I liked the Warlord of Hell mentioned in there (a Dawn Caste who didn't want ro stay in Creation but instead wandered Malfeas full time and ended up accreting a mass of demonic followers and lackeys over time). I used him as a previous incarnation for a Second Age Solar and fleshed him out for a First Age game. Cringy as it may sound, I coopted him as an OC donut steel.

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>>98037967
>How have you used the Scarlet Empress in your campaigns, and how does your PC feel about her?
She cosplays Sir Not Appearing In This Film a lot, and the PCs respect her performance.

>Related to that, what are your preferred theories on what happened to her? What about your favorite candidate for her successor?
It depends. When I run close to canon it's the same thing that happened to all the other people writing the Broken Wing Crane, she went mad. Usually I have her in the Imperial Manse utterly bonkers trying to aim it at something like the Seal of Eight Divinities or the Surrender Oaths. When I'm being a bit silly the Scarlet Empress is whichever Sidereal is playing the Empress that day.

>Regarding the Return of the Scarlet Empress book, have you ever used anything from it? And has anyone here adapted content from it for 3e?
Some of the Astrological Charms, and the Ebon Dragon's stats. The book fucking sucks mate.

>>How do you imagine her, and does anyone have any good fanart of her?
picrel

>>98037967
>Regarding the Return of the Scarlet Empress book, have you ever used anything from it?
It's impressive that they managed to make Infernals utterly replaceable in a book made to hype up Infernals and give them every win possible (and a lot of them impossible).

>>98038473
It is a classical white wolf thing, Infernals are PC options, those are meant to be utterly irrelevant to the grand scheme of the metaplot.
1e did similar with the Heron using the eye of authocton to destroy the Lion.

>>98038730
Huh, I wonder why they kept doing that shit and not making a spinoff novel.

>>98037967
She must be one hell of a lay to mother an entire dynasty.

>>98039771
At least in 3E a lot of the Dynasty's related to her legally but not through blood, that is, through adoption. Besides, 763 years is a lot of time, enough for not only you to have kids but your kids to have kids, and their kids, and their kids, and their kids...it adds up.

>>98039794
yes, well, we know 3e's almost as shit as 2e.

>>98040305
... Did she genocide the entire DB population of the Isle in previous editions?

>>98037967
>Related to that, what are your preferred theories on what happened to her? What about your favorite candidate for her successor?
I like her being a new Deathlord personally

>>98040771
I see the appeal of the idea.

>>98040649
If I remember correctly, she had kids with the higher ups of the various great houses over the centuries so a lot of the most influential Dragon-Blooded are descended from her. Especially because her incredibly high breeding meant her descendants were more likely to Exalt, allowing them to entrench their power and further spread her genes and influence.

>>98041075
The slug looking DB sample character was the grandson of the Empress but that was seen as a bit of a nothing burger because that's the equivalent of being a descendant of Genghis Khan in that region.

>>98041290
Talking about it, it was found that 3 bigger male lineages exist in China, it is theorized that they are connected to the red and the yellow emperors

>>98040771
The suggestion a dead Scarlet Empress could replace Princess Magnificent and become the Scarlet Phoenix Astride the World was the best part of Return of the Scarlet Empress.

>>98040305
And what, exactly, is wrong with that specific thing?

>Survival
>Archery
>Craft(/Occult/Lore)
Let me guess, you need "more"

>>98037967
Which one do you guys prefer
1. Controlled/Working with yozis/deathlords
2. Died of old age in the Realm Defence Grid control room, shriveled up like a spider
3. Assassinated
4. Died of crazy experiment to gain more power
5. Teleported to somewhere far away (alternate timeline, the future, etc etc)
6. Her disappearance is all part of her masterplan
7. She retired (tired of having to treat her children like chess pieces, old and tired, wanted to fish in peace, etc)

>>98042417
Shanked by Sidereals because they finally figured out she was a Lunar double agent all along

>>98042423
>>98039771
Baseddereals couldn't handle all that so they had to kill her

>>98042434
What the fuck pattern spiders censored me
fuck baseddereals

>>98042438
Fuck-Fuck 丂⊜ソdereals

>>98042417
>Died of old age in the Realm Defence Grid control room, shriveled up like a spider
This but not of old age. The Empress's backstory girl sacrificed herself to fire the Realm Defense Grid. The Empress that emerged and threatened the world with hellfire was always a Sidereal. I mean, really. She's the Scarlet Empress, she's got famously red hair, we literally call her Her Redness sometimes, and you're telling me she's Earth Aspect?

