Heirs to Creation - Exalted 3e Recruitment and Pre-Game Discussion [CLOSED]

Started by Winter King, October 30, 2015, 09:33:08 AM

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Winter King

It would, come to think of it. Just keep in mind that she'll likely have enemies, etc. from her past, and assassins tend to be widely disliked - that is, if she does assassinations in game, there will likely be consequences. I mean, that's the case for anything anyone does, but killing individuals tends not to have many positive consequences.
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Empyrean

*nod* I had in mind that she might have been betrayed by those who she outclassed, or by someone seeking revenge. I'll incorporate that into her background. :)

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Winter King on November 04, 2015, 02:37:58 PM
Not necessarily! Most of them aren't venereal. :P
I stand corrected, for indeed, not all of them are venereal ;D!
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Winter King

Quote from: Empyrean on November 04, 2015, 04:09:34 PM
*nod* I had in mind that she might have been betrayed by those who she outclassed, or by someone seeking revenge. I'll incorporate that into her background. :)

Sounds good. :)

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on November 04, 2015, 04:26:52 PM
I stand corrected, for indeed, not all of them are venereal ;D!
:P
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AndyZ

Sneak peek: my Twilight is going to be named Seven Words of Wisdom.  At her birth naming, it was prophesied that she'd live a long and thoughtful life, and that just before her death, she would speak seven words of absolute wisdom which would be an inspiration for centuries hence.

At this point in her life, though, she'd have an easier time filling seven books than condensing it down to seven words.
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Winter King

Ooh. I like that.

... I'm kind of surprised no one's done a Varangian yet, come to think of it. Clocks! And portents!
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HairyHeretic

Here's a question. Do Hearthstones need to be socketed into an item or some kind or a heathstone amulet in order to function? I'm a bit unclear on this.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

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You too one day shall die
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Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Winter King

Not... exactly. They have benefits for areas around them, but when socketed (and assuming they're paired with a manse) it gives you the Essence powers of being in the manse. Furthermore, some hearthstones only give their benefits if they're in an artifact with another hearthstone already socketed.

That said, I don't think that they're specifically in need of a socket to give the specific effects of the Hearthstone, unless they're Dependent or individual entries say otherwise.

EDIT: Yes, definitely. It depends on the individual hearthstone. For instance, the Aetherial Sphere needs to be socketed, but the Stone of Innocent's Protection does not.
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Winter King

I've added a note on poetry in Dun-lat to the first post, as well as more background about the Satrapy as a whole.

Summarized from there:

We'll be starting play in Akhetan, the City of Bridges, which is now a shadow of its former glory.
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Empyrean

So here's the background for my Night: Transcendent Starlight Beauty.

As a design note, I was planning on her learning Sorcery and possibly Black Claw Style from Mara. Is that acceptable?


QuoteTranscendent Starlight Beauty
Caste: Night

Background: She was born as simply Night Star. The child of a mortal soldier of Lookshy on leave and a lovely but poor peasant girl in one of the smaller villages of the southern Scavenger Lands, Night Star's prospects weren't good. The soldier denied all connections once he found out the girl was pregnant. The girl's family wasn't about to raise some bastard when they could barely feed themselves. As soon as the child was born she was sold off to the next Guild caravan to come through, over her mother's objections. The Guild in turn sold her off to a geisha house for a hefty profit. They didn't realize exactly what they were selling her into.

This particular geisha house, the Mist of Sapphire Blossoms, was owned by one Spring Blossom. Spring Blossom was the public face of the Diving Raiton Society. The "society" is a polite name for a criminal organization that has deep roots. Members of the Society run everything from smuggling to murder-for-hire. They have magistrates in their pockets, and count nobles among their leadership. The Society has many facets, and many fronts. Spring Blossom, who was a member of the Society's administrative ranks, ran the "sweet" side of the operation: honeytrap operations, prostitution, and the more high-class geisha and courtesans. Her job was training and managing agents who could be invited into places and then could seduce, steal, or kill as needed, sometimes all three. She ran all this from behind an unassuming and polite mask as the head of a geisha house. This was the world Night Star was sold into.

