"ExWoD Group Chat" By Vigilance99 (https://pastebin.com/u/Vigilance99) URL: https://pastebin.com/CgXfV3rW Created on: Sunday 20th of October 2019 12:20:09 AM CDT Retrieved on: Sunday 25 of October 2020 10:10:20 AM UTC [2:15 AM] Vigilance: Test [2:15 AM] VErbadoo: henro [2:15 AM] Gernade: Ayyo [2:16 AM] Vigilance: Alright Verb hold off on interjecting too much till I run through the premise Have you ever heard of the video game 'Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines' Gernade? [2:17 AM] Gernade: Never played it, but I watch the SsethTzeentach vid/review about it [2:18 AM] VErbadoo: I was just about to link that Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines Review | Final Nights Edition™ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAIR9faz9pM [2:18 AM] Gernade: hue [2:18 AM] VErbadoo: hivemind [2:18 AM] Vigilance: Okay the setting is the World of Darkness line of games, which includes VtM but also like six other games. Its basically real life only much worse. People are poorer, crime is more rampant, pollution is more common, and vampires, werewolves, and magic exists in the background. Think of a setting like the Crow, or the Matrix, or Gotham City. Rain-slicked cities through the gray filter The premise itself is a bit complex, but to give you the ultra-short version >The World of Darkness is a world superficially similiar to our own, only darker and more gritty. There exists, and has existed for thousands of years, vampires, werewolves, fair folk, magic, and other gothic-horror/urban fantasy ideas and cliches. >The world is shitty because vampires run everything from the shadows and demons pull the strings of society and Mages are assholes so the plebs lost faith in magic making it weaker and a lot more then I can explain in a 30 minute conversation >The world is also doomed because its filled with dozens of sleeping 10,000 year old vampires and worse things waiting to awaken and plunge the world into a nightmare it will never escape That isn't the campaign. The campaign is about cancelling that. You see 100,000 years ago, long before vampires or werewolves or anyt of that, the world was extremely different. It was a place of myth and heroes and larger then life figures known as the Exalted. Men and women blessed by the old gods with powers beyond imagining. They were strong, noble, and mythic in scope, but in their hubris they tossed the world that was down and ended up causing Mankind to go back to the stone age and eventually become the monster-thralled Halloween shop it is now This power, that of the Exalted, was then locked in a box under Mount Everest for aforementioned hundred thousand years, until a group of supernatural beings, realizing the world was doomed anyway, could see no alternative then letting that power loose upon the world again Will pause for response [2:26 AM] Gernade: Okay, I'm following ya here. I've never played World of Darkness, just a heads up, but Shadowrun is a close second of 'shitty dystopia where the rich get richer, high lifers get higher, and poor people manage to become more poor.' [2:27 AM] Vigilance: VERY similiar setting, the main difference is that in Shadowrun magic exists openly and in the World of Darkness its a secret because the WoD is supposed to be grimmer real life [2:27 AM] Gernade: Gotcha [2:28 AM] Vigilance: The premise is as I said. The world, even the world of supernatural beings, has been controlled for time out of mind by the primary groups of supernaturals Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Changelings [Faeries], Mummies, and Wraiths [Ghosts]. Most of these don't know much if anything about each other, its a world of supernatural conspiracy and dank evil. Again, think of something like Hellboy or the Crow for feel. [2:29 AM] Gernade: So from what I'm gathering: the party is trying to stop an early world end from (what sounds like to me) supernatural nihilists, aye? [2:30 AM] Vigilance: Not necessarily. The premise is that the players are people who Exalted [which I can explain later] and became one of the types of Exalted [Solar, Lunar, Sidereal, Infernal, and Abyssal]. The players either know little about the supernatural or outright nothing. They could be a completely normal person before Exalting, or they could be the lackey of a vampire of a mage's apprentice or a blood relative of a werewolf or changeling. From there the plot will revolve around the players learning more about the supernatural world they've found themselves in, and/or beating up what they find there Since Exalted are hysterically ridiculously more powerful then most vampires/werewolves/whatever For power level think 'the Matrix'. One of the Exalted is basically someone like Neo in what he can do, only in the real world [obviously] [2:33 AM] Gernade: Alright [2:35 AM] Vigilance: So the world, the setting itself, is this grimmer earth, but the party, the characters themselves are more like the Matrix, Hellsing Ultimate, Bleach, Fate/Zero, Underworld, etc. High-powered players in in a semi-gothic setting killing vampries and demons and investigating the supernatural [with the exact proportion of each mostly being up to the party] The idea being as I said, the PCs are either normal people who knew nothing about the supernatural before recieving the gift of the primal gods of old, or people who had their feet wet in the supernatural but not THAT deep. As I said, servant/relative/friend of one of the existing