Brainstorming and Preparing for an Exalted Game...

[EnderofWorlds]

Specifically, some of my buddies have professed interest in Exalted and are willing to look at it and perhaps give it a shot as long as I provide the sources required. Since I am utter scum who loathes paying money for anything, I agreed and have begun to plunder the interwebs for free downloads for all the Exalted 2e resources along with already getting my grubby hands on the 3e leak.

The problem is that after describing what little I knew of the Exalted setting, my friends have unilaterially decided exactly what two kinds of characters they wanted. Infernals and Raksha. Because god hates me and wants to watch me cry.

Fortunately, I'm a bit of a masochist so I'm willing to at least try to make this work before turning into a gibbering wreck muttering madness in the corner of my room. The base idea I have so far is having several Ishvara futz around with something they made in the Wyld and pulling out some several Titanic Exalted from the Spiral, followed by said Titanics seeing the sorry state of Creation and taking matters into their own hands. I.e. freeing the Primordials, restoring Malfeas to his true glory as the Emperyal Chaos and Universe Emperor, and binding the traitors who orchestrated this to their masters.

Any and all help to further flesh out the idea, as well as find good errata/homebrew for Raksha/Infernals would be appreciated. Also, some good sources for more info on the setting would be nice; as I'm having some trouble finding some of that.

 

[Valette-Serafina]

Infernals are good, you can work with them. Remember to ignore the first few chapters of MoEP Infernals, and also the artifacts at the back of that book.
If you can get your hands on the Broken-Winged Crane, that's good. I have a copy, it's worth reading.

Raksha are barely playable. Nearly the entire Charmset's been errata'd, shaping combat's a bunch of bullshit, and any combat-focused Exalt should be able to cut through them.

If'n you have specific questions, feel free t'ask me. I've been running the game on'n'off for five years now.

(Basic stuff: Creation has 25 hour days, 15 28 day months, and there's a 5 day period called Calibration at the end of each year when reality stops being so real. Also, given time and effort, Exalts can kill anything.)

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Infernals are good, you can work with them. Remember to ignore the first few chapters of MoEP Infernals, and also the artifacts at the back of that book.
If you can get your hands on the Broken-Winged Crane, that's good. I have a copy, it's worth reading.

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I have MoEP Infernals, Broken-Winged Crane, and even SoED because of the one fucknugget who wants to play a Sovereign; it's part of the reason I'm going with the current plot idea I posted. Well, that and the idea of a team of Raksha and Infernals working towards the same goal up until the sudden yet inevitable betrayal that they all know is coming.

Though I do have a question, what's wrong with the first few chapters and the artifacts of MoEP Infernals? I can't quite figure out what's so bad about it.

Raksha are barely playable. Nearly the entire Charmset's been errata'd, shaping combat's a bunch of bullshit, and any combat-focused Exalt should be able to cut through them.

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Why must god torture me so? Why? Did I do something wrong in a past life?

Is there errata or homebrew to make them playable at least? At least two of my buddies are dead set on playing as Fair Folk because of the flavor, and I don't wanna say no without at least trying to make it workable.

If'n you have specific questions, feel free t'ask me. I've been running the game on'n'off for five years now.

(Basic stuff: Creation has 25 hour days, 15 28 day months, and there's a 5 day period called Calibration at the end of each year when reality stops being so real. Also, given time and effort, Exalts can kill anything.)

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Like I said, I could use some help on setting info and history; any sourcebooks that cover the history of Creation and the NPCs would be greatly appreciated. I mostly just know the basics and the stuff about the Primordials, because they're cool.

 

[Biigoh]

Here's a simple
fix... remove the shaping combat stuff... and the grace requirements, ie go essence minimums for raksha charms.

Or you could look at the errata and grab stuff from it for raksha.

Also history -
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Exalted

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Here's a simple fix... remove the shaping combat stuff... and the grace requirements, ie go essence minimums for raksha charms.

Or you could look at the errata and grab stuff from it for raksha.

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This sounds good and doable, though I have to wait for my Fair Fold pdf to finish downloading before I can figure out what to take and what to ditch. Is there any reason as to why shaping combat makes heads explode, at least from what I hear?

 

[Biigoh]

Shaping combat is like... an alternate form of combat complete with health levels.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Shaping combat is like... an alternate form of combat complete with health levels.

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Well that doesn't sound too bad, don't see why it's something to get rid of wholesale right off the bat...

 

[Valette-Serafina]

Though I do have a question, what's wrong with the first few chapters and the artifacts of MoEP Infernals? I can't quite figure out what's so bad about it.

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It's written by someone who thought the Infernal Exalted were supposed to be the evil Exalted. They aren't, they're the Chosen of Hell.
Infernals are powerful beings who aren't effectively chained by anything. They do whatever they want.

Basically, Solars who glow green, have cooler Charms, and have a secretary/sidekick demon in their heads.

As for the Artifacts, they aren't balanced. Acid Rime weapons are attempts to get past perfect parries, The Hauberk of Bells can provide a constant +5 Dodge DV, and Green Iron hearts and Demon Ink tattoos are permanent Attribute boosts.

If you've got a head for the system, take some of the stuff and use the rest for ideas. Otherwise, skip it.

Why must god torture me so? Why? Did I do something wrong in a past life?

Is there errata or homebrew to make them playable at least? At least two of my buddies are dead set on playing as Fair Folk because of the flavor, and I don't wanna say no without at least trying to make it workable.

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Some, but they play radically differently to the Infernal Exalted, and they should never be able to stand up to a combat-focused Celestial Exalt for longer than a couple of actions unless they stole the Godspear of All-Searing Noon or something.

If it's your first game and their first game, I strongly recommend having a Circle of only one kind of Exalt, to simplify the abilities and rule you need to remember. Given how Ex2 is a bitch to run with inexperienced players, you do not want to need to remember two Charmsets so you can explain how each Charm can and cannot interact with the events in the game.

Like I said, I could use some help on setting info and history; any sourcebooks that cover the history of Creation and the NPCs would be greatly appreciated. I mostly just know the basics and the stuff about the Primordials, because they're cool.

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It's scattered throughout the line. Long and short, the Solar Exalted were in charge, then the Dragonblooded took over and everything's been going downhill.
These days, the Scarlet Empress rules Creation from the Imperial City, in the Blessed Isle. Or she did, at any rate. She went missing five years ago, and everythings been going badly since, what with the dead rising from the grave and the return of the Solar Exalted.

Well that doesn't sound too bad, don't see why it's something to get rid of wholesale right off the bat...