No. Some enterprising Shieldbearer with a resplendent destiny replaced her. That's why she's so red, and why everybody rationalises it away. Her anima glows red. Her eyes are red. She has red hair. She has spend the last near-eight hundred years taking over the world through controlled conflict. She is a Chosen of Battles.

The Scarlet Empress's disappearance is the resplendent destiny wearing out, maybe ahead of schedule a bit to reflect everybody being so unprepared for it. The Sidereal behind her isn't really mentioned in the Sidereals books because running the Realm is a full-time job and she's sorta ronin since she wasn't able to keep up regular involvement in the Bureau anymore.

What's more annoying?
>1) Acting like Exalted have infinite xp
>2) Acting like Exalted have infinite motes/Willpower
>3) Acting like Exalted can do anything without consideration for mechanics or challenge/difficulty
>4) Acting like Exalted can't do anything and not respecting their vibes or hype
>5) Acting like Exalted is better in a different edition than the one you prefer

>>98042521
Not 5 because 2.5 is objectively the best edition and anyone who disagrees is an intentional troll

You all know the Devs were never remotely subtle about where the scarlet empress is and any answer that isn't "the ebon dragon kidnapped her for some weird plot involving marrying her" is an AU fanfic right?

Yes RotSE itself isn't canon but the base setup for where she is was everywhere. There's literally 1E art of him molesting her because that was released back when RPG manuals still contained random softcore porn.

>>98042581
Things become canon when they're clearly stated in an official, published piece of canon, not before.

>>98042581
Of course TED took her, because that's what happened in World of Darkness. But who gives a shit what those idiots think

>>98042601
Glad we're on the same page then.

>>98042732
If you mean that the Empress being Ebby's bride isn't canon because, however much it was teased, it was only ever actually stated to be the case in the non-canon scenario on RotSE, then sure, we're on the same page. I don't think 3E really even teases or implies it, though.

>>98042581
? RotSE is the canon ending to Exalted 2e. TeD took the scarlet empress in 1e and 2e and it couldn't have been clearer - it was an old World of Darkness thing. I have no idea what happened to her in 3e but I fucking hope they changed it.

I guess if you want to be pedantic then you can say it's just one possible ending but that is literally retarded because it's an adventure book.

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>>98042758
>RotSE is the canon ending to Exalted 2e
Of course it is anon, of course it is.

>>98042821
Not him but it's clearly what the writers wanted the ending to be but they were too cowardly to commit to it because they were told no more metaplots except for owod

I'm confused, is there a later adventure book that was written for Exalted 2e? What exactly do you mean by "canon ending?" Because I just meant that it was the last adventure they wrote for Exalted and it's how they ended the line before Inkmonkeys did their thing. It closed a bunch of metaplots that were big back in the day.

I have no idea what the ending book for 1e was but I'm interested in learning.

>>98042524
>Not 5 because 2.5 is objectively the best edition and anyone who disagrees is an intentional troll
That's why I said 'Acting'. Because anybody who says any other edition is better than 2.5e is pretending.

>>98042601
>Things become canon when they're clearly stated in an official, published piece of canon, not before.
Does the big stonking full-page picture of her being caressed by the Ebon Dragon to a crowd of cheering demons in 1e not count for anything?

Wait, am I reading this right or does a greenie soldier straight out of bootcamp have a 50% chance to do damage to a solar with 5 in every attribute/ability and artifact armor in demake?

Is five green soldiers a deadly enocunter in Demake lmao

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>>98042524
>>98042897
brothers

>>98042915
Her Redness... erotic...

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>>98043011
TED's characterization seems to have changed a lot over the course of 1E to 2E.

>>98042959
>Wait, am I reading this right or does a greenie soldier straight out of bootcamp have a 50% chance to do damage to a solar with 5 in every attribute/ability and artifact armor in demake?
You are not reading it right, no. A greenie soldier straight out of bootcamp has an astronomically low chance to do damage to a Solar with a 5 in every attribute/ability because the Solar can dodge to strip five successes from the attack roll or block to strip five successes from the damage roll. Yes, if you caught a Solar completely stripped of all of their motes and willpower and charms that work without motes or willpower then yes even if they have maxed every stat they can die, though it'd be pretty damn troublesome to do it since you're usually dinging less than one damage per round if you're a mortal soldier (don't forget that you need to roll damage against Difficulty 9 too). That's supported narratively as well, in that enough mortals harassing a Solar for long enough is supposed to be a deadly threat if they don't all mob up and let the Solar kill them in one blob.