supernatural races is an option >will wait for response [2:39 AM] Gernade: Don't have much of a response to give beyond 'alright' or something along those lines Mostly thinking about it [2:40 AM] Vigilance: I don't need an answer on if you'll play till TQ is at bare minimum in Empire, and possibly not till its over I could tell you about the player options/Exalted types [2:41 AM] Gernade: I'll still think on it, but it'll depend on the state of a pathfinder game I'm in on Fridays with some other guys that I multigame TQ with cause alt+tab to type is easy And sure. Something to ponder over when I have free time/'free' time during work [2:43 AM] Vigilance: Okay there's five types of Exalted you can play as. Technically there's seven, but one is intentionally way weaker then the rest and therefore off limits, and the sixth I'll only allow if someone asks to play as it because its a bit weird. The main five are Solars, Lunars, Sidereals, Abyssals, Infernals. Solar Exalted are the chosen of the Unconquered Sun. Their powerset is the ability to become ridiculously, over the top good at whatever human endeavor they set their minds to. They can become supernaturally skilled at sword-fighting, driving, persuasion, crafting/creating, stealth, etc. If you can think of something normal humans can do, Solars have a power to make it ridiculous. For instance a Solar could become fast enough to dodge bullets, or run 60+ MPH, or jump miles through the air, or become super-intelligent, or creating technology super-fast with no tools on hand, or hide so well they turn invisible. There are five main subtypes, Dawns [Warriors], Zeniths [Priests/Kings], Twilights [Scholars/Sorcerers/Crafters], Eclipse [Diplomatics/Bueracrats], and Nights [Assasins/Thieves]. Nero is a very good example of a Dawn Caste Solar, they even look the same because Exalted tend to get an anime aura when they use a lot of power in a short time. [2:47 AM] Gernade: Okay, thanks for the example [2:49 AM] Vigilance: Lunar Exalted are the chosen of Luna, the Moon. Their powerset is shapeshifting. They can turn into animals, giant were-creatures, other people, kaiju [yes really], or just get weird mutation powers like growing a bunch of arms or spitting acid. Anything that has to do with shapeshifting they can potentially learn a power to do. Their main shtick is the Rage Totem, a personalized 9-foot monster form that is basically a really strong were-whatever. They're weaker then the Solars generally, though not by much, but are much more versatile. The three subtypes are Full Moons [Warriors], Changing Moons [Thieves/Stealth], and No Moons [Sorcerers/Scholars/Etc] [2:51 AM] Gernade: Okay [2:52 AM] Vigilance: Sidereal Exalted are the chosen of the Five Planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn. Their powerset is destiny-manipulation, which mostly manifests as the power of prophecy in various forms and various ways to hack physics in ways best described as Loony Tunes. There's a power to tie a rope to a location and drag it off, decide retroactively to be somewhere else, to alter reality so you're someone else [or as I like to call it 'become the President no Jutsu'], or beat someone to death with abstract concepts. In fighting ability they're the weakest Exalted, but still stronger then most vampires/etc, but they also ahve the most varied arsenal with the most weird powers. Solars and Lunars are pretty one-note in comparison to all the shit Sidereals can hack into reality. Other examples include pulling a vehicle you own out of any object big enough to hide it, or modifying fate to avoid injury regardless of how stupid it be for you to do so Abyssals are edgy-Solars, Solar Exaltation corrupted by the Underworld. Not much to say, they're Solars but instead of being sun-themed and heroic they're necromancy-themed and spooky. Infernals are even edgier-Solars, they're Solar Exaltatinos corruped by the forces of Hell. Their shtick is gradually evolving into living planets, first by gaining the power to develop Demon Shintai and turn into a horrible god-monster, then to create a universe inside themselves they can go to or take people to. Have a lot of edgy environmental powers that theme off the variuos 'Hells' they draw power from Basically Sephiroth is a good example of an Infernal. So is Ichigo [3:00 AM] Gernade: Alright, I think I get what you're putting out here [3:03 AM] Vigilance: Yeah. The World of Darkness is a dark, hopeless setting ruled in secret by monsters and filled with lost occult secrets and vast conspiracies, threatened by doom by ancient evils. The Exalted are action movie-wuxia-shonen heroes of various sorts with powers drawn from an advanced magical civilization and its gods lost to history and time. The party is hapless but worthy oafs who recieve its blessings and no information on ANY of the above [or the more I'm not telling you yet] and have to figure it out as they go. That's the real benefit in this premise, PCs don't need to know a ton about the setting unless they want their backstory to involve witches or vampires They just did something to be worthy of Exaltation and now realizes the world is big and weird and go from there The balance between driving a van through an evil corporations' windows vs trying to find out more about the powers they've recieved and what all lies in the dark will mostly be up to the party. New messages since Saturday, October 19, 2019, 3:09 AM [3:09 AM] Gernade: You mentioned a sixth exalted, right? Is that plot sensitive to ask about now? Another I know you said off limits [3:13 AM] Vigilance: No, its just a little odd mechanically. Normal Exalted recieve hteir powers spiritually when they prove themselves. They use powers called Charms they learn and which once they know they always have access to. Alchemical Exalted, the Chosen of the Machine God, find an ancient relic that fell from space that dates back to the era the Exalted come from that turns them into basically Cyborg or Megaman. They also have Charms, but they have two lists, the list of all the Charms they know, and the list of all the ones they have 'equipped' since for Alchemicals Charms aren't special powers, they're upgrades they have installed into their bodies. I'm perfectly okay with someone playing an Alchemical, but as I said its something where I'd prefer someone play as one of the other types [I'm hoping for a party with at least two Solar/Lunar/Sidereals in it since they're the main Good Guy Exalted in theming, being based on the sun moon and stars]. Right now I have one, Verb's an Eclipse Caste. But if you heard 'Raiden from Metal Gear' and immediately jumped on it, be an Alchemical I don't give a shit. Dragonblooded Exalted, the chosen of the Five Dragons are just flat out offlimits for being too weak. They were the servants of the other Exalted way back when and they're intentionally way weaker. Their backstory is also a bit akward to include since THEIR powers are genetic, and therefore anyone playing one would know a lot about the history of the setting I'd honestly rather nobody did to start Due to the whole 'in the dark about what you've become' thing [3:20 AM] Gernade: I see Well, if its anything to you, Lunar and Alchemical have my fancy piqued [3:23 AM] Vigilance: In which case like I said, Alchemical is on the table. I wanted to 'nudge' people towards other options but I don't mind it. Honestly I was more worried I'd get like three Infernals and my idea of 'The ancient demigod heroes appear to fight the edgelords' turned into 'The Edgierlords show up to fight the Edgelords' [3:23 AM] Gernade: Kek >Join our secret society and get a free razer blade just for joining [3:25 AM] Vigilance: Verbadoo is a 16 year old Light-Yagami upright sociopath who dresses like a Mormon and wants to purge the world of vampires. He's an Eclipse Caste Solar, which basically mean's he can Phoenix Wright people in real life and have it work. His signature power is that he can make deals with people that, if voluntary, carry the full authority of the ancient primal Heaven, meaning anyone who breaks them gets smited. He doesn't have to be party to these deals, so he can negotiate truces, create honorable ties, or just force people at gunpoint to agree to not be evil or the universe will strike them with lightning Also despite it being very easy for a Solar to get good durability, he's probably intentionally going 200% utility-face build Shima is a 16 year old edgelord emo kid from 2003 with a blue dye streak in his hair and a hoodie who fights with dual pistols and summons black plate armor. He's an Abyssal which means he can summon vampire teeth to regain his MP and evil ghosts worship him for some unknown reason. He's basically an intentional exaggeration of edgelord tropes, and as fitting for Ultra-Sasuke he's also a combat monster capable of becoming de-facto immune to damage to anything that's not a 4000 year old vampire or ancient demon [still vulnerable to magic though, which is my out at the moment] [3:28 AM] Gernade: Super powered lawyer? Shit, just when you thought they couldn't get worse. lol I will have to read whatever system this runs off of (I'm guessing WoD) [3:30 AM] Vigilance: I'll pass you the rulebook, the actual rules are drooling retard-tier, the only nuisance is of course reading the powers [there's a little under 100 Charms for each type of Exalt to choose from]. If you've played a dice pool system it should be very familiar. You roll a number of dice equal to your Attribute+Ability [For instance, Strength+Athletics] then everything over the DC [usually 6] is a success I've never played shadowrun but I think its similiar, only WoD uses d10s [3:31 AM] Gernade: Okay, what Shadowrun does. And yeah, with d6s Attribute+Skill rating in SR, so same deal [3:32 AM] Vigilance: Yeah creating a character is really easy other then picking your powers, its literally just "You have this many points for attributes, divide by category. You have this many for abilities, divide by category. You have 7 points for Charms, blah blah' [one sec] https://i.imgur.com/DW5YqLn.png Shima's sheet [3:34 AM] Gernade: But depending on the magic in the system, I feel very tempted to have the Lunar be a caster. Something of an artificer/architect or something involving creation. Have the shapeshifting be like slowly progressing towards a more dark/gothy 'monstrous caster' [3:35 AM] Vigilance: >Sorcerer/Crafter I wish I could hug you through my screen [3:35 AM] Gernade: Oh? [3:35 AM] Vigilance: I was so desperately hoping someone would pick one or both those things You see Exalted has a ton of lost magic and technology from aforementioned mythical age 100,000 years ago, so I was really hoping I could have someone go full retard and start rebuilding the ancient magitech of the 'Age of Legends', or just start rediscovering their magic and putting it to use. [3:38 AM] Gernade: Ah, I see. Get all the