Her early years were shaped almost from the time she could walk. She and the other children were praised and graded on how well they could lie and decieve. They learned early that they could get out of trouble by informing on other children for their own crimes, if they were clever enough to come up with a convincing lie or could fake evidence well. The children were assigned chores, and fed only when they did their chores. But those children who could convince or bully other children to do their chores for them got the best meals and the nicest toys. By five the children were separated. Those considered pretty enough, talented enough, and smart enough began their training. The rest were sold off into lesser branches of the Divine Raiton Society. Waste not, want not. Night Star was one of the lucky ones chosen to remain, and begin her training  She learned the arts of dance, of seduction, poisons, and theft. She learned how to be what people expected and to be completely unique. She also learned to trust no one. To view people and events solely in terms of how she could manipulate them for maximum gain. The only being she ever allowed herself to get close to was the house cat. She learned, painfully, that people betray and gods are fickle. She drove herself to be the best, because only then could she be sure that her heart couldn't be betrayed. She was taught to find joy in her work, in the ways she could twist others around her fingers, and she relied on that joy as the only thing she could truly count on.


Her constant rival during these years was a girl named Oasis Willow, who constantly strove against her. Oasis Willow was pretty, but not as pretty as Starlight. Talented, but not as talented. She always strove to be better than Starlight and never quite measured up. So when the Society got a very lucrative contract for the honeytrap division, it was only natural for the trainees to compete for the honor. And Starlight won, as she always did. She was assigned to infilitrate the court of a nobleman notoriously unwilling to be bribed or threatened, kill him and his immediate family, and send a message to anyone else who might resist subversion by the Society. It was a simple enough assignment. She successfully infilitrated the household by befriending the man's daughter, Sunset Spark, and being taken on as a household servant.  After a few months of memorizing the household layout, servant schedules, and earning the trust of the staff and family, she was ready to move. There was only one thing that troubled her. Over her months of preparation she'd become a trusted confidant of Sunset Spark. The teenage girl was surprisingly friendly, as well as terribly lonely. Her mother had died of a wasting illness. Her brother was a soldier and gone on deployment a lot, and her father, though well-meaning, had no real idea how to raise a daughter. Her position kept her isolated, and by the time she met Starlight she was dying for a friend close to her own age.

Something about the open way Sunset connected to her caused Starlight to begin to have doubts about her mission. She was used to the pit of vipers she'd grown up with and the intrigue of her previous assignments. Sunset's honesty and vulnerability touched a chord in her that she struggled very hard to deny was even possible. The fact that Sunset often donated of her family wealth to help the poor and sick in her family's lands struck Starlight as too good to be a true, an obvious attempt at mollifying the masses. But still, she seemed so sincere, and Starlight, who was trained to know a liar and a con when she saw one, could detect no falsehood in her.  The existence of someone who was not a cynical manipulator threw her. Genuine friendship was something she was never trained for. And she felt strangely warm when Sunset would take her and the other household staff out to contribute to the poor houses and asylums. The night she was to carry out the assassination, she was having serious doubts about whether or not she should, let alone if she could kill Sunset.

It turned out not to matter. Oasis Willow and some of the others from her training program had decided that if they couldn't beat Starlight on their own merits, they would ruin her. They leaked information about the assassination plot to Sunset's father and the city guard. When the guard came for her, she was with Sunset and the other attendants on the way back to the mansion after a day helping in the slums. Realizing that she was compromised, she began to fight. But when she saw Sunset (mistaken for an accomplice by a hasty guard) come under attack, something in her changed. She couldn't let this innocent girl suffer for her crimes. Or even her other attendants. She fought fiercely and led the guards a merry chase back into the slums. When the exhausted and angry guards decided to torch the building she was holing up in, starting a fire that threatened to consume the slums, she looked down and saw all the work and care of Sunset going up in flames. And she knew it was wrong that so many should die, so much hope lost, over her. As a golden disk burned on her brow, she leapt from the burning building into the guards below. In a blaze of power, she killed every one of those guards, then went to the slum-dwellers and with her force of charisma and gathered them at the shelter Sunset used. It was the safest place from the fire. Starlight knew she had to go, but there were two things left to do.