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It's an entirely separate combat system that only works in the Wyld, that only Raksha and those who've invested in Fae abilities can engage in. From what I remember, that is.

Any Exalt with a shaping defence can just walk straight through it.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Some, but they play radically differently to the Infernal Exalted, and they should never be able to stand up to a combat-focused Celestial Exalt for longer than a couple of actions unless they stole the Godspear of All-Searing Noon or something.

If it's your first game and their first game, I strongly recommend having a Circle of only one kind of Exalt, to simplify the abilities and rule you need to remember. Given how Ex2 is a bitch to run with inexperienced players, you do not want to need to remember two Charmsets so you can explain how each Charm can and cannot interact with the events in the game.

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Ah, in hindsight that'd probably be a good idea; making everyone the same kind of Exalt. Fortunately it seems like everyone likes Infernals so I can run with that, even the two who wanted to be Raksha put Infernals as their #2 in terms of concept.

However, that still leaves me with one guy wanting to be a Sovereign Caste because he jacked my copy of SoED and immediately fell in love with Theion and his charms. So any homebrew on that end would be lovely, because there's nowhere near enough to make what little there is work on it's own.

It's scattered throughout the line. Long and short, the Solar Exalted were in charge, then the Dragonblooded took over and everything's been going downhill.
These days, the Scarlet Empress rules Creation from the Imperial City, in the Blessed Isle. Or she did, at any rate. She went missing five years ago, and everythings been going badly since, what with the dead rising from the grave and the return of the Solar Exalted.

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Ah, that's a pain in the ass; though like I said I knew the basics of the setting already. It's more things like geography, cities, and the like I need help on.

It's an entirely separate combat system that only works in the Wyld, that only Raksha and those who've invested in Fae abilities can engage in. From what I remember, that is.

Any Exalt with a shaping defence can just walk straight through it.

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That sounds...appropriate, yet also a pain; up until the Exalt come into the picture - then it just becomes stupid. Unless there's a hidden magical way for Fae to get around shaping defense.

 

[Kiriel]

Is this game set in Modern or Standard? There comes a time when the ST must put his foot down and say no, because the concept doesn't work and/or it's too much of a burden for you. They have to understand that running a game is much more difficult because the ST has to keep track of a whole lot more information than the players.

With regards to the setting, I would recommend you either choose a direction/locale and stick with it. Personally, the Scavenger Lands and the Hundred Kingdoms are my favorites because all you need is the basics of that place and bullshit the rest. The Compass of Terrestial Directions have the information on the... directions. For NPCs, welll Scroll of Exalts has the information on some of the sample Exalts like Arianna, Maiden of Mirthless Smile, Tepet Ejava, Cyan Manosque, and others.

Also, recommendations. Get index cards and force your players to write down the charms on said index cards. Or other pertinent information. Cuts down the time needed to checking the books again and again.

And... the Unwoven Coadjudicator Homebrew by... I forgot who wrote the thing. There's also the stuff by Revlid like Isidoros who is a Black Hole, Metagaos, and rewrite of the SWLiHN charmset

 

[RCa]

Revlid and EarthScorpion wrote the Coadjutor rework, I believe.

However, that still leaves me with one guy wanting to be a Sovereign Caste because he jacked my copy of SoED and immediately fell in love with Theion and his charms. So any homebrew on that end would be lovely, because there's nowhere near enough to make what little there is work on it's own.

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Can you persuade him to unlock Theion charms during play somehow? If it were another dead Primordial (like Mardukth or Ta'akozoka, who have fan charmsets) I'd just suggest you retcon them into being alive, but it's a bit more difficult for Theion. However he could, for instance, develop a Heretical path that allows him to somehow unlock Theion charms without changing Malfeas.

This would also have the interesting repercussions of a Malfean Infernal demonstrating old Theion Charms. The Demon City would probably take notice.

That sounds...appropriate, yet also a pain; up until the Exalt come into the picture - then it just becomes stupid. Unless there's a hidden magical way for Fae to get around shaping defense.

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Nope. Fae aren't Celestial tier, although they have their perks. They generally work differently to Exalted in subtler ways - high base dicepools, but lower Excellency caps and smaller mote pools to spend on Charms, for example.

Note that it's harder for even Dragonblooded to get Shaping defenses - it's a little deeper in their tree, lasts only a scene, is Simple activation (not Reflexive, so they need to prepare it before they're attacked, which is more awkward for a Scene-long than for a Day-long) and is more expensive but in exchange can protect more people.

 

[Darkened]

Basically, Solars who glow green, have cooler Charms, and have a secretary/sidekick demon in their heads.

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Except not really at all. The MOEP gets a lot wrong, but infernals aren't really anything like green solars in terms of the narratives the splat lends itself toward. Coadjuator's are, depending on the concept, either a pretty core thing or largely irrelevant and barely worth mentioning next to a lot of other differences.

From a storytelling perspective, Solars are very very vanilla for Exalts. You're a random person who gets an Exaltation. This leaves the story very free to go anywhere and makes starting with a lot of understanding of the big things going on very tricky. You have the biases and issues every exalt will confront, but anything else comes purely from the Storyteller. There's no real thematic predisposition.

Infernals, by contrast, have huge support networks, potentially the (ironically) best functioning community out of all Exalts. I'd say you should probably ditch some or a lot of that depending on the tone you want, but Infernals are rockstars of hell. You get free backgrounds and connections . You get a ton of access to demons and, by default, a cause.

Yeah, the Reclamation's a cause you can ignore in 20 seconds and go do your own thing, but even that suggests some form of consequence. Yes Infernals can rebel, you're exalts and you can do whatever and maybe get-away with it. However, it should and probably will follow you to some extent or another. (I would suggest any attempt to run it get toned down some from the random orgies with SWLIHN in MOEP: I)

But the Reclamation is both a starting directive and allows access to Malfeas which is really just a cool place that can give an Infernal a ton of benefits, and drawbacks, and plot-hooks.

Design wise, Infernal charmsets are nothing whatsover like Solar charmsets and don't lend themselves to the same set of concepts at all. Beyond being 'cooler,' Infernal charms have a lot of transhumanism, trading away your humanity as you learn new and interesting charms which come at the expense of permanently changing yourself in strange ways to be more like the yozis.

A solar charm is very very unlikely to come with any drawbacks. Infernals have getting drawbacks from charms as a core design system.

Ah, in hindsight that'd probably be a good idea; making everyone the same kind of Exalt. Fortunately it seems like everyone likes Infernals so I can run with that, even the two who wanted to be Raksha put Infernals as their #2 in terms of concept.

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Sticking everyone to celestial is going to be far far easier.