bangs for your buck [3:38 AM] Vigilance: To explain the 'magic' in the system, its pretty simple. You have your Charms of course, which are 'magic' but not really in the way you're thinking. Charms are effecient, fast, and don't tend to involve anything but willing whatever you're wanting to happen, or just trying to hit someone and letting your Essence [basically ki] flow through your hit Charms also have to be thematic. You can make up new Charms to buy [with DM approval] but they have to fit the themes of the Exalted. For instance, Solars can't turn into animals, Lunars can't shoot solar fire out of their hands, etc. Sorcery on the other hand, is a bit more slow usually [and sometimes alot more slow], involves ritual tools like magic words or staffs or chalk circles or invoking the old gods, but doesn't have to be thematic. Any Exalt can learn Sorcery and learn any Sorcery spell, and Sorcery can potentailly do ANYTHING. If you think of a thing you want the character to be able to do, you can buy it as a Spell The only downside is as I noted, it tends to cost more Essence [again, your ki/MP/whatever] and if you want it to be really strong you have to add on more conditons. Give you a good example of comparisons A Charm to hit someone in the face hard costs few Essence, hurts alot, and all you need to do it is be able to hit someone. A Spell might take 2-3 rounds to cast [though a good Sorcerer can do a spell in just 1 still] and nukes the entire area, but costs more Essence. OR it could take, for instance, 10 minutes to cast but nuke the next few city blocks [3:42 AM] Gernade: Alright. I just liked the idea of this caster having big, meaty arms for holding giant focus staves/effigies/whatever while the lanky arms (in comparison) handle the delicate parts of spells Well, the big, meaty arms coming out of the back/shoulders [3:43 AM] Vigilance: Exalted Magic *can* be made to be fast, but you really get more bang for your buck with slow ritual effects. Its also not THAT good at single-target fighting. Sorcery blows up big areas for decent damage but sucks ass if you're trying to defeat someone in a kung fu fight and that someone is on your level Yeah that's totally possible. There's also Magic Items which Exalted can create, of which there's three main types. Despite the name 'Magic Items' also extends to works of super-science or high tech [or even magitech]. Talismans are the creations of magic or super science, tend to do only one thing, and have a slight drawback such as an energy cost or only working on certain targets or in certain conditions [for instance a jetpack that only works if it has expensive fuel, or a magic staff that shoots fire that takes Essence to cast or only works in the moonlight]. They're the 'common' magic items of the modern day. Fetishes are items [again 'magical' or 'superscientific' with a spirit locked in them]. Functionally the same as Talismans other then that, but instead of a Drawback you need to get the spirit inside to respect you [or threaten it/enslave it if you're the kind of sorcerer to make magic swords by locking fire elementals into them against their will] [3:47 AM] Gernade: I see. And yeah, makes sense the caster would be more of a nuker, but that sounds like someone who goes heavy into, say, fire and arcane evocation almost specifically.Though if what you're saying carries over, in three rounds I could make something like, say, one really good shotgun or a bunch of shitty shotguns [3:52 AM] Vigilance: Wonders are the great potent magic items of the world [again can be magic or science themed]. They have as many effects as they have 'Rank' and unlike Talismans or Fetishes they don't have to be personal scaled. Wonders could include things like the TARDIS, a giant mecha, an airship, a hottub time machine, or any other absurd contraption you can imagine. Even at personal scale, magic sword wonders are much more potent then their Talisman/Fetish equivalents, allowing for ridiculous feats capable of wiping cities off the map or calling up natural disasters. Talismans are 'magic items' but tend to be relatively tame, like you'd expect in an RPG. Wonders are, well, Wonders. The downside is that Wonders do NOT function in front of normal people most of the time. They're a relic of another, older era of the world when magic was common and trying to [for instance] walk into town in Gunbuster, to SCALE, will just result in the robot getting spotted and immediately shutting down and becoming a paper-weight until the cops show up to wonder why and how you got that big statue into town However, alone among the Exalted [and supernatural begins IN GENERAL], Lunars have the power to 'harmonize' Wonders with reality, making them fully real and acceptable to existence. Meaning the only thing stopping you from flying your ridiculous 100th century BC 500 foot starship into New York is the fear of terrifying the National Guard [3:54 AM] VErbadoo: ah so there's the mages part of the game does it have any circumstances for backfiring too? [3:54 AM] Gernade: Something as fun as that surely much, aside from having F22s scrambled on your ass *surely must [3:56 AM] Vigilance: Only when Mages use Wonders, or cast THEIR form of powerful magic. They're afflicted by 'Paradox' which is caused by people disbelieving in their magic, and can cause anything from the robot going rogue to the Mage and it together vanishing in a puff of logic depending on how stupid the magic