Zelyhon
Streamjumper
Zelyhon
Streamjumper
Zero, I mentioned that I'd put some links up to info about these games, and here they are...
Exalted7th SeaHuzzah for Exalted! Love that game.
Second edition is awesome... they managed to fix the problem with everyone else being more efficient than the solars.
Oho? I'd been wondering if that'd be fixed. In the last game we had at school (which ended because our GM didn't like his experiment with running a game, which leaves us tragically short a GM to run another exalted campaign
crying ), we had two solars and I was noticing how everyone else seemed to be able to do so much more, especially the Lunars. Lunars just struck me as excessively overpowered. One of my friends who was playing a Lunar managed to have 4s and 5s in all attributes from the start while the solars had nothing of the sort. Now, that's not to say my preferred tyle, Sidereals, are any better. Though we didn't use it a whole lot, Sidereal astrology has the potential to be incredibly broken. Then you've got the whole branch of Sidereal martial arts (which I didn't use. More of a ranged fighter, I was. We had two Lunars in the group, after all. They took care of up-close combat).. I don't know as much about Abyssals or Dragon blooded, but since everything builds off Solars, they would naturally have less that is special about them.
How exactly did they fix it?
For starters, mote costs were seriously reined in. Another nice effect was that anima banner effects became free if your banner was already flaring due to serious essence expenditure... making it a little less of instant ******** if you could be seen for miles. Several charms are cost-free enhancements to other charms.
There are three ways to directly enhance a skill roll through the entry level skill enhancers... where you used to just buy extra dice for your skill roll you now can buy one that lets you buy extra dice for 1m/die, one that gives you 1
success per 2 motes, and one that lets you reroll a failed roll for 4 motes. Granted, you can only combine the first and second in one roll and not with the third at all, but nice. There are also charms in each tree that can let you buy a per-scene discount (basically a n investment of 2 motes per 1 mote discount for each use of that skill's enhancers for the entire scene) and another that allows you to make the other skill enhancement charms for that skill innate (as in, you don't need it in a combo to use it... plug away).
No longer are brawl and martial arts two separate skills, but are combined in one, Martial Arts, with most of the old brawl charms combined under the banner of the Solar Hero style, which is instinctive to Solars.
A lot of charms now have the designation of being holy, and being enhanced against targets that are deemed Of Darkness (undead, demons, abyssals, and anyone who the Unconquered Sun is totally cheesed off at due to raw evil more or less... often involving agg damage). A nice addition of this tying into the new system treating serious social moments as a form of battle is the holy social attack, which unclean targets literally need magic to act against.. which can take the place of castigations, instilling divine fear, or making arguments which evil literally cannot answer against.
The shaping and creation charms are ******** nasty now. Nuff said there... nasty.
More charms are either permanent and/or have multiple purchasable effects to chose from. Two examples follow... summed up, of course.
Essence Arrow Attack - Spend 2 motes to charge an arrow with essence. The basic of it is to add your essence in damage to the attack... in addition you get to chose one of three extras to add on, and can pay one experience point for each of the others or one character point for both...
--Fiery Arrow Attack - The arrow (or other ammo) catches fire mid-fight and automatically ignites any flammable targets hit.
--Dazzling Flare - The arrow glows with holy fire or sunlight, making the attack holy and capable of doing agg to the aforementioned critters of Darkness. It can also be seen for the solar's essence x 10 miles if fired straight up or otherwise unobstructed.
--Righteous Judgment Arrow - Spend an extra mote to add four extra dice of damage to the attack and sheathe your arrow in an effect related to your anima banner display.
And
Master Horseman's Techniques - No cost overall, permanent. Get one of the effects below chosen when you buy this charm and can buy extra effects for 2 xp or one character point each...
--Harmony of Spirits Style - Falling out of the saddle? Reflexively spend 1 mote EVEN WHEN INACTIVE (i.e. asleep, unconcious, bound) to keep from falling. Better yet, you won't necessarily fall just from being inactive as a freebie.
--Horse Summoning Whistle - Reflexively spend one mote to have your mount come to you... as its abilities allow. No range nor needed actions are stated...
--Master Horseman's Eye - Spend a mote reflexively to perfectly recognize a mount's strengths and weaknesses.
--Speed Sustaining Technique - Spend a mote reflexively and touch a momount to sustain it for two hours during which it will not get exhausted or suffer from minor problems like thrown shoes or injured hooves.
--Spirit Steadying Assurances - Spend three motes reflexively to prevent a mount from panicking for the entire scene.
Adittionally, they instituted a keyword system that tells you certain details about each charm at a glance, including whether it is allowed in combos, compells, creates an illusory effect, is obvious to mortals as magic, or affects emotion, among others.
Lastly, crappy trees were reorganized, some somewhat redundant charms removed or combined, and some added.