Yes, Demake is a high accuracy system, where characters are expected to have a good chance to succeed at rolls. No, characters are not defenseless or dying to chumps.

>>98042891
Return of the Scarlet Empress was (I think) the last book published for 2e, so a lot of people see it as an intentional bookend to the edition and therefore the writer's giving the "official" endgame to the setting, wherein the Ebon Dragon escapes and it gives a bunch of scenarios for how different groups might handle it, both PCs and non-PCs.

>>98043022
Yeah I get that, (the average damage calculated was 1.2 for a dice pool 4 conscript with a bow against 5/5 exalt in light artifact armor btw, meaning 5 greenies would do 6 damage per turn on average if they ran out of willpower) and I also get that certain charms waive the wp cost for dodging/blocking so Dawns probably will recover block/dodge faster than they lose it if their dps is high enough
Its just funny to me how much armor sucks ass, artifact or not

>>98043039
Shards of the Exalted Dream came after that, but that was more of an Onyx Path thing and not released by the team headed by John Chambers.

>>98043053
>Its just funny to me how much armor sucks ass, artifact or not
It really doesn't, it's just that Soak is much better against better opponents. It actually turns out that Dodge kind of sucks compared to Block in real fights, because a lot of the enemies that you care about roll a lot of dice. Dodge is great when it strips all successes from an attack, but when you can't full-dodge it's really bad. If someone rolls one more success than your Dodge, Dodging only removes dice from the damage roll AND turns off your ability to Block against the same attack if they high-roll their damage - and their damage can be pretty damn high if they've got an artifact weapon or something, even with one net success on the attack roll. Block by comparison mitigates levels of damage.

>meaning 5 greenies would do 6 damage per turn on average if they ran out of willpower
The actual scary and likely thing is running out of Dodge or Block. You lose one every time you use them, and the Willpower cost is much easier to recover or mitigate both with charms and without them (the fighting style dual wielding gives you a 'free' block and dodge, for example). Dodge especially doesn't need to run out, just running low is scary if you rely on it, because again it's only good if you can fully dodge an attack. With Soak 9 ten dice of damage does one level of damage on average, with Soak 5 ten dice do five damage. Block also has the advantage of being at the very end of the attack, after damage is rolled and everything, so if someone whiffs their damage rolls and you have the Health for it you have the luxury to consider not bothering to Block, whereas if your Soak is low and you're relying on Dodge you need to Dodge every attack or you just die. If your Soak/Strength are high you stay in the fight way longer just by dint of being able to keep taking 0-2 damage hits while your Block slowly falls.

>>98043150
>(the fighting style dual wielding gives you a 'free' block and dodge, for example)
*freehanding
Sorry, messed that up. I was doing a silly thing for a while where I'd start fights dual wielding, use the super attack, drop a dagger to go to freehanding and use the free block/dodge, then drop the other dagger to be unarmed for +2 dodge. Kind of got dual wield and freehand mushed together in my head. Then I got an artifact sword and just hitting people with that turns out to be way better.

>>98042524
Honestly, I'm super glad it's not just me. Every time I look at 3ed I find HERO system more streamlined and straightforward in language.

Does the OP archive have Return of the Scarlet Empress?

>>98043381
Actually weirdly no it doesn't look like it does. Here you go

https://www.mediafire.com/file/p53fqnpyl4c4dla/Exalted_2E_-_Adventure_-_Return_of_the_Scarlet_Empress.pdf/file

>>98043405
Thanks for the file

>>98043381
>>98043405
It does. It's in the pastebin directly, rather than being in the big mediafire folder with all the 2e stuff that the pastebin also links to.

>>98043014
1e TeD was a pretty generic demon lord, I cannot say that he was contradicted.

>TeD is referred as a demon prince.
I wonder if the yozis and third circles originally were the same category of being, in 1e, Gaia and Autobot don't feel like they were made to be part of Primordials as we know them.

>>98043565
2E TeD isn't incompatible with 1E TeD, but he's not, like, a logical and obvious expansion on what was written about him in 1E, either.

1E Exalted was incomplete and a very poor hack of using the storyteller system to handle "epic" yet "gritty" gameplay, as well as pools of dice making actually playing it a chore, but I appreciate the randomness of rolling your defences making it so that you could get screwed/worn down by lucky hits, as well as pre-splitting pools (and the action economy around them) adding a tactical layer to combats. Plus it made armor actually useful since you always had it and it wasn't rocket tag like 2E.