Sticking to one splat makes things easier yet. In terms of establishing a party, building an initial goal "You're all infernals" is actually basically a sufficient justification to get a coven together.

And... the Unwoven Coadjudicator Homebrew by... I forgot who wrote the thing. There's also the stuff by Revlid like Isidoros who is a Black Hole, Metagaos, and rewrite of the SWLiHN charmset

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I'd actually suggest not using a lot of homebrew/etc if this is your first time running or playing. The core is enough material to learn by itself without learning 3-4 other sources of material.

With Infernals, you can more than get by with just the Core Book and Manual of Exalted Power: Infernals. The Broken Winged Crane, Ink Monkeys and Scroll of Errata are potentially solid additions, but that's already getting up to 4-5 sources heavy on mechanics.

If you don't understand the rules well enough to know what you're changing, don't change things. There's a ton of good homebrew, but even Revlid and ES, PoH, TDO, etc have done homebrew I'd never allow at my table. There are a few simple exceptions (Allow new languages to be bought as specialties, cut down the number of crafts) but in general Exalted functions RAW (outside of a few, mostly errated charms)

A lot of homebrew makes it better, but piling on extra complications before you know what you're doing is a great way to bog things down in my experience.

The coadjuator stuff is also a pretty big thematic adjustment. If you and your players want to go there, that's great. I would never have wanted it for my long-term Infernal game, but I might use it elsewhere.

If you don't really understand how and why homebrew changes something, I'd suggest avoiding its use, particularly since Exalted as a TCGish (Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon Cards, etc) system has so many separately moving parts. It's very very possible for two fine pieces of homebrew to break things when used together, or for a piece of homebrew to look fine and break down very badly in play.

Whether you would do best with 2.0 or 2.5 is debatable. Infernals never really got a patch to keep things up with system adjustements, but a lot of changes in 2.5 really were for the better. It may be easiest to kinda just stick with 2.0, though either is ultimately doable. (I would say that adopting 2.5 combo rules is pretty much the one piece of homebrew I'd never not consider using)

Spoiler: History of Exalted

Spoiler: To the end of the first age

Okay, at first there was nothing, and then the Primordials came to be in the Wyld. They carved themselves into existence and then crafted a world to call their own. And yet the empty world was boring, so the primoridals set to work and brought forth life, from the least creations of their deva to the lizardlike dragon-kings, to the mighty incarnae that they set to guard the gates of Creation while they might relax after their leisure.

And yet the Primordials, for all their power and wisdom, cared not for the little lives beyond them. THe incarnae were not so. Together with Gaia who was tempted by the moon Goddess and Autocthon who was never beloved by his peers, the Incarnae crafted a weapon. Though each might strike down a combat, powerful magics tied to their very natures forced the incarnae to obey their primordial masters.

So they crafted the Exalted host, those to bear their power, governed by a system that not even the Incarnae could corrupt or alter (so that the primordials might not end their war). They gave these exaltations to the very least amongst the thinking races and only these strange mortals who could not even use their own essence.

300 solars were blessed by the sun, Givers of law and leaders of men. They represented the very pinnacle of ability and perfection itself.

300 Lunars were carved to match them. Shapeshifters and mercurial, instinctual warriors, the lunars were tied to the solars and crafted to work together as their seneschels.

100 Sidereals were shaped by the Maidens of Destiny to govern fate and to advise the solars and the lunars. Wise and subtle they were the least direct of the Exalts.

Each Celestial Exalted was given an Exaltation, the intangible source of their power. Upon one exalt's death the exaltation moves to a new host, so there may never be more than the original numbers. Exaltations, indestructable even to the raw power of the primordials, ensured there always might be 300 of each.

Gaia the primordial crafted 10,000 Dragonblooded to bear the faint powers of five of her souls. Unlike the other Exalts, these would pass down their power through blood.

The exalts and the primordials fought. At the end, the Exalted host claimed victory. The Incarnae ascended to the heavens to rule and the solars assumed their rightful place as kings of the earth. And yet the primordials cursed them in defeat, sparks of madness were tied to each exaltation, extremity. That, and power, drove the first age, utopia though it seemed, ever closer to the brink of madness.

And so the sidereals rebeled. Allying with the dragonblooded they betrayed the solar Exalts, slew them and trapped their exaltations away for all time.

The lunars were forced to flee to the wyld, living at the edges of Creation. The sidereals stayed in heaven, playing the chessmasters as the dragonblooded ruled, cutting down what few solar exaltations had escaped their purge and what lunars they could find.

Spoiler: Second Age

For centuries, the Shogunate ruled. These dragonblooded had inherited the knowledge of the solars and their infrastructure, and while there was much that was lost in the battles against solars, and more yet that they could not retain, there was power in this age. Knowledge and wisdom.

And yet, there arose to challenge the shogunate many threats. Solars had always kept the raksha at bay at the edge of Creation, yet the dragonblooded could not so easily do the same.

Worse, the powerful ghosts of dead solars cried out for vengeance and forged treaties with the ghosts of slain primordials, eager to vanish into the void. From these Deathlords the Great Contagion arose.

A deadly plague none could cure swept through Creation, threatening the existence of the shogunate itself. What little defense remained crumbled as the Raksha invaded, carving Creation into the wyld and murdering all. At least this death in war helped curb the spread of the Great Contagion.

And, just as all seemed lost, a young Dragonblooded of no note penetrated the very sanctum of the First Age's mightiest weapons and harnessed them to her will. She drove the Raksha out (And whatever support the shogunate still enjoyed)

She ended the Raksha-led Balorian Crusade and brought peace to Creation, while carving a dynasty in her own name. This Dragonblood, the Scarlet Empress, would rule Creation for more than 700 years.

And yet, so much was lost. Even the shogunate's paltry toys seem like wonders to most of Creation. The world saw an apocalypse, not once but twice and is so much lesser for it.

Which brings us to now.

The Empress vanished, 5 years ago now. And her Dynasty threatens to crumble to civil war, destroying what little centralized authority the Realm has.

Worse, the Deathlords have allied with the remaining defeated primordials (our lovable Yozis) and broke open the Jade prison, grabbing exaltations of solars and twisting them to their purposes.

100 became Abyssals, knights of death forced to serve Oblivion's cause. And a mere 50 became Infernals, their exaltations twisted to bear the very powers of the yozis themselves.

And that, is where the default campaign begins

Summary? Most of Creation is a schizo-tech bronze age setting that's undergone multiple successive apocalypses. Solaroids are the long-sealed Exalts returning just as the empire that's ruled most of the world for the past 700+ years threatens to collapse. How much any of that has on your game is entirely debatable.