First, she made her way through the cordon of security back to Sunset Spark and she thanked the girl. Thanked her for showing her that not everyone was an evil, amoral user, and she asked her to continue her good work. The second item on her agenda was revenge. She made her way back to the Mist of Sapphire Blossoms in secret. Not knowing that the whole organization had not betrayed her, she broke into Spring Blossom's hidden chambers and retrieved her hidden ledgers, blackmail files, and other compromising information on the honeytrap division of the Diving Raiton Society. She proceeded to use the information she found in Spring Blossom's files to uncover damning evidence on other Society members, breaking into their homes and businesses to acquire the info. At each stop, she made it a point to assassinate the division heads and leadership of the Society, all in a single night. She finished by slipping the information she'd gathered to the few uncorruptible magistrates that had been pursuing the Society all the years of her life. Within days, the leaderless members of the Society were rounded up. Without the extensive blackmail files, money (she'd stolen all she could carry), and other resources, the members were easy prey for the law, and couldn't rely on the crooked magistrates, judges, and nobles to protect them. Of course, Starlight was long gone by the time the magistrates had captured Oasis Willow and the rest of her "family".

Winter King

Hm... Just a couple questions to help expand your backstory - why did she come to Dun-lat over any of the other places in Creation, especially those nearer to the Scavenger Lands? When was she Chosen? How old is she? Do you think that the Diving Raiton society was completely wiped out? How did she get to Dun-lat? (Presumably she went by boat through the seas between Dun-lat and the Scavenger Lands).

Re: Black Claw and/or Sorcery. Yes, that's fine, more or less, with me. Just as a general announcement, though, we have a fair few Martial Artists and a couple sorcerers already. Mind, I know that they're all different styles at the moment, but there are other places you can go with your characters. I will probably be more inclined to have a circle with wider variety than with a relatively narrow focus (such as sorcery). I mean, this is not to say that sorcery overlap will be a deciding factor in my decision, but I do feel kind of bemused by how many sorcerers are cropping up. xD
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HairyHeretic

Martial arts and sorcery are both useful things to have, so I can't say it's hugely surprisingly to see them popular.

Plus we all want to try out all the shiny new toys too :)
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You too one day shall die
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Empyrean

I'm thinking that when she was with the Society she learned martial arts so she could strike and kill without visibly carrying weapons. As for why Dun-lat, I'm thinking she was probably on the boat before the Society fell apart. She did her damage and got the hell out, she didn't care where she went so long as it was away. I'm thinking that somewhere along the way she might have found and claimed a manse and something in this experience is what led her to Mara and down the path of sorcery and celestial martial arts.

I kind of envision her with Dreaming Pearl Courtesan and Black Claw style, and at least the Cirrus Skiff or Stormwind Rider spells for travel. As for the Society, I had intended that she left it leaderless, it's members captured by law enforcement, and neutralized. But if it makes a better story then some of them might have escaped and be after her for revenge.

Winter King

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 11:56:46 AM
Martial arts and sorcery are both useful things to have, so I can't say it's hugely surprisingly to see them popular.

Plus we all want to try out all the shiny new toys too :)

Yeah, I know! I feel like there're so many other things to explore, though! I cannot say I'm surprised, because they're new, shiny, and improved, but my points above still stand, I think. :P

Quote from: Empyrean on November 06, 2015, 01:08:00 PM
I'm thinking that when she was with the Society she learned martial arts so she could strike and kill without visibly carrying weapons. As for why Dun-lat, I'm thinking she was probably on the boat before the Society fell apart. She did her damage and got the hell out, she didn't care where she went so long as it was away. I'm thinking that somewhere along the way she might have found and claimed a manse and something in this experience is what led her to Mara and down the path of sorcery and celestial martial arts.
That the society taught her martial arts makes sense to me, but remember that there's no such thing as Celestial Martial Arts now. Those martial arts the Society taught her would have been from a given style (probably Dreaming Pearl Courtesan?) and when she was Chosen, they suddenly would have manifested as Charms. I'm sure you know that, but I thought it best to remind you.

Hm, as for a manse, I have something of an idea for that... but it would probably be a ways away from where our action is taking place, so I'm not quite sure I'm sold on whether I'd be fine with it.

When it comes to Mara, as I said above, that sounds reasonable to me. I mean, I want more details - keeping in mind that Mara's loveless attraction is towards "people with dark fates," though what that means is something I'll be considering in more detail. Also, remember that she'd need at least a Minor Tie of love towards her sifu in Black Claw Style, and keep in mind how dangerous this is.

Quote from: Empyrean on November 06, 2015, 01:08:00 PMI kind of envision her with Dreaming Pearl Courtesan and Black Claw style, and at least the Cirrus Skiff or Stormwind Rider spells for travel. As for the Society, I had intended that she left it leaderless, it's members captured by law enforcement, and neutralized. But if it makes a better story then some of them might have escaped and be after her for revenge.
Dreaming Pearl Courtesan and Black Claw both make sense to me... but the phrasing of "at least Cirrus Skiff or Stormwind Rider... for travel" does concern me slightly. Because for me, while in the First Age many Solars may have initiated into sorcery, in this Age of Sorrows, those who have initiated into sorcery are those who are devoted to its mysteries. I suppose this applies to all of the sorcerous characters that I've seen thus far, but that particular phrasing made me actually think about it.

