
Well...this should be covered in the core book, somewhere near the end, actually.  Still, you asked, so I'll see if I can answer (honestly, my core book isn't in reach right now either).  As far as I know, the only time a hearthstone loses its powers is if it is being used to power something; like a Warstrider, Light Implosion Bow, or some other thing.  Putting it in a daiklave, for instance, is just a nifty way of carrying the hearthstone...and actually if I remember correctly it is only when the stone is mounted on something that you are attuned to...or perhaps just against your skin (or within your body) that you actually benefit from it's powers.  Unless specified in the weapon's or hearthstone's description, no additional bonuses are granted to a weapon it is mounted in.


Unfortunately, neither I nor anyone in my group use hearthstones often, so the info is not fresh in my mind.  If I am wrong, which is certainly possible, I'm sure one of the other members will be happy to correct me.
 
Carrying it around without setting it in something, you get the increased Essence regeneration. When you set it into an artifact you are attuned to is when you get the described powers in the entry, if memory serves (which is the point of making otherwise useless things like Hearthstone Amulets).


EDIT: I originally typed "with" in the first sentence in place of "without."
 
I'm a bit disappointed. It seems I misread the descriptions but I didn't think it needed to be mounted in anything to be used...


Anyways


Thanks for the info :D
 
As far as I know, whenever inserted into a socket, a hearthstone provides BOTH the increased essence regeneration AND the specific powers.


If it´s not in a socket, it only gives you the increased essence regeneration.
 
As far as I know, whenever inserted into a socket, a hearthstone provides BOTH the increased essence regeneration AND the specific powers.
If it´s not in a socket, it only gives you the increased essence regeneration.
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This is right.
 
As far as I know, whenever inserted into a socket, a hearthstone provides BOTH the increased essence regeneration AND the specific powers.
If it´s not in a socket, it only gives you the increased essence regeneration.
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like joseph said... this is right.


Although, if I remember correctly, you have to have the hearthstone directly against skin to get the essence regen power.  So if it's just in your pocket or your pack and not in a socket or amulet of some sort, you're getting bupkis.
 
Myself, I'd just ignore the part about needing to touch the skin even if its in an artifact. I'd rule that being in an artifact the character is attuned to counts as skin contact.
 
Andrew02 said:
Myself, I'd just ignore the part about needing to touch the skin even if its in an artifact. I'd rule that being in an artifact the character is attuned to counts as skin contact.
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Agreed. The whole skin contact thing annoys me. I find it (for lack of a better word) "non-cinematic" in nature. As long as the thing is ready at hand - i.e. in your pocket, belt pouch, hand, or amulet, etc - it works. The other thing is just an annoyance that lends next to nothing to the story.
 
Unfortunately, neither I nor anyone in my group use hearthstones often, so the info is not fresh in my mind.  If I am wrong, which is certainly possible, I'm sure one of the other members will be happy to correct me.
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Hearthstones can grant some awesome powers in their own right.  One level 2 Fire stone grants +6 soak vs fire based attacks.  Another level 2 stone, the Bloodstone, purifies the blood of all poisons and diseases.  The Exalt also never bleeds.  A level 3 stone, the Stone of Decay, can cause an area of a non-living substance up to 20 feet in diameter to develop major flaws at a touch.  It will break 10 minutes after this power is used on it.


There are a bunch of different stones written up, but the players and ST can come up with just about anything.
 
As far as I know, whenever inserted into a socket, a hearthstone provides BOTH the increased essence regeneration AND the specific powers.
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What  specific powers does a standard hearthstone have other than essence regeneration?
 
There's really no such thing as a "standard" hearthstone. Aside from essence regeneration, each one is unique.


-S
 
Stillborn said:
There's really no such thing as a "standard" hearthstone. Aside from essence regeneration, each one is unique.
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The Manse background only describes one power for a hearthstone.


Somewhere it also says that in order to get the various powers listed for hearthstones-as-artifacts, they need to be placed into a setting of magical materials (and obviously this is done by a sorcerer-engineer or equivalent).  I was under the impression that many hearthstones existed that were not placed into such settings and therefore only provided essence regeneration.


Did I miss something?