he's trying to cast is. Exalted don't have their problem, their magic doesn't piss off existence by being impossible, and even if they build Wonders [which do] the Wonders just stop working if seen by normal people A Lunar sorcereress on a Talisman or Fetish broom or flying with a Sorcery spell will be just fine if she's seen by a crowd, other then ending up on Youtube If she's on a Wonder it'll fall out of the sky But unlike a Mage Witch doing the same thing, she has no risk of it also blowing up [3:59 AM] Gernade: So what it seems like, unless you work yourself up like the next Chris Angel, seems like Wonders are something you tend to do in the privacy of your home Still, pretty neat [4:00 AM] Vigilance: Yeah Mages tend to save their big stuff for the spirit worlds or outer space where nobody cares they own a Voltron. But as I said, Lunars can get a power that makes Wonders work perfectly with no side effects from human skepticism of the impossible Meaning that while its still unadvised to walk into town in the power rangers Megazord it isn't strictly impossible either This isn't purely a joke either, the Exalted had 'Warstriders' in their civilization which were literally just magitech mechs [4:04 AM] Gernade: And even then, I'm sure all the supernatural secret societies kind of want to keep that stuff under wraps for one reason or another [4:04 AM] Vigilance: Oh yeah you'll get absolutely dogpiled if you try that shit [4:05 AM] Gernade: Was about to say they'll report anyone going nuts in the news as having suicided by seven bullets to the back of the head [4:05 AM] Vigilance: Still, 'dogpiled by reinacting Independence Day' means you are CAPABLE of reinacting independence day There's a bunch of powerful groups who want to keep this shit under wraps and will Epstein those who step out of line [4:06 AM] Gernade: kek [4:06 AM] Vigilance: The issue is you can't really do that to the Exalted, they'll kick your ass When the Men in Black show up just judo-kick them out the window I'm exaggerating a little, if the party tries to end the masquerade night one of the game they'll likely get TPK'd or cause a huge scene and coverup and have to go innawoods till it blows over As strong as the Exalted are they still eventually have to sleep, or just run out of Essence [4:08 AM] Gernade: True enough I imagine as a caster resource management will be a key thing. Cast this now to help the short term or save it for if shit hits the fan long term [4:11 AM] Vigilance: Depends, there exists sacred places on leylines that let Exalted regen their Essence completely in mere hours, if your PC somehow has one then Essence management isn't an issue. If not then you're right, the number one limitation on Exalted is running out of Essence. Take Shima's PC, Black. Black starts the game with 10 Essence, getting back 6 each day at sunset. He can spend 6 Essence to turn on all its buffs. If he does this, he is effectively invincible to almost everything that isn't an ancient vampire, a literal god, or trying to control his mind He can deflect or dodge heavy machine gun fire, tear a werewolf in half with his bare hands, jump hundreds of feet through the air, and punch through solid concrete. He's a monster. Nothing stopping him from reinacting any given scene of the Matrix on any building in town At the end of the 'scene' however, all his buffs turn off. He now has 4 Essence for the next fight to occur any time until the next sunset [4:15 AM] Gernade: Ah, alright. I see [4:16 AM] Vigilance: While resting inside the node of a leyline Exalted regain 1 Essence every 15 minutes Very different story The only question there of course is why you have access to one. It could be YOURS, some hidden sacred pool or street that only exists if you're looking for it or sanctum you have built for you. Or you could just have permission to use it Maybe you're friends with the local Werewolves or Faeries or Mages, who all tend to keep such sites for their own purposes. If you're a Sorcerer/ess maybe you used to be the apprentice of a Mage, trying to learn how to 'Awaken' and gain their magic. Instead you Exalted. And your mentor still lets you use the site [4:19 AM] Gernade: I'd almost say leaving an exalted mage at a leyline sounds like a good substitute for ICBM nukes, but then again, and from you said as I typed this, sounds like its knowledge known by those who could take on Exalted/Epstein you [4:20 AM] Vigilance: These 'nodes' are places of magic. Many races besides Exalted regain MP at these places, and the barrier between Earth and the spirit worlds is much, much thinner. Changelings find themselves insulated from the 'mundane' world which can kill them. Werewolves can enter the spirit planes and talk to their gods and fight their enemies. Mages do all that and more. Competition for places is therefore potentially fierce, hence my suggestion That its either a spot nobody else knows about, or you having the good graces of its actual possesors But to answer your question yes you can do that Sitting in your sanctum looking into your crystal ball and nuking people from across town is possible and allowed When I ran Mage the Ascension its all the party ever did, fighting in person is for squares [4:25 AM] Gernade: lol One who can make use of the 'hanging sword of Damocles' and back it up [4:26 AM] Vigilance: The party did nothing but travel through time and teleport across the planet and steal shit from countries away. Hoping