Sorcery should be some core part of a given character's concept, I guess is what I'm saying. It's not an incidental suite of powers that one takes because they're cool, awesome, and really great. While I don't mean to say "Don't do this, potential toys should be taken out of reach" I do want people to consider that sorcerers are rare, unusual and downright strange. Most people who have heard of them are mildly frightened by them, even Dynasts, and not without good reason.

Empyrean, I apologize for picking on your wording, and I doubt that you intended it in the way I took it, but I also want to thank you for allowing me to come to the realization of what was bothering me about having so many sorcerers (potentially).
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Empyrean

I could maybe not take sorcery, though that would mean she'd need to catch rides from those of the party more sorcerously inclined when they need to fast travel. I could see that it might not be for her exactly. She's a courtesan-assassin, not necessarily an arcane mistress. I'm thinking that a lot of her build, mechanically, is going to be around social-fu, stealth, and larceny. I envision her as highly acrobatic because of her physical training, with a skill set geared towards intel gathering, social manuvering, and bouts of sudden, elegant violence when needed.

If we have too many martial artists, I could try to have some other fighting style. The thing is, I don't think she'd have been trained to be a sword fighter or something like that. Her job was to infiltrate, then steal and/or kill. Hard to do that with a weapon drawn.

As for the manse, I'd need to give it more thought. I had an idea that it might be where she found her silken armor and her belt of shadow walking but that's all I had at the moment.

HairyHeretic

Okay, here's my sheet. Hopefully I haven't missed anything out :)

Stats and Abilities
Mental 8
Perception 3
Intelligence 4
Wits 4
Social 6
Charisma 3
Manipulation 3
Appearance 3
Physical 4
Strenght 2
Dexterity 3
Stamina 2


Abilities
Archery - 1
Athletics - 1
Awareness (F) - 1
Brawl - 1
Bureaucracy (F) - 1
Dodge - 1 (Speciality unarmoured)
Integrity (F) - 3
Investigation - 1
Larceny (C) - 3
Linguistics (C) - 1
Lore - 1
Martial Arts (F) - 2 (Speciality unarmoured)
Medicine (F) - 3
Melee - 1
Occult (C) - 3 (2 bonus points spent)
Performance
Presence (CS) - 3 (Speciality - In character)
Resistance - 2 (2 bonus points)
Sail - 1
Socialise (C) - 1 (Speciality - In character)
Stealth - 1

Willpower 5


Merits
Manse (3) - Gives Demanse (2 dots), Hearthstone (2 dots) - Chameleon stone
Artifact (2 dots) - Hearthstone Amulet
Language (High Realm, Old Realm, Riverspeak, Flametongue)
Subtle gills
Martial arts
Followers (2 - Freed slaves who run his inns / brothel in Nexus)
Resources (1)


Charms
Graceful Crane Stance
Fists of Iron technique
Deft Officials Way
Reed in the Wind
Integrity Protecting Prana
Watchman's Infaliible Eye
Seansoned Criminal Method
Spurious Presence
Wound Mending Care technique
Spirit Detecting Glance
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery - Summon Elemental
Harmonius Presence Meditation
Ox Body technique
Body Mending Meditation
Crane Style Martial Arts - Empowering Justice Redirection


Intimacies
Defining Principle - Rebuild the civilisation of the First Age
Major Tie - Water Elemental Spirit Lord (Obligation, Friendship)
Major Tie - The Guild (Dislike)
Major Tie - Followers (Like, Protect)
Minor Tie - Nymphs (Fondness, Desire)
Minor Principle - Code of honour
Minor Principle - The strong should protect the weak
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Empyrean on November 06, 2015, 02:07:40 PM
If we have too many martial artists, I could try to have some other fighting style. The thing is, I don't think she'd have been trained to be a sword fighter or something like that. Her job was to infiltrate, then steal and/or kill. Hard to do that with a weapon drawn.