 

[Valette-Serafina]

However, that still leaves me with one guy wanting to be a Sovereign Caste because he jacked my copy of SoED and immediately fell in love with Theion and his charms. So any homebrew on that end would be lovely, because there's nowhere near enough to make what little there is work on it's own.

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Tell him no, or run Gunstar.
I'd put that to a vote, by the way. Ask your players whether they'd rather play Gunstar or Standard.

Ah, that's a pain in the ass; though like I said I knew the basics of the setting already. It's more things like geography, cities, and the like I need help on.

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Well, there's a map.

Creation's really big, though. Most of the map is left blank, but full of stuff.
Read the first section of the corebook and the Terrestrial Directions, then make more stuff up.

Also, if the game ever heads to Gem, make Gem explode. It's traditional.

That sounds...appropriate, yet also a pain; up until the Exalt come into the picture - then it just becomes stupid. Unless there's a hidden magical way for Fae to get around shaping defense.

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No, absolutely not, and never.
Treat perfect defences as sacred. Remember the flaws, but never say they don't work.

Raksha aren't as powerful as the Exalted. That's a setting point, because there are a nigh-infinite number of them, and they've tried to conquer Creation before.

Except not really at all. The MOEP gets a lot wrong, but infernals aren't really anything like green solars in terms of the narratives the splat lends itself toward. Coadjuator's are, depending on the concept, either a pretty core thing or largely irrelevant and barely worth mentioning next to a lot of other differences.

From a storytelling perspective, Solars are very very vanilla for Exalts. You're a random person who gets an Exaltation. This leaves the story very free to go anywhere and makes starting with a lot of understanding of the big things going on very tricky. You have the biases and issues every exalt will confront, but anything else comes purely from the Storyteller. There's no real thematic predisposition.

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It's less the kind of story that's likely to be told, and more the kind of person an Infernal can be. The Exaltation doesn't aim for people who eat kittens anymore than Solar Exaltation, so Infernals aren't inherently evil. Exalted doesn't support such simplistic moral viewpoints.

I do very much agree; A Reclamation game is very different to the usual Solars on the run game.

 

[Nervaqus987]

Whether you would do best with 2.0 or 2.5 is debatable. Infernals never really got a patch to keep things up with system adjustements, but a lot of changes in 2.5 really were for the better. It may be easiest to kinda just stick with 2.0, though either is ultimately doable. (I would say that adopting 2.5 combo rules is pretty much the one piece of homebrew I'd never not consider using)

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Well, Vance did write up a later patch for 2.5 Infernals, though I've heard mixed responses on it and have never gotten the chance to try them out myself.


In any event, my advice for Ender.

I'm going to second a whole lot of what's already been said.

Stick to one splat, try and keep as few additional rules from being added on as possible, etc.

I recommend Infernals, because they're awesome, your players have all expressed interest in playing them, they come with an in-built reason to group up, and in-built plot hooks in the form of the Reclamation.

In terms of books you may find helpful, the 1e book Scavenger Sons is pretty much universally recommended for setting information and fluff. Games of Divinity is another 1e book with really high praise that has information on Malfeas, demons, and other such things that are relevant to Infernals.

For your game, I would strongly recommend setting it in standard Creation as opposed to one of the Shards, because there's simply more information out on them which makes things easier on you as the ST.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

So, all this advice has been rather helpful and now I'm the ST of a group of Infernals going out to do the good work of the Yozis and bringing forth the Reclamation. Well, in between the moments where they're causing mayhem and being rampaging murderhobos for the lulz. As is rather fitting for my players, they have gone immediately drunk with power and see all the inherent restrictions of Infernals as merely creative and innovative rules on how to go about things IC. Aka: MALFEAN STEALTH IS BEST STEALTH and MALFEAN STEALTH 2 - ELECTRIC BOOGALOO (Now with 200% More HATEFIRE!).

I've also learned several things too; Slayers favoring Ajdorjan are super killy, Fiends are Chaotic Neutrals made manifest with powers to indulge a player's inherent amorality and sociopathy, and nobody ever picks SWLiHN's charms. Also, Triumphant Howl of the Devil is probably the best thing to ever happen in terms of motivating players to continue playing; even if it's terrible like everybody says. Because nothing says 'kickass' like designing your own deity.

In fact, I've got two of my players planning out Devil Tigers now; to the point that they're planning out which Yozis' charms to dig into to justify the flavor of their concepts. However, one of them wants Autochthon charms; and I either need a good homebrew set or could use some help in homebrewing them. AFAIK, Autobot's central theme is 'violating boundaries' and the whole Great Maker deal is merely an outgrowth of that, along with his cancer. So his charms should probably reflect that, along with being ALL THE CRAFT CHARMS!

And in other news, does anyone know where I can find Kimbery charms?

 

[Darkened]

and nobody ever picks SWLiHN's charms.

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What? SWLIHN's set is great fun. She also has some of the nastiest/most amusing tricks in the game.

(Principle-Invoking Onslaught is perhaps my most used Infernal charm in the longest campaign I've played. (Oh, you can't fly. Silly you, good luck now that the ceiling of this cathedral just turned into resources 5 worth of water. Wait, you're a DB? Well your best native PD is now a stunt away.)

Chiralty Prohibition Index is amazing fun with Cecelyne.

Tidings of a Bitter Season is all but a must have for any Fiend worth the name.

There are many others. beyond that, a fully upgraded Mind-Hand is a terrifying weapon between that and all its DV boosters. Throw in Kimberry for a perfect Soak and you're golden.

Likewise if you're going to try crafting, SWLIHN's the only way to even approach it as an Infernal. If you have a player that wants to go into Autocthon's set, starting at SWLIHN is probably that player's best bet by far.

And in other news, does anyone know where I can find Kimbery charms?

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Broken-Winged Crane. It's the Infernals Supplement and a book you should want. Basically Kimberry's whole set and delicious delicious expansions for every other yozi. It should be right before the Devil Tiger Charms)

(Like heuristic Logos Shintai, or Splintered Gale Shintai or so so many wonderful tricks)

In fact, I've got two of my players planning out Devil Tigers now; to the point that they're planning out which Yozis' charms to dig into to justify the flavor of their concepts. However, one of them wants Autochthon charms; and I either need a good homebrew set or could use some help in homebrewing them. AFAIK, Autobot's central theme is 'violating boundaries' and the whole Great Maker deal is merely an outgrowth of that, along with his cancer. So his charms should probably reflect that, along with being ALL THE CRAFT CHARMS!