to avoid that here, flat out not allowing players to start with time travel magic. Or get time travel magic for that matter Teleportation I might allow. Might not, like I said last game I ran its all the players ever did Want me to tell you a little bit more about Lunars? [4:30 AM] Gernade: If you're up for it, sure.Just still chuckling at the whole 'no time magic' thing being very similar to other crazy stories of 'this is why we don't have x in the house anymore' [4:30 AM] VErbadoo: I'm happy about these limitations, would really spoil the fun of the game if the cautious and stealthy route was also the most powerful and immediately rewarding at the same time I would like the hubs to be somewhere very comfy to be, with the amendities to make it fun just hanging out there and rping while our group mage had to set up shit for the next escapade [4:30 AM] Gernade: I mean, it is, but as we saw in Payday: you don't get to hear the hype music that plays when you treat stealth as optional [4:31 AM] VErbadoo: also brings up the reward for taking over one I really want it to feel like a massive achievement when we finally commendere one or discover a leyline [4:31 AM] Vigilance: To be fair Mages, while potentially as powerful in some ways as Exalted get assraped by Paradox and are much less durable usually, so it makes sense they do the stealth route. I also should clear something up, MAGES is not a generic term of magic user in this setting. They're a specific subtype of very powerful magic user The more common and usually weaker type [Exalted not withstanding] are referred to as sorcerers Mages get assraped if people don't believe what they're doing is possible [4:32 AM] Gernade: Ahh [4:32 AM] Vigilance: Sorcerers are just fine, their powers don't stop due to skepticism [4:32 AM] Gernade: Mostly to the distinction bit [4:32 AM] Vigilance: But they're also [again, Exalted not withstanding they're an exception] usually weaker Rephrase, always weaker Unless you're an Exalted To Lunars Lunars are shapeshifters, their default powers [which take no Essence to use] is they can turn into any animal they've killed and eaten personally. They can also turn into their Totem Animal to start, and their Rage Totem to start. For instance a Tiger Totem Lunar can turn into an Tiger or a Weretiger without having ever hunted any, but if they then proceed to kill a pidgeon, dog, racoon, and fish they can then turn into those creatures. In particular, they turn into those specific pidgeon, dog, raccoon, its kind of like the Thing honestly you 'steal' animals' shapes by killing them. [4:36 AM] Gernade: YEah, was about to say, that's some Prototype shit just about right there [4:36 AM] Vigilance: They also have tattoos that glow when they spend alot of Essence kind of like Aang [though the exact appearance and how much of your body they cover is up to you, if you just want sleeves or back tattoo thats fine] but they make you immune to involuntarily shapeshifting. If a faerie tries to turn you into a dildo your tattoos give you utter immunity Your Totem can be anything, even mythological creatures so if you want to be a T-Rex Totem or Dragon Totem you can. All Lunars also possess the Mark of Luna which is a subtle-feature desinating their Totem Form. Technically this can be anything from just being a hairy barbarian or having silver hair or eyes, but the joke is always that Lunars are catgirls. This is JUST a joke, but its an option. Lunars whose Mark is just anime-animal girl ears are as common as cholera [4:37 AM] Gernade: Pffft Honestly, I can't say I'm overly surprised [4:38 AM] Vigilance: Well the Mark of Luna means you have an animal feature or other designation of being a Lunar, like something moon related or just looking kind of 'feral' Why WOULDN"T you make a catgirl or your kitsune waifu [4:40 AM] Gernade: Cause I'm allergic and all my parents will allow are iguana waifus that turn into Godzilla when not feed. :^) (No, I'm not doing that as my character, even though I know I could) [4:41 AM] Vigilance: I wasn't kidding about the kaiju thing. There's a Charm that lets you turn into any of your forms at the size of any of your other forms Turning into your Rage Totem using 'Blue Whale size' [supposing you've killed a blue whale of course] is possible Moving on, the best/cheapest power Exalted can buy are called Excellences. They do one simple thing, they increase your dice pools. Solars can increase an Ability pool by up to the Attribute plus the Ability. So a Solar with DEX 4 and Firearm 4 could add up to 8 dice to his Firearm pool with a Firearm Excellence. [4:43 AM] Gernade: So effectively doubling it? [4:43 AM] Vigilance: Lunars as I said are more versatile. They add to Attributes, so instead of excellences for Firearms or Occult or Technology or Athletics, they add to STR, DEX, STA, INT, CHA, Appearance, etc Adding up to their Attribute in extra points Yes [to Solars] So Lunars Excellences add fewer dice, but cover more skills with a single usable [4:44 AM] Gernade: Ah, so that's more what you meant [4:45 AM] Vigilance: Yeah, there's a few other examples for comparative Charms [Solars have a Charm to run faster and a Charm to jump higher, as different Charms. Lunars have one Charm for both, but it doesn't increase either by as much as the Solar Charm does] Solars are the best when it comes to just 'I want to be the fucking BEST at whatever, go fuck yourself its me, me, me' Lunars, in addition to