As for the manse, I'd need to give it more thought. I had an idea that it might be where she found her silken armor and her belt of shadow walking but that's all I had at the moment.
I don't want to take sides in discussing someone else's character, but a sword or a knife might actually help you in such tasks. IRL, a ninja-to was a multi-purpose tool as much or more than a weapon, knives are tools, and you can use improvised slashing weapons as easily as anything else.
Then again, I tend to treat all combat-related skills as pretty much different forms of the same thing, and don't see any reason why she wouldn't have martial arts, so I'm probably not the person to ask, at all.
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Winter King

Quote from: Empyrean on November 06, 2015, 02:07:40 PM
I could maybe not take sorcery, though that would mean she'd need to catch rides from those of the party more sorcerously inclined when they need to fast travel. I could see that it might not be for her exactly. She's a courtesan-assassin, not necessarily an arcane mistress. I'm thinking that a lot of her build, mechanically, is going to be around social-fu, stealth, and larceny. I envision her as highly acrobatic because of her physical training, with a skill set geared towards intel gathering, social manuvering, and bouts of sudden, elegant violence when needed.
Oh, absolutely. I'm not sure that there will be any need to travel fast, but there may. Alternately, she could try to wrangle bargains with local elementals or the like, and if she truly needed to get places quickly, she might try to get barges or whatnot blessed by the Mother River, for instance. Generally, I don't foresee this being a large problem. That is to say, fast travel will be a benefit if you have it, but it will not be a hinderance if you lack it, I think.

Quote from: Empyrean on November 06, 2015, 02:07:40 PMIf we have too many martial artists, I could try to have some other fighting style. The thing is, I don't think she'd have been trained to be a sword fighter or something like that. Her job was to infiltrate, then steal and/or kill. Hard to do that with a weapon drawn.
Well, you could always go with poisons and a bit of knives. I mean, I totally feel that Martial Artists are much more common than sorcerers, so I have less of a problem with her being a martial artist, or indeed, with many martial artists being in the circle, especially since there are a bunch of different styles that seem to be going on here.

Quote from: Empyrean on November 06, 2015, 02:07:40 PMAs for the manse, I'd need to give it more thought. I had an idea that it might be where she found her silken armor and her belt of shadow walking but that's all I had at the moment.
Hm... well, perhaps she won them in a contest with a demon or something? I mean, a Manse is a huge story hook to hang stuff on, and may come up in play, but I would say that it's unnecessary for the use of an artifact or two. We can think up much more interesting ways to play with those - perhaps she stole them from the Society, and the Society's remnants would like them back (or their corrupt backers would, or something).

Spoilering the below for space.
HairyHeretic
Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 03:08:17 PM
Okay, here's my sheet. Hopefully I haven't missed anything out :)

Stats and Abilities
Mental 8
Perception 3
Intelligence 4
Wits 4
Social 6
Charisma 3
Manipulation 3
Appearance 3
Physical 4
Strenght 2
Dexterity 3
Stamina 2


Abilities
Archery - 1
Athletics - 1
Awareness (F) - 1
Brawl - 1
Bureaucracy (F) - 1
Dodge - 1 (Speciality unarmoured)
Integrity (F) - 3
Investigation - 1
Larceny (C) - 3
Linguistics (C) - 1
Lore - 1
Martial Arts (F) - 2 (Speciality unarmoured)
Medicine (F) - 3
Melee - 1
Occult (C) - 3 (2 bonus points spent)
Performance
Presence (CS) - 3 (Speciality - In character)
Resistance - 2 (2 bonus points)
Sail - 1
Socialise (C) - 1 (Speciality - In character)
Stealth - 1

Willpower 5
Hm, is Sailing something he lost his ability to do when he went down in the depths of the Inner Sea with the Fae there? Because for a formerly career sailor, he seems awfully bad at it. Also, you appear to be missing any mark of dots after Performance.

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 03:08:17 PM
Merits
Manse (3) - Gives Demanse (2 dots), Hearthstone (2 dots) - Chameleon stone
Artifact (2 dots) - Hearthstone Amulet
Language (High Realm, Old Realm, Riverspeak, Flametongue)
Subtle gills
Martial arts
Followers (2 - Freed slaves who run his inns / brothel in Nexus)
Resources (1)
Hm, you do remember that Nexus is really far away, right? Your followers might be better used in Dun-lat. That is to say, I am not entirely in favor of him still having some connections (not meaning the merit, but more generally) in Nexus - remember that initial characters are meant to represent those Solars who have been Chosen for less than a year, much of which would have been traveling, if he were coming from the Scavenger Lands. I'm more comfortable with him having connections in Dun-lat because that's where the majority of the action's taking place, and if he's got connections off in the Scavenger Lands, I feel like the time it would take getting information and (presumably) cash back and forth would be distracting from the main thrust of the chronicle.