I'm pretty sure other versions have dealt with that problem in some way but I haven't played them after being disappointed by 3e.

>>98043589
From Dragon-blooded's book; 1e TeD could only evolve into a shadow daddy figure, like Pav, but the niche is already fulfilled by Ligier.

Another possibility is to be like final crisis Darkseid, but with fear instead of tyranny.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Weird_Tales/Volume_27/Issue_1/The_Dark_Land

>>98043691
>1e TeD could only evolve into a shadow daddy figure, like Pav, but the niche is already fulfilled by Ligier.
Water Aspected Dragonblood are called Ebon Dragons. They also share a lot of themes with the Games of Divinity Ebon Dragon, with the whole adaptable and mercurial nature paired with subversive methods. Never conceding failure, only setbacks that make them take a step back and try another way, using whatever underhanded tactic is needed to succeed. Problem solvers and practical solutions.

Seems like there was another way they could go.

>>98037967
Weekly Update
>Art Direction
Infernals – Got text today… so gonna figure out the art buy this afternoon
Essence PG – Sketches in progress but running a bit slow
Essence STG – Working on BK graphic
>Layout
Alchemicals – Still working on it… non Exalted stuff keeps popping up on me. So many goddam sidebars…
seems the above-mentioned essence storyteller's guide is on backerkit starting next tuesday starting 2pm est. fund it if you like, though if your waiting for your other books still you're in vocal company
there's some sales going on if you care about that, art/monster books for older editions on dtrpg and some special edition covers for db/lunars in 3e here
https://studio2publishing.com/collections/onx-onyx-path-publishing

>Exalted Essence ST Guider campaign.
I thought that they already have done it.

>>98044852
Are the crowdfunding it? I'm not opposed to the basic idea of crowdfunding, but doing so for an ST guide seems kind of wrong.

>>98044852
>>98044878
Crucible of Legends?

>>98044878
Yes, they will use the backerkit platform.

>>98044882
CoL is for 3e, this one is for Essence.

>>98042521
4 for me. Exalted is founded on the principle that an Exalt can do anything.. with enough time, will, training, effort, and resources. It might take a hundred years and a pile of orichalcum the size of a mountain, it might take working hands to the bone and working the bones to dust, but an Exalt can do anything except the three outlawed principles.

>>98045062
>Exalted is founded on the principle that an Exalt can do anything.. with enough time, will, training, effort, and resources
>1e deathlords.png.
>Grabowski's quote about Creation being doomed.jpg.
>The N times that the official material broke the 3 principles.webm

>>98042521
Either 3 or 4 for me. Not sure which, as both are extremely annoying.

>>98045101
>>1e deathlords.png.
I didn't play 1E, but for 2E and 3E, forge an N/A rated Deathlord Killer Artifact if you must.
>>Grabowski's quote about Creation being doomed.jpg.
Then forge a New Creation, if you must.
>>The N times that the official material broke the 3 principles.webm
I actually don't know of any. Has anyone been truly resurrected from the dead in official material?

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>>98037967
What are your hopes for a 3e version of Shards besides updated versions of the original alternate settings?

>>98045253
That it doesn't happen so OG shards won't be tainted by association.

>>98045230
>SIRE! I'll forge an Artifact to solve the unsolvable problem!
Yes Twilight, that's all you ever do.

>>98045313
It is pulp accurate, now investigation needs to be able to unlock the hidden secrets of the shima to seal the deal.

>>98045230
>Then forge a New Creation, if you must.
You try to do that, it doesn't meant it will work.
Was that how WoD was supossed to tie to Creation or something like that ?

>>98045708
>Spoiler
We don't know how, but apparently solar and sidereal exaltations were broken to become hunter and mages' avatars respectively.

>>98045732
How the mighty have fallen.

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>>98045708
>>98045732
>>98045998

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>>98045998
1e Hunters had magic sun powers. They're not the CofD Hunters

>>98046042
They had mostly mediocre powers and fuck all to do with the Sun.

>>98046005
Even in 3e, no more how much the devs say otherwise, is so closely related to and borrows extremely heavily for World of Darkness. For whatever reason this is one of those things that they're willing to lie out their ass about. It was literally a prequel in 1e, 2e borrowed damn near everything and gave it a slight recolor and 3e is doing much the same.

New ideas are hard I guess. I love Exalted but it's honestly sorta funny.