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Auto's central theme is power at a price if anything. The injured creator, torn apart, poisoned and ultimately doomed by the very things that make him great.

Or not, there's a lot of ways you can spin it, but Robocancer is pretty core to his themes. Like, his charms should be really awesome in a lot of ways and also ultimately suck so so hard that anyone would think you're a little crazy just for even thinking about touching them.

Exalted homebrew is a little tricky. If they want Autocthon charms though, that's a great story arc.

Make them get strong, venture into Autocthonia and wake the Great Maker. Make them bargain with him in his paranoia and his illness so that they might learn at his feet.

He's one of the few primordials that really couldn't be anywhere near Infernals by anything close to the default variation of the setting. Expect that getting his charmset would require dealing with Alchemicals, learning where he is, venturing into Autocthonia. If there are Reclamation ties, expect the yozis to be rather pleased to learn of Autocthon's state. Make them give the players harsh, contradictory orders about how to help hasten his end or torture him or somesuch.

Throw in Autocthonian Politics, entire cities run by mortals with massive elder exalts lurking in the geography of the landscape much as third circle demons do in Malfeas. And, only once they've earned trust from a nation or some tribe of void or even one of Autocthonia's Ministers, might they plunge into the core of Autocthonia, venturing to the center of that mechanical world where none has yet trod and lived and capturing the Great Maker's Heart.

Make awakening him the task of legends, and then persuading that tense, broken genius to heal himself the desperate climax that puts your players to task to explain themselves to a primordial that has every reason to distrust them doubly, both as exalts and as beings born of his sibling's power.

And then make them deal with the consequences of being the ones who let out Autocthonia.


That's, a campaign in and of itself, or a major arc of a very long campaign. It helps that CoCD: Autocthonia is probably the best setting book of the line (Malfeas is my second favorite, but that has a few issues.)


As for actual homebrew, sadly I can't remember an Autocthon set I was actually happy with though I vaguely recall seeing a few. As for making it yourself, I'd suggest that you read up on the system. Look for the crafting exploits or any analysis by Jon Chung. Figure out the meta-game (mostly 2/7 paranoia builds) and see what would and would not work with that.

After that it's easiest to always attempt to find a reference point in an existing charm and key off that if you can. Like "Well, this works like CNNT but has a better duration and gives you stage 1 robocancer"

For yozis, think less a dozen tricks and more 1 really neat thing that starts out very specific (I set things on green fire by punching them, I twist the emotional context of memories to make people hate things they once loved) and then gets to expand into all sorts of incredible versatility and power as a player descends deeper and deeper into that tree.

It also hugely depends whether you're playing 2.0 or 2.5. Particularly combat charms are probably a lot easier to homebrew in 2.0.

 

[Nervaqus987]

In fact, I've got two of my players planning out Devil Tigers now; to the point that they're planning out which Yozis' charms to dig into to justify the flavor of their concepts. However, one of them wants Autochthon charms; and I either need a good homebrew set or could use some help in homebrewing them. AFAIK, Autobot's central theme is 'violating boundaries' and the whole Great Maker deal is merely an outgrowth of that, along with his cancer. So his charms should probably reflect that, along with being ALL THE CRAFT CHARMS!

Click to shrink...

In regards to Devil Tigers(and frankly, Yozi too) and making them, I've found this essay by Revlid to be probably the best advice anywhere.

Link.

I would highly recommend you and your players read this since it excellent advice all around for Infernal Homebrew.

In terms of Autochthon homebrew, I'm afraid I can't even recall an Excellency for him, let alone a full Charm set.

Darkened, as usual, given some excellent advice.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

What? SWLIHN's set is great fun. She also has some of the nastiest/most amusing tricks in the game.

(Principle-Invoking Onslaught is perhaps my most used Infernal charm in the longest campaign I've played. (Oh, you can't fly. Silly you, good luck now that the ceiling of this cathedral just turned into resources 5 worth of water. Wait, you're a DB? Well your best native PD is now a stunt away.)

Chiralty Prohibition Index is amazing fun with Cecelyne.

Tidings of a Bitter Season is all but a must have for any Fiend worth the name.

There are many others. beyond that, a fully upgraded Mind-Hand is a terrifying weapon between that and all its DV boosters. Throw in Kimberry for a perfect Soak and you're golden.

Likewise if you're going to try crafting, SWLIHN's the only way to even approach it as an Infernal. If you have a player that wants to go into Autocthon's set, starting at SWLIHN is probably that player's best bet by far.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, this was mostly first impressions sorta stuff, and for my players SWLiHN just didn't wow them like the other Yozi did; though I'm pretty sure the Fiend of our playgroup is gonna start branching into her charmtree. Either that or he's gonna ask me for a re-do and make her his favored Yozi over Kimbery.

Broken-Winged Crane. It's the Infernals Supplement and a book you should want. Basically Kimberry's whole set and delicious delicious expansions for every other yozi. It should be right before the Devil Tiger Charms)

(Like heuristic Logos Shintai, or Splintered Gale Shintai or so so many wonderful tricks)

Click to shrink...

Huh, must've missed it then. Thanks.

Auto's central theme is power at a price if anything. The injured creator, torn apart, poisoned and ultimately doomed by the very things that make him great.

Or not, there's a lot of ways you can spin it, but Robocancer is pretty core to his themes. Like, his charms should be really awesome in a lot of ways and also ultimately suck so so hard that anyone would think you're a little crazy just for even thinking about touching them.

Exalted homebrew is a little tricky. If they want Autocthon charms though, that's a great story arc.

Click to shrink...

On the one hand I sorta see it, but on the other hand I can't help but feel that 'power at a price' doesn't fit as well as 'violating boundaries'; the former almost feels like treading on Malfeas's feet, while the latter does a lot to explain a lot of why everyone hated on Autobot in ye olden days. You know, besides the robocancer. Because for the Primordials, so set and bound by their themes, violating them should be outright alien and wrong in their eyes; and that was Autochthon's thing.

As for actual homebrew, sadly I can't remember an Autocthon set I was actually happy with though I vaguely recall seeing a few. As for making it yourself, I'd suggest that you read up on the system. Look for the crafting exploits or any analysis by Jon Chung. Figure out the meta-game (mostly 2/7 paranoia builds) and see what would and would not work with that.

After that it's easiest to always attempt to find a reference point in an existing charm and key off that if you can. Like "Well, this works like CNNT but has a better duration and gives you stage 1 robocancer"

For yozis, think less a dozen tricks and more 1 really neat thing that starts out very specific (I set things on green fire by punching them, I twist the emotional context of memories to make people hate things they once loved) and then gets to expand into all sorts of incredible versatility and power as a player descends deeper and deeper into that tree.