shapeshifting, tend to cover a broader base Still much better then most other creatures. Give you some context, Attributes and Abilities go from 1-5 for mortals So the smartest man alive might have INT 5 and Science 5 A Lunar can give herself INT 10 to start with By just 'casting' the Intelligence Excellence Supposing she had INT 5 of course [4:48 AM] Gernade: Right, but I see what you mean. [4:48 AM] Vigilance: Beyond any shapeshifting power you can imagine they also tend to have various Charms that take a given human Attribute to superhuman extremes [so they also can turn invisible by stealthing hard enough or jump ultra far or whatever. If your sorcerer wants to turn invisible, usually its cheaper to get the Charm] [4:49 AM] Gernade: Now the shapeshifting: is it strictly animals? [4:49 AM] Vigilance: So your sorcerer/ess could for instance start with the Excellence for her Caste [probably No Moon for INT/PER/WIT but I could also see Changing Moons for CHA, magic doesn't need intellect] some Charms to your liking, and a few magic items and Spells Oh fuck no You just need Charms to make it more then Animals [4:49 AM] Gernade: Ah, I see [4:50 AM] Vigilance: There's a Charm to kill PEOPLE and take their skin [still need to eat them], to turn into spirits, ghosts, the undead, werecreatures, faeries Lunars whole shtick, their entire thing is shapeshifting If you can think of something you want to change your body or mind into there's either a Charm in the book for it or you can make one up [or more aptly you tell me what it does and I'll write mechanics for it] You want Asura's Wrath arms? Fine Just finished Jojo and want to shoot boiling blood out of your fingernails? Got you covered fam [4:50 AM] Gernade: Hell yeah Likely won't for this idea, but great examples nonetheless [4:51 AM] Vigilance: There's also Charms for generic shapeshifting like modifying your hair, eyes, build, there's a Charm for changing your sex, there's a Charm for mixing and matching parts from your forms >for instance if you want your eagle wings in human form to go angel mode The only hangup is that unless you are a Changing Moon, the fastest way by far to get a new form is to eat whatever it is Meaning if you want to turn into a guard and sneak inside, it means killing them and stealing their clothes. Changing Moon Lunars have the power to turn into anyone they've ever seen before, making it much easier to be humane Other Lunars are like the fucking Thing like I said Its not even just killing them, Lunars have to eat part of whatever they kill to turn into it If you're not a Changing Moon you probably need a special Charm or more likely a Spell to do it the nice way [4:54 AM] Gernade: I'm just picturing Hanibal with a fork and knife eating some cheek cut [4:55 AM] Vigilance: No Moons are the other type I could see as a sorcereress, they get the most 'magicey' Charms They start with the power to enter the spirit world at will, which overlays reality. Great for making friends with spirits or just spying on people [since you can see from the spirit world into the physical like you were a ghost] And have a bunch of Charms for crafting, detecting energy [such as that given off by leylines] and a bunch of other shit like that Including of course the 'Harmony with Reality Technique' I mentioned which makes things too magical to exist in the present era just get with the program Changelings can turn into their Fairy forms without suffering from it, dragons don't die from lack of mystical energy, Wonders don't deactivate to skepticism you get the idea [4:57 AM] Gernade: Hmm, sounds up the alley I was looking to go [4:59 AM] Vigilance: Yeah their basic package is as I said, Shapeshifting, Totem Animal, Rage Totem, Mark of Luna, entering the spirit world, and they can start with Charms, Spells, and magic items too. So you could do [for instance] a Lunar witch who flies on a broomstick [a Talisman she probably made herself], can turn into a cat, also stole a few common city animal forms before the game started [raccoon, pidgeon, whatever], and has Charms to boost her Intelligence and a few other tricks Oh and when she gets mad she can turn into a nine foot tall prehistoric monster from the depths of OH MY GOD and tear people to shreds in her horrible cat-monster form Not 'really' a way to be a squishy wizard Lunar given 'Is a were-whatever' is a power they have to start with [5:02 AM] Gernade: So I'm guessing that means Lunars physical attributes tend to shift about from animal to animal? Like high dex as a cat, but then gets swapped into high str as a gorilla or something So 'not squishy' as in 'turn into a rhino and be a spell-slinging tank'? [5:04 AM] Vigilance: Right they get the physical stats of whatever animal form they're in. Their Rage Totem doesn't do that, it adds to their human ratings, usually +4 STR/+3 DEX/+3 STA or +3 STR/DEX/STA or +5 STR/-1 DEX/+5 STA [depending on what your Totem is]. They also get 'Aspects' to their Rage form picked from a little list, like ignoring armor with their claws/teeth. This one in particular makes it really easy to be a good physical fighter on a Lunar with no other combat Charms Well here's how combat ends in very short version. Your roll Dexterity plus whatever your combat Ability is as a pool. For every success you get, minus the first one, you add it to your damage pool [either the weapon value or your Strength plus the weapon value] then roll that pool. It deals Health equal to