Erm. Also, you didn't spend merit points on High Realm, did you? I imagine that that's something he speaks natively.

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 03:08:17 PM
Charms
Graceful Crane Stance
Fists of Iron technique
Deft Officials Way
Reed in the Wind
Integrity Protecting Prana
Watchman's Infaliible Eye
Seansoned Criminal Method
Spurious Presence
Wound Mending Care technique
Spirit Detecting Glance
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery - Summon Elemental
Harmonius Presence Meditation
Ox Body technique
Body Mending Meditation
Crane Style Martial Arts - Empowering Justice Redirection
Another Crane Stylist, eh? Interesting. I don't have anything against it, as I noted above, but it's interesting nonetheless. Could you also divide the spells off from the Charms in the future, just so that I don't go nuts trying to find them?


Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 03:08:17 PM
Intimacies
Defining Principle - Rebuild the civilisation of the First Age
Major Tie - Water Elemental Spirit Lord (Obligation, Friendship)
Major Tie - The Guild (Dislike)
Major Tie - Followers (Like, Protect)
Minor Tie - Nymphs (Fondness, Desire)
Minor Principle - Code of honour
Minor Principle - The strong should protect the weak
Could you perhaps go into more detail with the "code of honour" thing? Maybe try to summarize it in a sentence like the way you have with "The strong should protect the weak"? At the moment, I don't really have a conception of what he considers "honorable" and what he doesn't.

... Beyond that, it's looking pretty good! :D


Quote from: Thufir Hawat on November 06, 2015, 03:33:38 PM
I don't want to take sides in discussing someone else's character, but a sword or a knife might actually help you in such tasks. IRL, a ninja-to was a multi-purpose tool as much or more than a weapon, knives are tools, and you can use improvised slashing weapons as easily as anything else.
Then again, I tend to treat all combat-related skills as pretty much different forms of the same thing, and don't see any reason why she wouldn't have martial arts, so I'm probably not the person to ask, at all.
I would say that in 3e, from what I've read and seen of the system, different forms of the same thing is only applicable inasmuch as all combat skills are made to make the other side deader quicker. That said, I am in more or less agreement with you, so whatever he does is fine with me, when it comes to fighting styles. As another side-thought - Thrown works with hairpins and the like, so you might consider that if you are dropping (or even if you're not) MA.
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HairyHeretic

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
Spoilering the below for space.
Hm, is Sailing something he lost his ability to do when he went down in the depths of the Inner Sea with the Fae there? Because for a formerly career sailor, he seems awfully bad at it. Also, you appear to be missing any mark of dots after Performance.

Should be Performance 1

I thought about raising Sail higher, but the Fair Folk are known to feed on dreams and memories and such, so I figured he would have lost some of what he was while in their hands. Given the sailing was reasonably central to who he was, that would be a main source for them.

I hope that makes some kind of sense at any rate :)

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
Hm, you do remember that Nexus is really far away, right? Your followers might be better used in Dun-lat. That is to say, I am not entirely in favor of him still having some connections (not meaning the merit, but more generally) in Nexus - remember that initial characters are meant to represent those Solars who have been Chosen for less than a year, much of which would have been traveling, if he were coming from the Scavenger Lands. I'm more comfortable with him having connections in Dun-lat because that's where the majority of the action's taking place, and if he's got connections off in the Scavenger Lands, I feel like the time it would take getting information and (presumably) cash back and forth would be distracting from the main thrust of the chronicle.

I do, but at the same time, they're sort of part of his back story, and transporting them to Dun-lat felt a bit like cheating to me :)

If he's newly arrived in Dun Lat, he won't have had time to establish much of a power base.

If you prefer the idea of him being there a while, I could see him having purchased an inn as a base of operations, or perhaps set up a small merchant concern ... maybe both. After all the trouble, shipping in things like seed crops, tools, staples that the ordinary folk need, and selling them close to cost would help both get the local area back on it's feet, and build his social status.

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
Erm. Also, you didn't spend merit points on High Realm, did you? I imagine that that's something he speaks natively.

Yeah, High Realm would be his native tongue.