It also hugely depends whether you're playing 2.0 or 2.5. Particularly combat charms are probably a lot easier to homebrew in 2.0.

Click to shrink...

For homebrew, I was thinking Autochthon's neat trick is 'I find an innovative and unique way to cheat the system, but because I cheat the system I get cancer'. Or something along those lines; basically, he can find and create methods to act that are outside the box and could violate the standard limitations of Primordials, but in doing so he gets robocancer because on of those 'boundaries/limitations' is not dying.

The charmtree would also focus a lot on Crafting and I was considering making it akin to 3e Crafting, because it fits for hardcore Craft and making tools is the most obvious and straightforward method of working around the rules. I'd also try to frame the charms as seeming 'short-sighted' or 'absorbed into the work' to fit the manic genius vibes of Autochthon too.

In regards to Devil Tigers(and frankly, Yozi too) and making them, I've found this essay by Revlid to be probably the best advice anywhere.

Link.

I would highly recommend you and your players read this since it excellent advice all around for Infernal Homebrew.

In terms of Autochthon homebrew, I'm afraid I can't even recall an Excellency for him, let alone a full Charm set.

Darkened, as usual, given some excellent advice.

Click to shrink...

I have that link under my bookmarks and have shown it to my friends, it's helped a lot in laying the groundwork. Thankfully, E6 isn't gonna be for awhile yet, so we all have time to brainstorm on this to hammer things out.

What my two players do have is a base concept for their Devil Tigers along with titles to fit (no names yet, mostly because they're trying to think of ones that sound cool enough).

Player One's DT is gonna be called The Two-Faced Matron of Flesh and Steel, The Maiden of False Innovation; and her themes can be boiled down to 'everyone look at how awesome I am and recognize my greatness', 'I steal your ideas, make them better, then frame them as mine all along', and 'deep down I am a pathetic and miserable waste of existence, who robs others of their greatest aspects so as to bury my self-loathing in them and try to forget them by having everyone bask in awe of my 'greatness' '. This player is the Fiend of the group, and they favor Kimbery and are the one wanting the Autobot charms.

Player Two's DT is The Celestial Knight Tarnished Black, Noble Braveheart Doomed to Fall; and his themes are 'Like the UCS, but ultimately doomed to fail' - an embodiment of Virtue and Excellence, but like the UCS he's burdened by the contradictory nature of all four virtues, but unlike Ignis Divine he can't not channel his virtues. He also has a theme of 'ultimate and undying loyalty to those close to him' which means he's doubly burdened by also having to uphold Intimacies alongside the virtues, all the while trying not to violate them. And when he ultimately fails, the final theme is, 'In my failure I have descended so far as to not be worthy of virtues or intimacies; so I become a wretched monster capable only of ruination'. This player is the group's Slayer favoring Adorjan, and he's been on a F/SN binge so it's clear where the inspiration for this DT came from.

So far, I think that both of these base concepts are fine for now, but any advice on how to help my players work on these themes would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Anondylar]

Has anyone mentioned the 4chan resource yet? Just go to a General Exalted thread and there should be a link to a folder of pretty much everything in 2E, with the errata nicely packaged as annotations in those PDFs.

To be fair, this was mostly first impressions sorta stuff, and for my players SWLiHN just didn't wow them like the other Yozi did; though I'm pretty sure the Fiend of our playgroup is gonna start branching into her charmtree. Either that or he's gonna ask me for a re-do and make her his favored Yozi over Kimbery.

Huh, must've missed it then. Thanks.

On the one hand I sorta see it, but on the other hand I can't help but feel that 'power at a price' doesn't fit as well as 'violating boundaries'; the former almost feels like treading on Malfeas's feet, while the latter does a lot to explain a lot of why everyone hated on Autobot in ye olden days. You know, besides the robocancer. Because for the Primordials, so set and bound by their themes, violating them should be outright alien and wrong in their eyes; and that was Autochthon's thing.

For homebrew, I was thinking Autochthon's neat trick is 'I find an innovative and unique way to cheat the system, but because I cheat the system I get cancer'. Or something along those lines; basically, he can find and create methods to act that are outside the box and could violate the standard limitations of Primordials, but in doing so he gets robocancer because on of those 'boundaries/limitations' is not dying.
The charmtree would also focus a lot on Crafting and I was considering making it akin to 3e Crafting, because it fits for hardcore Craft and making tools is the most obvious and straightforward method of working around the rules. I'd also try to frame the charms as seeming 'short-sighted' or 'absorbed into the work' to fit the manic genius vibes of Autochthon too.

I have that link under my bookmarks and have shown it to my friends, it's helped a lot in laying the groundwork. Thankfully, E6 isn't gonna be for awhile yet, so we all have time to brainstorm on this to hammer things out.
What my two players do have is a base concept for their Devil Tigers along with titles to fit (no names yet, mostly because they're trying to think of ones that sound cool enough).
Player One's DT is gonna be called The Two-Faced Matron of Flesh and Steel, The Maiden of False Innovation; and her themes can be boiled down to 'everyone look at how awesome I am and recognize my greatness', 'I steal your ideas, make them better, then frame them as mine all along', and 'deep down I am a pathetic and miserable waste of existence, who robs others of their greatest aspects so as to bury my self-loathing in them and try to forget them by having everyone bask in awe of my 'greatness' '. This player is the Fiend of the group, and they favor Kimbery and are the one wanting the Autobot charms.
Player Two's DT is The Celestial Knight Tarnished Black, Noble Braveheart Doomed to Fall; and his themes are 'Like the UCS, but ultimately doomed to fail' - an embodiment of Virtue and Excellence, but like the UCS he's burdened by the contradictory nature of all four virtues, but unlike Ignis Divine he can't not channel his virtues. He also has a theme of 'ultimate and undying loyalty to those close to him' which means he's doubly burdened by also having to uphold Intimacies alongside the virtues, all the while trying not to violate them. And when he ultimately fails, the final theme is, 'In my failure I have descended so far as to not be worthy of virtues or intimacies; so I become a wretched monster capable only of ruination'. This player is the group's Slayer favoring Adorjan, and he's been on a F/SN binge so it's clear where the inspiration for this DT came from.
So far, I think that both of these base concepts are fine for now, but any advice on how to help my players work on these themes would be greatly appreciated.

Click to shrink...

Maybe wait until they're at least Essence 4? They might have a change in heart after actually playing Exalted, just saying.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Maybe wait until they're at least Essence 4? They might have a change in heart after actually playing Exalted, just saying.