Also, I cannot determine what reason sockets have for existing other than the above suggestion that it allows hearthstones to be collected in one spot, although this seems to make them vulnerable to theft (maybe I really have missed something).  A three socket 5 dot Daiklaive  (I think there is one in the Dawn Caste book) with three 3-5 dot hearthstones?  Can you say irresistable target?


What advantages does socketing have over just keeping the hearthstones next to your skin (or on your person for Storytellers who allow that)?
 
I think the main reason for multiple sockets is convenience.  Who wants to wear 3 amulets?  They may clash with your outfit, and wearing that gold is so 1st Age any way.  (Is Snoop Dog really a Solar with lots of Manses?)


If you place your Diaklaive with 3 hearthstones in it Elsewhere, do you still get the benefits?  And if I remember correct, you can only use 1 hearthstone at a time for it's extra powers.  Or was this changed in 2E?  I don't have my book handy.
 
RainOfSteel said:
What  specific powers does a standard hearthstone have other than essence regeneration?
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The organization of hearthstone rules in the core book really sucks, especially in first edition. Most of this was already answered, but here are the page references.


Every hearthstone provides essence regeneration based on its rating (1st Ed Core book pg. 145, 2nd Ed Core book, pg. 113) provided it is "touching the skin" and is from a manse to which the user is attuned.


Additionally, each hearthstone will grant a special power if it is a) socketed into item of the five magical materials, b) user is attuned to said item and c) user is attuned to the manse that produced the stone.  (1st Ed Core book pg. 145, 149, 2nd Ed Core book, pg. 27, 113) The power granted by the stone varies with the stone, and can be found in the individual descriptions  (1st Ed Core book pg. 338, 2nd Ed Core book, pg. 382)


Non-obvious corollary: if you kill someone and take their hearthstone, it is mostly just a useless rock to you, because you don't know what manse it came from, and aren't attuned to it.


Having multiple sockets is a benefit because you only have to pay the cost to attune a single artifact instead of several. Since captured hearthstones are largely useless, such an artifact is less of an "irresistible target" than it might seem.


If a hearthstone is destroyed, it will regrow in the manse. If the manse is destroyed, the stone will shatter. You can visually examine a hearthstone to determine what its powers are if you have enough Lore and Occult skill. (1st Ed Core book pg. 247) Some of this seems no longer true in second edition (2nd Ed Core book, pg. 133)


Several artifacts are made solely (or largely) to carry hearthstones (1st Ed Core book pg. 337, 2nd Ed Core book, pg. 380)


Breaking hearthstones is difficult (1st Ed Core book pg. 340, 2nd Ed Core book, pg. 384, 382)


Fuzzy bit 1: most people play that having a stone mounted into an attuned artifact counts as "touching the skin", but this is never actually stated anywhere. Most people figure the attunement process creates a connection between the user, the artifact and the stone, even if, say, the weapon is banished Elsewhere. Some rule that you must be touching the artifact to regain essence. Officially though, the rule is that it must touch your skin.


Fuzzy bit 2: Some artifacts require hearthstones to power them. It is unclear in the rules if you have to be attuned to the manse that created the hearthstone, of if you can just drop any captured stone into such an artifact to power it. I play the latter.


Fuzzy bit 3: Books like Savant and Sorcerer indicate that a manse can be designed to produce several weaker stones instead of one big one. For example, a rating 4 manse can make four rating 1 stones instead of one rating 4 stone; however, the rules on essence respiration, however, claim the rate of mote gain is based on the rating of the manse, not the stone. This is probably wrong, but is never refuted. So, house rule to use the rating of the stone if you need to.


Lastly, being the self-promoting whore that I am, my house rules for hearthstones.
 
wordman said:
The organization of hearthstone rules in the core book really sucks, especially in first edition.
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I hadn't read the Craft ruiles yet, but so far as I can see, they don't really provide any new answers about socketing, unfortunately.


I appreciate all the references and the general advice.


Reading over this, I came to Hearthstone Amulets, the 1 dot artifacts.  I read over them approximately three times, and I could not figure out, mechanically speaking, what they do.  It mentions that they allow Hearthstones to be carried innocuously, but does not say what benefit is provided.  It mentions that they cause resonance, but not what that does.  Other than this, it says they they require that 1 mote of Essence be committed to their use.  Honestly, since they require skin contact and provide no magical material bonus, I can't see why you would use one.
 
