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The Demented One
2010-05-19, 06:33 PM
It occurs to me that Exalted Folk in the Playground may not have seen the Ink Monkeys blog over on White Wolf. That probably ought be fixed. The short of it: online blog putting out free official Exalted material, written by the people who did Glories to the Most High. Good stuff. Here's links.

Introduction (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/02/16/ink-monkeys-vol-1-manifesto.aspx)
Essence Pulse Cannon (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/02/23/ink-monkeys-vol-2-essence-pulse-cannon.aspx)
Infernal Monster Charms I (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/03/24/ink-monkeys-vol-3-unleash-your-inner-monster-part-i.aspx)
Infernal Monster Charms II (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/03/26/ink-monkeys-vol-5-unleash-your-inner-monster-part-ii.aspx)
Infernal Monster Charms III (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/03/29/ink-monkeys-vol-6-unleash-your-inner-monster-part-iii.aspx)
Infernal Monster Charms IV (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/04/08/ink-monkeys-vol-9-unleash-your-inner-monster-part-iv.aspx)
Autochthonian Thaumaturgy and Soulgems (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/03/25/ink-monkeys-vol-4-soulgems-and-thaumaturgy.aspx)
Infernal Charms (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/03/31/ink-monkeys-vol-7-hell-s-chosen.aspx)
Solar Charms (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/04/07/ink-monkeys-vol-8-chosen-of-the-unconquered-sun.aspx)
Black Claw Style (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/04/09/ink-monkeys-vol-10-black-claw-style.aspx)
Flowing Kata Form (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/04/22/ink-monkeys-vol-11-flowing-kata-form.aspx)
Ebon Dragon Charms (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/05/11/ink-monkeys-vol-12-the-fiendishness-of-fiends.aspx)
The Daystar (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/blogs/freelancers/archive/2010/05/19/ink-monkeys-vol-13-the-daystar-part-i.aspx)

Kylarra
2010-05-19, 07:35 PM
Certainly interesting stuff. Thanks for the link.

Krimm_Blackleaf
2010-05-19, 08:13 PM
Indeed interesting stuff, more than once has it inspired me to drag a burning smile across Creation. Which ones did you put together?

The Demented One
2010-05-19, 08:24 PM
Indeed interesting stuff, more than once has it inspired me to drag a burning smile across Creation. Which ones did you put together?
I put together none of them, you sly rogue, but I did help with the Ebon Dragon charms.

horngeek
2010-05-19, 10:49 PM
...apparently, you scare people who work for White Wolf.

TDO, you are awesome. :smallbiggrin:

Jerthanis
2010-05-20, 12:12 AM
My response to Ink Monkeys: We asked for charms and for our sins we were given charms.

the Ebon Dragon charms do fill a void, those are alright.

Weimann
2010-05-20, 08:12 AM
My response to Ink Monkeys: We asked for charms and for our sins we were given charms.What do you feel is inappropriate about them? I know there was one Solar charm I wasn't too fond of, but otherwise, the charms seem to be worthwhile additions.

Granted, I'm more interesting in Creation's history and system-related discussions, but still.

Jerthanis
2010-05-20, 03:43 PM
What do you feel is inappropriate about them? I know there was one Solar charm I wasn't too fond of, but otherwise, the charms seem to be worthwhile additions.

Granted, I'm more interesting in Creation's history and system-related discussions, but still.

Essentially, the way I conceive of focus in terms of combat, socializing and so on is that there's diminishing returns after a certain point. You could drop 500 experience points into more and more power in combat, but you'll be barely pulling ahead of a guy with an Extra Action Charm, a Perfect Defense and comparable Essence/Willpower totals. Now, someone with Lightspeed Body Dynamics, Invincible Essence Reinforcement, Reed in the Wind, and Panoptic Fusion Discipline will be nearly unbeatable by the one without them.

What I liked about Exalted was that I could play a top-tier fighter while having a half dozen other focuses unrelated to fighting, and could do cool, unique stuff in any of them. Now, with the additional charms, it's just more stuff to be taken if I want to be a top-tier fighter, which means less ability to branch out within the context of a real game.

Also, with the new Solar charm for permanent soak, the Lunars' former 'thing they were best at' is now bested by Solars, and when this accusation is levelled at the writers, they assure us that more new charms will come for Lunars which enhance their soak further.

If that isn't the definition of Power Creep, I don't know what is.

Yuki Akuma
2010-05-20, 04:10 PM
...What exactly do you expect from high-Essence charms? Do you honestly think the Exalted defeated the Primordials with the stuff in the main book and the Manuals of Exalted Power?

Talkkno
2010-05-20, 04:15 PM
...What exactly do you expect from high-Essence charms? Do you honestly think the Exalted defeated the Primordials with the stuff in the main book and the Manuals of Exalted Power?

Actually yes, I mean I'm pretty sure during the Primordial war, the Exalted didn't just mediate half to time to just to raise their essence.

tonberrian
2010-05-20, 04:23 PM
Actually yes, I mean I'm pretty sure during the Primordial war, the Exalted didn't just mediate half to time to just to raise their essence.

No, but Endowment charms helped get around that.

Jerthanis
2010-05-20, 04:40 PM
...What exactly do you expect from high-Essence charms? Do you honestly think the Exalted defeated the Primordials with the stuff in the main book and the Manuals of Exalted Power?

Two things:

There isn't a charm I'm complaining about on those grounds above Essence 2.

Yes, I honestly think that the Exalted defeated the Primordials with the stuff in their Main Books... plus maybe a few Essence Superweapons like in Wonders of the Lost Age and Oadenel's Codex.

Yuki Akuma
2010-05-20, 04:49 PM
Actually yes, I mean I'm pretty sure during the Primordial war, the Exalted didn't just mediate half to time to just to raise their essence.

There are several gods who can snap their fingers and raise your Essence by 1.

Tavar
2010-05-20, 04:52 PM
It's also probably not out of bounds for the Incarnate/Primordials to do. Also, how long after the exalted were created did the war start. Some of the fluff makes it sound like it was instant, others makes it sound drawn out.

Mr.Bookworm
2010-05-20, 05:36 PM
It's also probably not out of bounds for the Incarnate/Primordials to do. Also, how long after the exalted were created did the war start. Some of the fluff makes it sound like it was instant, others makes it sound drawn out.

It's actually pretty much impossible to tell. Actual, honest-to-Sol time travel is impossible, but a lot of the super-weaponry using during the Primordial War majorly warped time, leading to things like the war itself lasting anywhere from between a couple of weeks and hundreds of years (of course, that could in itself just be a retcon to explain away differences in dates, but I dunno).

Also, thanks, TDO. I particularly like all of the Infernal-goodness.

Draxar
2010-05-20, 05:55 PM
A good example of a similar situation is the Time of Cascading Years.

Externally it was about 217 years. From the perspective of the Exalts involved in was anything from a few hours to a millennium. Multiple copies of non-exalts were involved resulted.

I'd imagine the time dilation effects in the Primordial War were probably something along those lines.

Drascin
2010-05-20, 06:07 PM
Well, I don't really play Solars at all if I can help it, so I glossed over the Solar Charms, but the Essence Pulse Cannon rewrite they made is already being in use by one of my characters, and the Autochthonian Taumathurgy thing is cool. All in all, good stuff.