bintananth
behind a desk
I'm STing an Exalted game which started as one for my wife and daughters mid-Feb. A trio of 250xp Exalts (a DB, a Solar, and a Lunar) went after The Perfect of Paragon ... and failed.
I think I gave them very good odds of eliminating The Perfect if one of them got within arms reach. Here's the summary:
The DB convinced The Perfect - through an intermediary - to sponsor an MA tournament for mortals (enlightened or heroic) which the two Celestials - disguised as mortals - entered. My daughters characters made it through the group stage with a combined record of 9-1. The loss was a dive by the Lunar to put the PCs on opposite sides of the knockout stage bracket so they wouldn't meet until the final. The Solar was KO'd in the first knockout round by a half-caste Sidereal who got a very lucky damage roll. The Lunar got careless with his mote pool during the semifinals vs. a Jade Mountain stylist and flashed his caste mark. Cue a very hasty Exit stage left, pursued by a Sid.
They regrouped in a Southern port. The DB decided that they've had enough fun for one vacation and took a ship back to the Blessed Isle.
I've picked up three more players. The game has 4 new PCs:
- an Enlightened Mortal Sorcerer/Astrologer who will exalt as a Ronin Sidereal of Journeys sometime within the next 10 scenes.
- a calvary officer from Lookshy who was discharged because he lost an arm.
- a disillusioned Immaculate in seach of a sifu with enough banked XP for a CMA style which doesn't require essence 4.
- an Outcaste from the East who has heard rumors of two first age manses located near a small river surrounded by dense forests.
Those manses are what the PCs have decided to go find. The manses they'll discover are 5-dot and indestructable but otherwise fairly unimpressive.
One is a fortress belonging to century-old Fire Aspect who found it while leading refugees when she was a freshly exalted 20yr old. The other is a temple dedicated to The Unconquered Sun tended to by a reclusive Air Aspect hermit who survived the Usurpation.
The century-old NPC is well-rounded enough that I'd feel comfortable playing her as a PC alongside Celestials of similar XP.
The Usurpation survivor is understatted for his age because I ran out of stuff to give him which fit the "reclusive hermit" concept before I hit 5,000xp. He's about as tough as a DB is going to get because he's essence 10, willpower 10. I didn't go the "all the charms" route the lazy writers used for the Deathlords. There's stuff he doesn't know.
If my PCs try to physically fight him they're facing a DB who knows all the native DB tricks and 5 CMA (Lunar Hero, White Reaper, Crane, and two of the four Arguments of Virtue). He's got 8 perfect defenses, 7 of which cost willpower to use. All eight have at least two flaws of invunerability and he'll never have all 8 available at the same time.
If they try to sweet talk him into doing something he's already amenable to his base ParryMDVs are 4, 3, and 2 (presence, socialize, and investigation) before stunts, charms, and modifiers. That they can easily defeat. His base DodgeMDV, OTOH, is 15. He can raise that to 20+ with ease when he doesn't want to hear or consider the BS someone is spouting.
I think I gave them very good odds of eliminating The Perfect if one of them got within arms reach. Here's the summary:
The DB convinced The Perfect - through an intermediary - to sponsor an MA tournament for mortals (enlightened or heroic) which the two Celestials - disguised as mortals - entered. My daughters characters made it through the group stage with a combined record of 9-1. The loss was a dive by the Lunar to put the PCs on opposite sides of the knockout stage bracket so they wouldn't meet until the final. The Solar was KO'd in the first knockout round by a half-caste Sidereal who got a very lucky damage roll. The Lunar got careless with his mote pool during the semifinals vs. a Jade Mountain stylist and flashed his caste mark. Cue a very hasty Exit stage left, pursued by a Sid.
They regrouped in a Southern port. The DB decided that they've had enough fun for one vacation and took a ship back to the Blessed Isle.
I've picked up three more players. The game has 4 new PCs:
- an Enlightened Mortal Sorcerer/Astrologer who will exalt as a Ronin Sidereal of Journeys sometime within the next 10 scenes.
- a calvary officer from Lookshy who was discharged because he lost an arm.
- a disillusioned Immaculate in seach of a sifu with enough banked XP for a CMA style which doesn't require essence 4.
- an Outcaste from the East who has heard rumors of two first age manses located near a small river surrounded by dense forests.
Those manses are what the PCs have decided to go find. The manses they'll discover are 5-dot and indestructable but otherwise fairly unimpressive.
One is a fortress belonging to century-old Fire Aspect who found it while leading refugees when she was a freshly exalted 20yr old. The other is a temple dedicated to The Unconquered Sun tended to by a reclusive Air Aspect hermit who survived the Usurpation.
The century-old NPC is well-rounded enough that I'd feel comfortable playing her as a PC alongside Celestials of similar XP.
The Usurpation survivor is understatted for his age because I ran out of stuff to give him which fit the "reclusive hermit" concept before I hit 5,000xp. He's about as tough as a DB is going to get because he's essence 10, willpower 10. I didn't go the "all the charms" route the lazy writers used for the Deathlords. There's stuff he doesn't know.
If my PCs try to physically fight him they're facing a DB who knows all the native DB tricks and 5 CMA (Lunar Hero, White Reaper, Crane, and two of the four Arguments of Virtue). He's got 8 perfect defenses, 7 of which cost willpower to use. All eight have at least two flaws of invunerability and he'll never have all 8 available at the same time.
If they try to sweet talk him into doing something he's already amenable to his base ParryMDVs are 4, 3, and 2 (presence, socialize, and investigation) before stunts, charms, and modifiers. That they can easily defeat. His base DodgeMDV, OTOH, is 15. He can raise that to 20+ with ease when he doesn't want to hear or consider the BS someone is spouting.
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