the successes. The enemy can choose to Dodge after your attack roll but that usually takes their next turn away. If the enemy has armor or supernatural resilience they might be able to 'Soak' your damage successes, subtracting from it to a value equal to their Soak score. So lets say a Lunar with DEX 3 and Brawl 3 tried to karate chop someone. She'd roll 6 dice, get 4 probably and therefore add 3 to your damage pool, which since she's unarmed is just her STR, which we'll say is also 3. Roll another 6 dice for another 4 successes, she deals 4 damage The enemy however is a Vampire, he can roll his Stamina as 'Soak'. So since he has 5 Stamina he rolls it, and gets lucky rolling 4 successes. Her attack fails to damage him So lets say your Lunar was NOT that kung-fu chick. She sucks. She has 2 STR/DEX/STA and only 1 Brawl. Complete bookwork >Turn into a bear, gets STR 6/DEX 5/STA 5, her claws now ignore the Vampires soak entirely so he can't roll it >>end rant, pausing fo response [5:12 AM] Gernade: lol, its cool. And alright, just adding on more of how versatile they are as mentioned: be a bear for muscle, or be a fly on the wall for sneeki breeki.And combat was sounding like SR until the damage bit. But understandable: good way of preventing someone from being able to, say deal 12 damage at minimum that takes a crap ton away from their soak roll. Totally not speaking from first hand experience there [5:14 AM] Vigilance: All Exalted can Soak all kinds of damage with their Stamina just for being Exalted. They also recover from damage much faster then normal people [think anime-recovery times, you could beat them into a pulp and in a few days they'll be completely fine even without any Charms to heal faster] Making them 'bullet resistent' but not really 'bullet proof' A Lunar in Rage Totem form can easily shrug off small arms fire even if her human physical scores are terrible if she buys a few defense Charms she can go from 'resistent' to 'immune' If she buys more then a few defense Charms she can go from 'immune' to 'Drop a nuke on me and I will laugh ye puny mortal, get fucked' [5:16 AM] Gernade: kek [5:18 AM] Vigilance: As to character, there's a bunch of ways to do it. Maybe they found a bit of the Exalted's sorcery in a book store. Some chinese antique store had an ancient tome they didn't realize was copied from prehistoric writings, and the character figures out what it means and transforms into a Lunar because deciphering that made them 'worthy'. Or maybe they were a witches apprentice trying to learn how to cast Mage magick and rather then 'Awakening' and learning how to do that she surprised her teacher by Exalting instead, confusing the hell out of her Or maybe it wasn't a witch and broom. There's a ton of Mage organizations for everything from Asian kung fu chi manipulation to religious miracle working to super science Any number of which could have a bright-eyed scion trying to figure it out, only to accidentally figure out a completely different form of magic Or maybe its not that. Maybe its just 'My sister is a wizard' and you fucked up somehow and turned into a cat-girl or Hugh Jackman and run screaming because 'she knows all about this magic whack' Or maybe its not mages, maybe the Werewolves and their magic was more your speed and you grew up learning about the 'spirit world' from some older werewolf relative >Werewolves in this game are very shamanistic [5:20 AM] Gernade: Understandable [5:21 AM] Vigilance: They also worship the moon goddess Luna [who is probably not the same Luna as in Exalted, but maybe she is? I'll leave it a mystery] and other planetary spirits So maybe its like that. She Exalts as a Lunar and the Werewolves are confused as hell because they've never seen a were-creature that has magic tattoos and an anime aura and its freaking them out But she still learns how to do all the things they do, like enter the spirit world or summon spirits or create Fetishes That's a hard to explain joy I have in wanting to run this, that the various supernatural races [who I'm of course familiar with, they have their own full-games you play as them in] have their own beliefs and factions and the Exalted make no sense by what they know of the world. Werecreatures don't look or act or function like Lunars, and yet at the same time theirs no denying the similiarity Anyway, its 5:30 in the fucking morning. I have to mow tomorrow. Give it some thought, I'll send you over the rulebook tomorrow or sunday or something. You have any musings on a character just send them my way. I'm not starting this campaign for awhile, possibly not until TQ ends. Though if I have a full group and a day and everyone's willling I might start some time in the middle of Empire, just let the schedule be a bit hectic till TQ concludes [5:26 AM] Gernade: Alright, plenty of time to think then [5:26 AM] Vigilance: Yeah, 6-8 months. I was originally going to ask you about this anyway once we got INTO Empire so I could say 'Wow TQ is on its last arc, want to hear about my campaign?' But I ended up bringing it up tonight since everyone was talking about TQ closing out soon [5:27 AM] Gernade: All cool, dood. Hopefully I didn't keep you up too late [5:27 AM] Vigilance: No I was going to be up this late anyway, but I do need to sleep now-ish. Night Gernade, talk to you later [5:27 AM] Gernade: G'night dood [5:28 AM] Vigilance: later [5:28 AM] Gernade: And g'night VErb. [5:28 AM] Vigilance: VErbadoo go to bed