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
Another Crane Stylist, eh? Interesting. I don't have anything against it, as I noted above, but it's interesting nonetheless.

I figured unarmed ability would work better for him, and the Crane style of engaging your opponent with words as well as fists fit.

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
Could you also divide the spells off from the Charms in the future, just so that I don't go nuts trying to find them?

Only 1 spell, and that's Summon Elemental. I don't know how much more I'd go into Sorcery, but that one I think is fairly essential for an Eclipse.

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
Could you perhaps go into more detail with the "code of honour" thing? Maybe try to summarize it in a sentence like the way you have with "The strong should protect the weak"? At the moment, I don't really have a conception of what he considers "honorable" and what he doesn't.

Still working that one out in my head :)

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
... Beyond that, it's looking pretty good! :D

Cool :)
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Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PM
Should be Performance 1

I thought about raising Sail higher, but the Fair Folk are known to feed on dreams and memories and such, so I figured he would have lost some of what he was while in their hands. Given the sailing was reasonably central to who he was, that would be a main source for them.

I hope that makes some kind of sense at any rate :)
That all sounds fair.

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PMI do, but at the same time, they're sort of part of his back story, and transporting them to Dun-lat felt a bit like cheating to me :)

If he's newly arrived in Dun Lat, he won't have had time to establish much of a power base.

If you prefer the idea of him being there a while, I could see him having purchased an inn as a base of operations, or perhaps set up a small merchant concern ... maybe both. After all the trouble, shipping in things like seed crops, tools, staples that the ordinary folk need, and selling them close to cost would help both get the local area back on it's feet, and build his social status.
I would kind of prefer that he has been here awhile, but I would also say that if he's newly arrived - within the past couple months, for instance - he'll have had a lot of people who were selling property (mostly their neighbors' after the neighbors left), so he could easily have established a smaller power base than one might otherwise expect. I just dislike the idea of charging you dots for something that will never come into play, especially when it's used to justify another merit (Resources, in this case)

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PMYeah, High Realm would be his native tongue.
Sounds good. :P

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PMI figured unarmed ability would work better for him, and the Crane style of engaging your opponent with words as well as fists fit.
That makes a lot of sense.

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PMOnly 1 spell, and that's Summon Elemental. I don't know how much more I'd go into Sorcery, but that one I think is fairly essential for an Eclipse.
Here is where I'd like to pose you the question that was implicit for Empyrean above. If you're unsure of how much more you'd go into sorcery, why go into it at all? I mean, what makes Summon Elemental essential for an Eclipse in your mind? You do know that it creates new elementals now, rather than summoning ones that already exist, making for some difficulty if you're trying to contact the local court of elementals, right?

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PMStill working that one out in my head :)
That's fair enough. Let me know when you've got more details. :D

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PMCool :)
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Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 03:42:14 PM
I would say that in 3e, from what I've read and seen of the system, different forms of the same thing is only applicable inasmuch as all combat skills are made to make the other side deader quicker. That said, I am in more or less agreement with you, so whatever he does is fine with me, when it comes to fighting styles. As another side-thought - Thrown works with hairpins and the like, so you might consider that if you are dropping (or even if you're not) MA.
Sorry, seems like I wasn't clear. I was talking about them as narrative, stylistic options, or in a real world context, not system-wise.

System-wise, they're all big Charmtrees, except Melee and Brawl have far, far more options and don't require buying more than one skill, so in this edition they're the more versatile option :P.
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Quote from: Thufir Hawat on November 06, 2015, 04:22:06 PM
Sorry, seems like I wasn't clear. I was talking about them as narrative, stylistic options, or in a real world context, not system-wise.

System-wise, they're all big Charmtrees, except Melee and Brawl have far, far more options and don't require buying more than one skill, so in this edition they're the more versatile option :P.
Fair enough. :P

Thrown also feels different than archery, etc.
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Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
I would kind of prefer that he has been here awhile, but I would also say that if he's newly arrived - within the past couple months, for instance - he'll have had a lot of people who were selling property (mostly their neighbors' after the neighbors left), so he could easily have established a smaller power base than one might otherwise expect. I just dislike the idea of charging you dots for something that will never come into play, especially when it's used to justify another merit (Resources, in this case)

Okay, let's go with that then. He will have followers in both regions, and a handfull running a small merchant train between the two places to keep necessary supplies coming in, and shipping out whatever will sell for a good price in Nexus. He's looking to rebuild the local small town, bring stability to the area and so on. He may well be speaking with local spirits / elementals in secret to promote good crops and such like.