>>98046431
Well, despite starting as a prequel, exalted became its own thing, but inspired by wod, pretty fast.
A main reason for it, is that the writers wrote as they went, so the ties ended up as a black box, that nobody is capable of solving.

>3e is doing much the same.
Part of it, is that the writers will see something that they think is cool, and port it to exalted regardless if it fits or make sense to the setting.

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>>98042505
>I mean, really. She's the Scarlet Empress, she's got famously red hair, we literally call her Her Redness sometimes, and you're telling me she's Earth Aspect?

>>98046626
Aren't the 2 daughters said to be closest to the Empress also earth aspect?

>>98045062
...Is there a third? It's just time travel and ressurection that are banned right?

>and even those can be bent, especially if you only care a person continues to exist with their memories and personality rather than gets back up cleanly in their original body with the same abilities

>>98046747
>• Time is immutable. While divination and retrocognitive techniques are possible, there is no traveling through time aside from the inexorable march of seconds that all things experience. Divination using sorcery is hardly more effective than mortal astrology, although it is often quicker and more reliable in the limited information it produces.
>• Celestial events are outside the realm of sorcery. The sun, moon, planets, stars, comets and other skyward bodies are the purview of greater powers than mute Essence. This is not to say that sorcery cannot affect events of the stars and sky and planets, merely that it does so only at the discretion of the Maidens and other Celestial officials. In practice, this means that it is so improbable that sorcery should alter celestial bodies as to be effectively impossible.
>• Death is irrevocable. Ghosts may be summoned and bound, and travel to and from the Underworld is quite possible. However, there is no return to life from death. Sorcery is especially ill-suited to works of necromancy, and sorcerers will always be at a marked disadvantage in comparison to students of the three circles of necromancy. Summoning ghosts and creating zombies are undertakings of at least the Celestial Circle, and such efforts are made easier at the Solar Circle.
>• Geomancy cannot be altered directly with sorcery. This is more of a technicality than a pragmatic and general statement of truth, however. Sorcery cannot conjure a Demesne directly, for example, but it can raise a Manse or enable the widespread landscaping necessary for geomantic manipulation. Costly and difficult spells of the Celestial Circle can raise a Manse, but the caster must be familiar with Manse architecture and geomantic principle to direct the spell.

>>98046747
>>98046764
• Immortality Has A Catch: Sorcery can make a character immortal, but never in an unconditional, guaranteed fashion. There may be periodic rituals needed to renew a character’s immortality, certain conditions under which he can die, a regional restriction he cannot travel outside of without risking his immortality, or similar. This does not mean that immortality is a trap or a waste of effort—instead, the purpose of this is to preserve the relevance and power of death as a dramatic element within the game, even if the players do bestow immortality to all their friends, allies, and family.
• No Resurrection: Dead is dead. A sorcerer might try all manner of clever tricks—binding someone’s ghost into a sorcerously-created vessel, imprinting his memories onto a cloned body, even altering the nature of reincarnation within a region so that souls retain all memories of their past lives—but once someone has died, he can never be truly brought back. While a sorcerer’s most powerful workings might create a simulacrum or duplicate of him as he was in life, it will never be the same as the original person. The purpose of this restriction is to maintain the dramatic significance of death as a narrative element within the game, and to prevent players from reversing the consequences of their actions.
>• No Time Travel: What has happened, happened. Sorcery cannot be used to travel back into the past or to rewrite past events. The purpose of this restriction, like that on resurrection, is to emphasize the importance of the players’ choices and their consequences, as well as to avoid the tangle of narrative confusion that comes from introducing time travel and altered pasts into a collaborative narrative.

>>98046764
1e
>>98046771
3e

>>98046785
>My shield is indestructible, but I can look at it

Kind of drunk.

>>98046771
>Time is immutable...
>and retroactively techniques are possible
>My shield is indestructible, but it can be destroyed

>>98046793
>Kind of drunk.
You don't say?
>"My shield is indestructible but you can look at it"
>My shield is indestructible but it can be destroyed

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>>98046785
>>98046793
what the other anon isn't saying is that retrocognition means "looking at the past" not "changing the past" lol

>>98046813
Yes, somehow my phone copied "retrocognitive" and replaced "retroactive" with it.

But returning to time travel, 3e introduced a lot of retroactive effects, and an entire splat about time-line manipulation (Getimians).

>>98045230
>Has anyone been truly resurrected from the dead in official material?
Depends on what you mean by 'truly' resurrected, and 'in official material'.