Click to shrink...

We've done a few sessions and so far the guys like it; it took a bit to get used to the shift to a different system but otherwise it's not that bad.

 

[Darkened]

Okay, so, why people worry about what'll happen at higher essence: (And useful advice for balancing homebrew)

Spoiler: Paranoia Combat a Guide

Warning: This may ruin Exalted (Not really)

Exalted, particularly the combat, starts to run into problems at higher essence. Actually, unlike many games, the system tends to work You can play it and get fairly consistent results. However, the meta-game is very very simple, straightforward and incredibly boring.

To help you with A: Homebrew (Evaluating and using) and B: Noticing where the giant hole in the road is before you fall in, here's a guide.

Essentially it goes as such.

Relatively cheap attacks can be powerful enough to one-shot most Exalts. However, exalts have PDs.

The cost to perfectly defend against anything at a flat cost. Therefore, any very expensive offense will be defended against.

Once you can't PD, you're likely to die very very quickly because of how arbitrarily powerful offense gets.

Ergo: Motes=HP.

Moreover, attack charms just aren't that useful against other exalts or similar beings (vs for killing an inconvenient army or the like)

So the ideal build in setting becomes a turtle. You try to spend as few motes as possible while maxing your defense.

To do this, the '2/7 filter' is the best strategy.

Firstly you get a very high DV.

If an incoming attack looks like an opponent uses a lot of motes for some nasty add-on (bad touch, grappling or the like) that won't require damaging you directly to work, you use a perfect defense charm (Such as Who Strikes the Wind? or Bloodless Murk Evasion) in step 2.

If the opponent doesn't use some esoteric instant victory magic such as a punch that turns you into a daisy or a headlock, you instead try to dodge mundanely (and save those PD motes!).

But won't you get hurt? Nope. If you do get hit anyway and take damage (that you don't think you can heal, negate, etc) you either rely on soak to knock it down to nothing or near nothing, or if that'll be insufficient just use an effect to perfectly soak all damage in step 7 (Kimbery's Bitter Heart Unbleeding is the best bet for Infernals).

You then add on a flurry breaker and a surprise negator. The former is any charm that allows you to move very very far when you dodge. Now your opponent who just used a 10 attack extra action charm hits once and you're 100 yards away, well out of his melee range. (ED's Bloodless Murk Evasion has a leaping-dodge alike effect built into the charm, but it's a rather weak one and the range might not actually outpace many opponenets.) In this way you 'break' the opponent's big flurry and only have to defend against one attack. Tick-long PDs (and action long ones of course) work much the same.

A surprise negator is any charm that, well, negates surprise attacks. Usually you can't get normal attack resolution against surprise and therefore can't defend via your shiny PD. So you make sure to have this just in case. (All Things Betray and Threat-Monitoring Excitement)

You use these charms, and generally ONLY these charms every round. For attack you get the hardest hitting weapon you can and try to spend 0 motes on offense. (Spending to, say, raise up Effortless (Yozi) Dominance to the cap is acceptable.

You 2-die stunt every round, regaining 4 motes or 1wp. Occassionally you might use something like overdrive.

In 2.5 this still happens. The cost of PDs goes up, so you have more incentive to attempt to avoid their use, and things like armor become more useful as weapon damage goes down. However, it also brings in things like a ton of overdrive and shrikes, so you end up with offense that can be even worse than 2.0 at higher levels.

Slightly below this in efficiency is a simple paranoia combo. PD+Flurry Breaker+Surprise Negator. Now you can defend against 99% of hostile things in the setting until you run out of motes. (Infernals want 2ish PDs because theirs have actual flaws).


So what does this mean? Well, the best strategy for Exalted, aside from exploiting unique features of an encounter or being clever which you can do in any game, is to use the exact same 4-5 charms every round and as little else as possible. Offense is bought entirely via overdrive and basically a fancy lightshow while you slowly try to drain enemy exalts of motes.

Opponents that can't use a strategy like this (or some unique set of panoply charms with different, but similar defensive patterns) can be, at higher levels, decimated almost instantly.

As an ST and a player, this ends up being incredibly boring. However, it's also very very easy to step into unintentionally, particularly as XP (and your characters' ability to hurt things) continues to rise.

After 2-300XP, combat often becomes something I dread in Exalted.

This is also largely the reason the writers started making 3e. It was easier to start from scratch than to fix this.

On the other hand there is a stable-metagame that you can use as a basis for balancing homebrew. The engine works, but the result of it working tends to slide toward 'incredibly boring' very fast at mid/high levels.

For homebrew this means that "This boosts your DV really high" and "This is a super cheap defense" are more likely to inadvertently break the game than "And now you deal infinite damage to every enemy in one mile"

You can have broken attack charms, but the fact that defense always trumps offense in Exalted means that you have a certain degree of leeway.

Again, some of this is useful to know. Having a PD will let a non-fighty character do a lot of surviving at low tiers, and they don't need to invest a ton in offense beyond that to be useful (Infernal growth patterns and tree design probably means everyone's at least a little fighty though)

Likewise, knowing that surprise attacks and clinches are ultra-OMG lethal will guide some strategy and encounter design. (Setting a sneaky night caste against your party before anyone has a surprise negator might seem like a really cool conceptual fight. Bouncing in and out of shadows... And then he'll one shot your Slayer, because you gave him a few melee charms and some Crystal Chameleon Style)

So far, I think that both of these base concepts are fine for now, but any advice on how to help my players work on these themes would be greatly appreciated.

Click to shrink...

For the latter concept, I'd strongly suggest he start by looking at SWLIHN's virtue charms.

Also he should be aware that the ED is literally a mirror of the UCS and is very explicitely doomed to failure. Again, the easiest points of homebrew design are 'take a charm that's close and refit it'.

For example of the easiest ways to homebrew in Exalted, it's not hard to take cosmic transcendence of (virtue) and say:

Okay, this Charm:

• Involuntarily Changes Virtue Dice to successes for all rolls (Both ones I want and for things like limit)
• Helps me get a lot of virtue channels by recovering 1 every day.
• Changes the way my virtue works and when I need to roll depending on the virtue.
• And gives some thematic benefit in line with that.

Now, a sample DT's homebrew virtue charm will:

• Involuntarily Change Virtue Dice to successes for all rolls (Both ones I want and for things like limit)
• Helps me get a lot of virtue channels by recovering 1 every day.
• Change the way my virtue works in a different way thematic to my character.
• And give me a thematic benefit in line with that that roughly matches the ones from CTo(V) in power.