How does that sound?

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
Here is where I'd like to pose you the question that was implicit for Empyrean above. If you're unsure of how much more you'd go into sorcery, why go into it at all? I mean, what makes Summon Elemental essential for an Eclipse in your mind? You do know that it creates new elementals now, rather than summoning ones that already exist, making for some difficulty if you're trying to contact the local court of elementals, right?

That's always the problem when you move from one edition to another. I was still thinking of it in terms of the 2nd edition, where you were calling an elemental to you rather than creating one.

So how do you go about contacting the elementals or spirits you know now? Occult roll?

The other reason I like having sorcery is Countermagic (and sometimes something like Invulnerable Skin of Bronze for those 'oh shit' moments :) )

Quote from: Winter King on November 06, 2015, 04:14:40 PM
That's fair enough. Let me know when you've got more details. :D

At the moment, figure it close to the 1 dot flaw from 2nd ed, whereby he won't lie to anyone he has a positive imtimacy towards (unless it conflicts with a higher intimacy ... like lying to one of his follwers to keep them safe)
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

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Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:27:40 PM
Okay, let's go with that then. He will have followers in both regions, and a handfull running a small merchant train between the two places to keep necessary supplies coming in, and shipping out whatever will sell for a good price in Nexus. He's looking to rebuild the local small town, bring stability to the area and so on. He may well be speaking with local spirits / elementals in secret to promote good crops and such like.

How does that sound?
That's probably reasonable - though it should be noted that only a few spirits are willing to speak to him at this stage - the Immaculate Order comes and beats up on them if they accept worship, and shatters any cults they might get praying to them. It'd be an uphill battle, definitely. As for Nexus, though, it's about 3000 miles/5000 km away, which is approximately 1000 km short of the Silk Road. Admittedly, there's some serious bodies of water in the way, so maybe that's fair enough... I'd think he probably has a loose network of people who may move certain things northeast/southwest, but it's very slow and difficult.

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:27:40 PMThat's always the problem when you move from one edition to another. I was still thinking of it in terms of the 2nd edition, where you were calling an elemental to you rather than creating one.

So how do you go about contacting the elementals or spirits you know now? Occult roll?
With elementals, it'd be difficult, I think. Maybe sending messengers to their place? In general, it's much harder to make contact with them without actually going places and meeting them. As for spirits, going to their place of power (a field god's field, for instance) and requesting to speak with them as an Eclipse might do it. Or you can use certain... I want to say Performance charms, but I'm not certain of my recollection there to allow them to materialize without cost (in motes) to them, so you'd be able to communicate with them more easily. I would also say that a prayer in an appropriate location, backed by the Eclipse power might get one to manifest, albeit grudgingly in many cases.

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:27:40 PMThe other reason I like having sorcery is Countermagic (and sometimes something like Invulnerable Skin of Bronze for those 'oh shit' moments :) )
That's reasonable enough, but probably not enough for me to like having a character start as a sorcerer (or become one when it doesn't make sense for their arc).

Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 06, 2015, 04:27:40 PMAt the moment, figure it close to the 1 dot flaw from 2nd ed, whereby he won't lie to anyone he has a positive imtimacy towards (unless it conflicts with a higher intimacy ... like lying to one of his follwers to keep them safe)
Mhm. That's reasonable, I think. Do his followers know he's a Solar?
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QuoteIRL, a ninja-to was a multi-purpose tool as much or more than a weapon, knives are tools, and you can use improvised slashing weapons as easily as anything else.

Hm. Question for Winter: Would you allow for her to have the Spring Razor daiklave on page 619-620 of the book? It strikes me as an assassin's weapon, and if she can get away with carrying knives that might be an option I hadn't considered before. Similarly, I like the thrown needles. Poisoned needles, naturally. She might have grown a conscience but she doesn't fight fair. :p

QuoteHm... well, perhaps she won them in a contest with a demon or something? I mean, a Manse is a huge story hook to hang stuff on, and may come up in play, but I would say that it's unnecessary for the use of an artifact or two. We can think up much more interesting ways to play with those - perhaps she stole them from the Society, and the Society's remnants would like them back (or their corrupt backers would, or something).

I'm completely okay with the idea of her stealing her gear off the Society as she burned it to the ground. It's the kind of spiteful act a burned operative might pull off. ^_^

Also, are there any special rules for the mechanical side of creating characters here?