Necromancy has second and third circle resurrection spells in 2e (Denying the Call and Barred Tomb) that only last a short while, but are a real and true resurrection for that duration - as in, Exalted come back Exalted, all the souls are there, etc etc, it's just that they're touched by the cruel and cold wind of the Void and the resurrective magic fails after a bit. You can also put someone's soul back into a biomotonic replicant of themselves with all of their powers, though it doesn't Exalt the new body, and really you can Soul Seal anybody's soul into anything - it wouldn't be too impossible for replicant-you to track down the newest incarnation of your Exaltation, slave collar them, force them to carve their own souls out (Links Born of Tumult gets the po out, Crystal Ghost Shard gets the hun out, get both of them trapped somehow (Bauble of the Captured Soul, Eternal Crystalline Encasement, take your pick)), and stick your own souls into their body with the Exaltation. There's some stuff with Pattern Spider Touch you could do too.

Has anybody canonically explored any of these options? No. The options do exist and there is no canonical reason they wouldn't work. Hell, Void Circle Necromancy is practically unexplored territory, it might very well be the case that the only reason there isn't a resurrection option there is that nobody's invented it yet. 2e killed the option with a random fiat line in Barred Tomb spell text, but stuff like that is narratively unreliable.

>>98046626
>ruby
I don't really know what you're trying to say. Earth Aspects have white hair, not dirt/stone/whatever-colored hair. Their skin is like marble, sandstone, granite, not crystal gems. Crystals in general are rarely ever talked about for Earth Aspects even if they are considered gemstones, presumably because the element Crystal is one of Autochthon's. They're referenced more in 3e but I have trouble taking any argument based in facts introduced for 3e - if you think those ideas were around when she was made and fleshed out in 1e, you're fooling yourself.

Sidereals have been manipulating time since, what, 1e? You just word it funny and try to stick to the spirit of the rule and you're fine.

You can't have a charm that lets you come back to life when you die no matter what.
You can have a charm that lets you come back to life once a story.
If you built around it you could even spam it once a scene.

You can't revive someone who died.
You can revive someone who just died once per story.
If you built around it you could even spam it once a scene.

It's a spirit of the rules thing, you're not bringing back someone you abandoned who died. You messed up, they are dead, it's not a part of your charm set. If you die you're dead for good, having charms that trigger when you would die in order to stop that is fine. Time travel is fine for making things move slower or faster but you can't go back to undo things, expect if you're a Yozi in 2e/3e but that is Yozi wank. Scrying would be fine, because you're not messing with things. Time loops are fine, so long as they don't undo things. A getimian can have a charm where his future self tells his past self something, assuming the player is playing the past self for example.

>>98042521
3 honestly annoys me the most. I remember reading an RPG.net thread where people complained there are too many exalts in the thread and that Deathlords, even conceptually, are too strong. Its like these people didn't want any challenge in the game to begin with.

4 also kinda sorta. What annoys me is that I can talk to two fans, one wanting Gurren Lagann type stuff while another wants a Dawn to sweat when facing five mortal bodyguards.

>>98045253
Did they even announce they were doing this?

>>98047090
>Sidereals have been manipulating time since, what, 1e? You just word it funny and try to stick to the spirit of the rule and you're fine.
1e Sidereals was very scrupulous about not breaking the manipulating time rule, or doing anything which looked like it might behind fancy wording. They did absolutely zero retcons, backwards time travel, or whatever else. Their abilities that looked like that explicitly were not retcons or time travel and their methods were explained. Avoidance Kata and Neighbourhood Relocation Scheme, for example, were just teleportation and memory manipulation. Of Truths Best Unspoken was, at worst, forward time travel masquerading as prophecy.

>>98047116
>Did they even announce they were doing this?
No.

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>>98047124
>No.
Oh well, back to making my own.

>>98047124
Yes, time travel but worded funny. I get that "No, technically I was never actually there" can be reduced to a simple DnD teleport but in setting it's more then that. Point is it's a spirit thing then a hard word ruling and always has been.

The setting just sorta falls apart if you can bring your best friend or the Neverborn back to life or if you can go back in time to redo shit. A charm where your future self comes back and talks to you to help you out? Sure, go for it, basic ass shit for a charm really.

>>98046681
>Aren't the 2 daughters said to be closest to the Empress also earth aspect?
Mnemon and Ragara are direct descendants and they are Earth aspected, yes.