You could also look at the first point and decide "Successes are boring, but you usually get dice/2 successes on an average roll, so it wouldn't be terrible to just double the dice I roll instead of taking flat successes." and swap out point one for such.

You also decide that 1 virtue channel a day is a little boring. Figuring that your'e unlikely to do this more than once every 5 or so days, you instead make it a more thematic "Recover all virtue channels after spending willpower to ignore that virtue for a scene" This really gives your player incentive to screw over his character and make that character need to break virtues.

So now you have:

• Instead of (Virtue) dice, you roll (Virtue)X2 dice for all (Virtue) rolls.
• Regain all channels for this virtue at the end of a scene where you are forced to spend willpower to ignore its dictates.
• Change the way this virtue works a bit in accordance with Knight's personality.
• And get some small thematic benefit from here.

Mechanically, the charm doesn't look that much like CTo(V) does. The fluff, benefits, etc are going to be all different. However it is still basically the same cluster of 4 charms.

Very late in this character's tree, you get a charm that does something awesome, at the expense of making it so you can never choose to violate a virtue unless you're in a situation where your virtues contrast. This should be late, because it's a very nasty, penalizing thing. It should either come as the height of investment or very early as a gateway that hides a lot of really nifty stuff behind it.

And your character NEEDS virtues to work because he's so built on those charms? Breaking them is a theme, not acting against his theme and a yoziish thing should be strong within their themes.

Well, wonderful that you've just written's a charm that lets you spend 1 willpower in a simple (uncomboable) action to 'invert' a virtue for a day. Valor now compels you to flee, compassion makes you murder and conviction forces you to betray that which you love. Nifty for you, especially since you have that whole charm-tree that lets you infect people with your virtues and now you get to do the opposite. Of course the fact that this charm means you treat all four virtues as your primary one is a little difficult, but sacrifices (of humanity) need to be made.

And... You say you can temporarily spread your twisted virtues to those you love and make them engage in depravity with you? Good thing Adorjan has a charm that lets you fall in love with whomever you want. (And another charm that you can use as a basis for a 'spread my virtues to others' charm).

Better yet, you grab Kimbery's charm that lets you have any number of negative intimacies, yoink Adorjan's fall in love charm and grab your own charm that flips the emotional context of your intimacies, and now you're never going to have to worry about a target.


For Autocthon, I'd strongly recommend reading both CoCD: Autocthonia and MoEP: Alchemicals before working on his set. Both books give a lot of insight into his character. Anything about the Jadeborn (Scroll of Fallen Races, Debris of the Fallen Races) will also touch on him.

Also, from here: http://nobilis.me/quotes-exalted some advice on Infernals from the writers:

http://nobilis.me/quote:moran-on-understanding-yozis
http://nobilis.me/quotes:primordial-grown-ups
http://nobilis.me/quotes:primordial-mental-limitations
http://nobilis.me/quotes:yozis-to-infernals
http://nobilis.me/quotes:green-sun-bullseyes
http://nobilis.me/quotes:green-sun-kings

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Darkened

Thanks, that both explains a lot about why people say 2.5 is broken and gives me and my players something to watch out for. Thankfully, none of us are really heavy on efficiency when it comes to gameplay; unless one of us crosses the line and pisses the others off. Then the gentlemen's gloves come off and we min-max the shit out of everything to teach them a lesson. Seeing as doing the same charms over and over again would be boring as shit, as well as hard to continuously stunt (because you can only do so many things with the same base actions), I don't think we have to worry about getting bored anytime soon.

The homebrew advice is much appreciated, though what my player meant by 'mirror' isn't the same as the Ebon Dragon being the mirror to The Unconquered Sun. Ebon Dragon is the polar opposite to Ignis Divine, what my player wants his DT to be is something that years to be and almost succeeds at being the Sun; but ultimately crumbles to ash, divine armor becoming tarnished black and nobility crumbling apart at the seams, because the DT ultimately cannot cope with dealing with being the embodiment of all the virtues and maintaining his Intimacies along with it. The cruel reality he so desperately wanted to deny shines through, the whispers of Adorjan etched into his memory striking him in his heart, as he sees himself failing to be the perfection he yearns to be; all the while those he had sworn and dedicated his life to suffer because of it.

So he falls, he falls and falls and falls; becoming more wretched and pathetic than any of the Yozi as he loses himself in the madness of it all - bile and destruction and ruination spreading forth from him and consuming all it can until the slate is wiped clean and he can once again pull himself from the abyss to try and reach for perfection once more. Denying in his heart, mind, and soul that he'll only fail and fall into madness once again.

 

[Anondylar]

Why are you stealing from abyssals

(seriously, that's a theme of abyssals pls dont take more from us than Ebby has)





(im not actually serious)

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Why are you stealing from abyssals

(seriously, that's a theme of abyssals pls dont take more from us than Ebby has)





(im not actually serious)

Click to shrink...

Because my player who designed the DT thought that Abyssals were too edgy, he was afraid he'd cut himself on that much edge.

 

[Nervaqus987]

Because my player who designed the DT thought that Abyssals were too edgy, he was afraid he'd cut himself on that much edge.

Click to shrink...

note to self: Create Abyssal Charm that cuts out the eyes of those who dare gaze upon Abyssal without proper protection.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

note to self: Create Abyssal Charm that cuts out the eyes of those who dare gaze upon Abyssal without proper protection.

Click to shrink...

Reflection of Bleeding Edge Prana
Blinding Shattered Mirror Stained Black
The Abyss Stares Back

...Am I doing it right?

 

[Anondylar]

note to self: Create Abyssal Charm that cuts out the eyes of those who dare gaze upon Abyssal without proper protection.

Click to shrink...

Without Shadow, Ice
Cost: --, Mins: Integrity 5, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Avatar (2), Obvious, Social
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lesser Horrors Scorned

Those who gaze upon the Abyssal Exalted without proper deference are punished for their arrogance. This charm permanently enhances the Deathknight's anima: as long as her caste mark is visible, any mortal that sets their eyes on her automatically suffer as if they had gazed on her totemic banner. Heroic mortals can no longer expend a willpower point to resist, the horror of the Void impossible to resist. When her anima truely flares totemic, all mortals that see her suffer as if they had botched their Valor check against her, their tears drying into shards of jagged ice that rupture their eyes from within.

There is one exception to the effects of this charm, however: by entrapping the surroundings of their eyes with darkness and gloom, they may pass beneath the Deathknight's vengeance, their subservience duly noted. Black eyeshadow and sunglasses always count as appropriate eyewear.

EDIT: Shit, made a mistake. It should be black eyeshadow, not just any eyeshadow.