RainOfSteel said:
Reading over this, I came to Hearthstone Amulets, the 1 dot artifacts.  I read over them approximately three times, and I could not figure out, mechanically speaking, what they do.
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Again, since they are made of one of the five magical materials, they allow the the bearer to use the power innate to the hearthstone.


For example, suppose you have a solar. He is holding The Monkey Stone (pg. 383) in his hand. He gets back essence from the hearthstone, but that is all the stone gives him.


He then mounts it into a hearthstone amulet (or some other artifact of the five magical materials to which he is attuned). Now, he not only gets the essence from the stone as normal, he can also use the power of the Monkey Stone, which is that he "reduces the difficulty of all Athletics rolls involving balance, jumping or climbing by two" and "doubles his climbing speed and jumping distance.
 
Socketing the hearthstone, as mentioned above grants access to the hearthstone's specific inherent abilities.  A Gem of Adamant Skin, for example, would only grant the power of converting Lethal to Bashing if socketed, not just touching the skin.


And stealing a weapon from an exalt, while not an easy task in it's own right, would prove difficult to escape with, due to it's sheer mass.  Try lugging off with a non-attuned Grand Daiklave.  I think you have to have a Strength of 5 just to lift the darn thing.
 
wordman said:
Again, since they are made of one of the five magical materials, they allow the the bearer to use the power innate to the hearthstone.
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So, putting a Hearthstone in a Hearthstone Amulet is a substitute for putting the Hearthstone in a "setting of one of the five magical materials"?


I had thought putting a Hearthstone in a magical material setting was a sort of pemanent type of thing (unless you want to break it out).


The Hearthstone Amulet sounds like a type of oversized locket.

wordman said:
For example, suppose you have a solar. He is holding The Monkey Stone (pg. 383) in his hand. He gets back essence from the hearthstone, but that is all the stone gives him.
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What?  But . . . now I am completely confused.


So, a Hearthstone must be placed in a setting of magical materials in order to gain its special abilities*, and then must be placed in a Hearthstone Amulet in order to bring them out, too?


*Unset Hearthstones provide their essence regeneration, and set Hearthstones provide that and also provide extra abilities as noted in their Artifact description . . . I had thought.


My head hurts!


I am moving inexorably toward house-ruling the whole thing.


------------


Bare Hearthstones provide essence respiration.


Set Hearthstones provide essence repiration and additional powers as per the Artifact description.


Hearthstone Amulets allow a Hearthstone to be utilized even when not in skin contact (Essence x feet).  (Carried innocuously, such as in backpacks, etc.)  No connection can be seen between the Hearthstone and the user by Occult Charms and similar effects.


Normally only one Hearthstone may be used at a time.


Sockets in devices allow an individual to effectively utilize multiple Hearthstones simultaneously (a number of Hearthstones up to Essence across all attuned socketed devices).
 
Looks like book rules to me.


There is no difference between socketing a Hearthstone in an Artifact and socketing it in a Hearthstone Amulet (due to said amulet being an Artifact level 1).
 
Okay, gonna try explaining this easier.


"A setting of one of the five magical materials" and a "hearthstone amulet" are the same thing. The amulet just happens to be ONLY a setting, that's on a chain, and that's all. Really insignificant, thus the one dot rating. It lets you use your hearthstone's powers, just like setting it in a daiklaive's socket. If not, it's nothing more than a battery.


Think Final Fantasy 7's Materia, except with some functionality when not in a  slot. In FF7, if Materia was not set, you did not get its abilities. Same with Exalted, other than the essence battery. That's always there.


Also, with skin contact, I could've sworn I read that attuned artifacts count as skin contact. Having one in your attuned daiklave at your side saves the hassle of pulling it out and holding it while you recharge. Multiple hearthstones may be used, but you have to be attuned to the manse to be able to use them, even for Essence regeneration.


They also can be removed by breaking the attunement to the socketed item, at least as far as I remember. It's not permanent, but it is a pain in the ass that can't be done mid combat, as you have to take the time to re-attune the sword that just became a 100 lb metallic surfboard on a stick.


So, in short:


-Must be attuned to the manses they come from to use


-Must be in attuned artifact (including Hearthstone Amulet) to gain secondary power


-Must be within skin contact for recharge effect, unless in attuned artifact


-Can be replaced, but not quickly


I hope that helps
 
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