>>98046869
>I don't really know what you're trying to say. Earth Aspects have white hair, not dirt/stone/whatever-colored hair. Their skin is like marble, sandstone, granite, not crystal gems. Crystals in general are rarely ever talked about for Earth Aspects even if they are considered gemstones, presumably because the element Crystal is one of Autochthon's.
Says where?

>>98047341
>Says where?
I looked at the aspect pages, then went around control-f'ing for diamonds, rubies, gemstones, crystal, and other keywords. Earth Aspects could have a gemlike anima, and in 3e some of their charms had diamond in the name, but that was where any potential association I could find ended. If you can find a more solid correlation then go for it. Obviously, asking me to find somewhere that explicitly states that crystals aren't in-theme for Dragonblooded isn't reasonable, and I haven't claimed that such a statement exists.

...and if you're asking where it says that the element Crystal is one of Autochthon's, then, like, so many places. 1e Autochthonians pg28 describes the Elemental Pole of Crystal, for preference.

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>>98046431
I agree, why would they lie about being connected to WOD?

>>98045732
>Solar Exaltations became hunter shards
>Sidereal Exaltations became mage avatars
Looks like Sids got super glowed up.

>>98047460
>Yu-shan glowies turn into deep state glowies
Yeah they glow all right

>>98047460
>Looks like Sids got super glowed up.
Given that this is a scrapped 1e metaplot, this probably was an intentional glow-up for Sidereals, not just Mage being surrounded by a reputation for ludicrous power. 1e Sids were strongly implied to have been artificially restricted to a much lower or at least more narrow powerset than would have been natural for them.

>>98043150
Okay dude you were right. Just ran character creation solar (Strength 5 Dex 3 Stamina 4) and he just crumpled 4 greenies and their elite officer without a scratch because 8 and 9 soak is worlds apart for enemies without aggravated attacks and he regenerated 2 block every time he attacked (becaused the mortals turned into mincemeat)
Moreover archery only goes 2 range bands and people who take wounds cant change weapons so if they were stronger the solar still would have forced one or two to hold onto their bows with Sandstorm Wind attack and then went into melee range
I do think that 6+ archers would have whittled down his block very quickly and then gave him enough wound penalties to actually kill him, (3 stacks of lacerate is still -6 to block) but if the solar has a party outnumbering them by 6+ times would take battlegroup numbers and they'd just be battlegrouped so it wouldn't come into play
I see the appeal of this system, it's like 3e but without having to build up initiative for every decisive attack or having to take into account 12+ charms at character creation. The wound system is still retarded though, after holden stops pissing out monster stones he should roll that shit back to normal exalted/wod wound system

>>98042505
>>98046626
Tbh she should probably be a Fire Aspect, though it is true that the color red can fit more than one aspect.

>>98046869
>Earth Aspects have white hair
Some Earth Aspects do, some don't. Most don't, really. Mnemon doesn't, for one.

>>98047341
>Mnemon and Ragara are direct descendants and they are Earth aspected, yes.
V'Neef, on the ther hand, is a Wood Aspect, and also a daughter of the Empress.

Isn't the Empress technically all Aspects at once?

>>98047867
Nope, she's missing Wood Aspect. Not high essence enough for Transcendent Gaian Harmony to cover them all.

>>98047841
>The wound system is still retarded though, after holden stops pissing out monster stones he should roll that shit back to normal exalted/wod wound system
I actually quite like it, so might I ask why you don't? Thoughts, feelings, etc etc.

To elaborate on why I like it, I like having more specifically crippling injury types because it makes the mechanics feel more meaningful, and I like that taking damage in discrete hits has meant it's much harder for people to just randomly die - you don't die for real until you take some silly number of wounds based on your stamina+~2-3 (which incidentally works out to make a Sidereal using Heartless Maiden Trance HILARIOUSLY tanky) even though you get incapped after a pretty reasonably small amount. I even kind of like Stagger, in that I feel like some charms really farm a lot of value and having ways to interact with / disrupt that is a good thing even if they can just be turned on again afterwards.

Honestly, my biggest complaint with the system has been that it's pretty easy to end up with a character who takes zero significant wounds until they die the death out a thousand cuts by running out of Health straight into Incap. The math works out that you only take small amounts of damage, and it's pretty easy to get Stagger ~4-5+ at which point you never Stagger. My personal opinion and take-away from that though is he should lean further into Wounds and remove the health track entirely, having you go incap after taking so-and-so many/severe Wounds rather than go back to the hit points with penalties from before/WoD/mainline.

>>98047841
>I do think that 6+ archers would have whittled down his block very quickly and then gave him enough wound penalties to actually kill him, (3 stacks of lacerate is still -6 to block) but if the solar has a party outnumbering them by 6+ times would take battlegroup numbers and they'd just be battlegrouped so it wouldn't come into play
Pretty sure he just kills them before they can kill him, but I'd believe a local lord mounting an ambush with a small group of mixed mostly-ranged combatants should be able to shoot down a chargen Solar who wasn't doing anything fancy in terms of combat charms and didn't get lucky, yeah. Or, iunno, a rooftop shootout of some kind. It has to work sometimes or people would stop trying it.

>>98048057
That's alright, Wood's a shit element anyway

>>98048231
Anyway, I think it's possible for "off-element" children to be born, although there is a mild stigma against it. Mind you, it's much less pronounced in lesser Dynastic families where having DBs at all is a big deal. I think an Aspect book covers just such a situation.

>>98048244
>I think an Aspect book covers just such a situation.
Infanticide.

>>98048109
The part where taking wounds snowballs you into being unable to do anything
>Uh oh! you took 1 wound, time to remove 2 dice from literally everything, including dodge and block so next time you'll get wounded even easier
>Uh oh! you took another, now your dice pool is dragon-blooded sized, and you dodge/block is in the negatives so next turn you'll take 4 wounds and become a useless sack of shit
At least in the old system you had -0 health levels so you could actually decide to take health damage without immediately getting fucked, it's rocket tag but the difference is getting scratched is a massive disadvantage. Also what the fuck is the point of buying ox-body if you just become dogshit after taking a couple of wounds

>or alternatively, you buy Ruin-abusing shrug and you ignore the entire mechanic for 1 (one) mote.
What the fuck?
So it's either a get scratched = get fucked mechanic or a 2 dot charm tax for solars
I do think the dragon blooded version of RAS, unflagging vengeance meditation is really cool though

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>>98047520
And this is after they were split up, which implies that whole unbound sidereal exaltations are beyond cosmical exaltation tier.

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>>98048751
>The part where taking wounds snowballs you into being unable to do anything
I feel like that's normal? If you took any significant wound penalties you were always pretty fucked.

>At least in the old system you had -0 health levels so you could actually decide to take health damage without immediately getting fucked, it's rocket tag but the difference is getting scratched is a massive disadvantage.
Stagger Threshold is your friend. It is effectively your -0s, or rather how much damage you need to take in a single hit to be wounded, so maybe more like how many HLs are in a row. You have way more -0-equivalent health levels in v2/v3 because of it imo. Weren't you running artifact armor before, that stuff is minimum Stagger 4+, at that point you're probably incap after two wounds unless you're spamming ox-body and even then it still gives you a lot more space to let sub-Stagger damage through your Block and save for bigger hits.

I think you're calibrated for Soak 6 or not seeing Stagger Threshold or something because it's not that easy to do wounds to people. Maybe I'm missing something, too.

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>>98048906
>I think you're calibrated for Soak 6 or not seeing Stagger Threshold or something
No actually I got 40Kbrain and equated damage=wounds

>>98048906
>>98048751
>time to remove 2 dice from literally everything
Actually allow me to add one thing that I do dislike about the wound system - if you're going to make health and taking damage more dramatic, if you're going to make the way you were wounded matter by assigning damage types to everything and making wounds more and less painful, maybe don't give everybody the ability to spend 1 Willpower and upgrade your damage type into whatever the fuck you want.

Joe McMortalPeasant getting a lucky haymaker in should not be able to rip your jaw off as easily as spending a point of Willpower. The prostitute slapping you away should not rip your spine apart even if she does luck out and score two damage sux on your naked body while you were out of willpower.

I'm not against damage being stunted or upgraded, I just think it needs to not have such an easy shortcut run through it if it's going to be given this extra depth. Look at how much effort a Charcoal March of Spiders Style guy is going to just to get access to maimed leg/arm wounds - land three consecutive hits, and THEN you can get a one time hazard that does maimed arm/leg. Letting everything upgrade to -3 wound penalty (Mauled) or maimed for 1wp has escalated and/or cut short some serious scenes for me in play.

>>98049004
>No actually I got 40Kbrain and equated damage=wounds
Ohhhh that makes sense

>>98046834
As far as I know all retroactive effects in 3e are only retroactive in a metagame sense