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Xefas
2011-06-02, 02:17 AM
Unwoven Coadjutor

Rating X
When the roulette wheel of demons was spun to determine the host for your Infernal Exaltation, you were unfortunately given the GIR equivalent of unwoven coadjutors. While perhaps cheerful and well-intended, always ready to give advice to their prince, all such advice is invariably bad, if not outright moronic. Perhaps your demon's existence is a cruel joke played by their Second Circle sire, an unintended botch in the demon-spawning process, or just an extraordinarily stupid example of their species.

Regardless, an Infernal with a Rating X coadjutor may actively tune into and receive advice. If they directly pursue such advice after hearing it, they receive a -1 external penalty on all rolls related to that bit of advice. It takes no effort to simply ignore the thing.

Rating ●
Your luck was more or less even as far as coadjutors go. The First Circle Demon that received your Exaltation was a bog standard example of their species, with nothing particularly worrisome or impressive about them.

When consulted, the demon has an effective dice pool of 3 for the purposes of Lore and Occult checks dealing with the Demon Realm, demon society, demonology, or similar. It may also serve as a tutor for learning any ability specialties that directly concern themselves with demon culture. If the Infernal does not already know Old Realm, their coadjutor may teach it to them, at no XP cost, without requiring the gain of a dot of Linguistics, over the course of one week of training time, or in small sessions over three weeks that do not require a full training commitment.

Rating ●●
Your coadjutor was a slightly above average member of their First Circle Demon species. Not enough to stand out by a wide margin, but enough to be noticeable.

This functions as a one-dot Unwoven Coadjutor, save that their knowledge pool is 4 dice, rather than 3. Also, choose one of the following:

*Warrior: Your Coadjutor was slightly tougher and more violently proficient than others of his kind. Just having him grants you two points of specialties that may be applied to one of the following abilities: (Archery, Dodge, Martial Arts, Melee, Resistance, Thrown)

*Socialite: Your Coadjutor was a bit more personable and socially aware than your average demon. Just having him grants you two points of specialties that may be applied to one of the following abilities: (Bureaucracy, Integrity, Investigation, Performance, Presence, Socialize)

*Savant: Your Coadjutor was cleverer and more studious than those around him. Just having him grants you two points of specialties that may be applied to one of the following abilities: (Awareness, Craft, Lore, Medicine, Occult, Survival). In the case of Lore and Occult, these specialties do not apply to the Infernal's abilities, but rather to the Coadjutor's own knowledge die pool.

Rating ●●●
You were lucky enough to have your Infernal Exaltation hosted by an exceptional First Circle Demon. Not a Citizen, but likely a personal lackey to one, whether a Second Circle, or a First Circle who attained such status. As such, they are better educated and more powerful, capable of manifesting a small amount of spiritual power to aid their prince.

This functions as a two-dot Unwoven Coadjutor, save that their knowledge pool is 6 dice, rather than 4. Also, choose one of the following:

*Regeneration: You naturally heal one level of lethal damage, or two levels of bashing damage, every minute, on top of any other healing, natural or otherwise.

*Spotter: You are always considered to have Essence Sight (see page 85 of Wonders of the Lost Age), and may intuitively tell if a creature has a greater, lesser, or equal Permanent Essence score to your own.

*Essence Drain: Your coadjutor has an Essence Reservoir capable of holding 10 motes. Every successful attack you make that deals lethal health levels of damage adds one mote to the initially empty pool. When the pool is full, as a reflexive action, the coadjutor may be commanded to discharge the pool, restoring 10 motes to the Infernal's peripheral mote pool or, as a miscellaneous action, it may discharge this reservoir into another creature's essence pool, provided the Infernal has a hand laid upon them. After the pool is discharged, the coadjutor cannot have motes added to their pool for 25 hour's time.

Rating ●●●●
Your coadjutor is a full Citizen of Hell - theoretically equal in social status to a Second Circle Demon, although the reality is generally quite different. Still, they wielded power and clout the likes of which the vast majority of First Circle Demons will never know a glimmer of.

This functions as a three-dot Unwoven Coadjutor, save that their knowledge pool is 8 dice, rather than 6. Also, choose one of the following:

*Land Owner: Your coadjutor was fabulously wealthy by First Circle Demon standards. They owned a small 1-dot townhouse-manse in Hell with some kind of demonic aspect, which is exquisitely (by mortal standards) furnished with both amenities and a few slaves. The manse, its hearthstone, and its furnishings are all now legally yours.

*Debt Holder: Your coadjutor had extensive dealings with other powerful Citizens, and it just so happens that there is a Second Circle Demon in Malfeas who both owes them a favor, and considers it fair that such a favor be called in by the thing that their acquaintance has been spiritually pureed and glued onto. They may be requested to perform one service that is seriously inconvenient for them, but is not obviously life threatening, and they will do so without chicanery.

*Thaumaturge: Your coadjutor was legally sanctioned to learn and utilize high degrees of Thaumaturgy. They possess and retain knowledge of six degrees, of which they can teach the Infernal at half the normal experience cost and training time.

Rating ●●●●●
Your coadjutor was utterly unique among First Circle Demons. He lived at a plain of power matched only by perhaps a dozen or so other First Circles in all of the infinite Demon Realm. He scraped the ceiling of Essence 5, and when he disappeared into Creation on that fateful day, much of his domain was likely pillaged gleefully by jealous Second Circle Demons.

This functions as a four-dot Unwoven Coadjutor, save that their knowledge pool is 10 dice, rather than 8. Also, choose one of the following:

*Sorcerer: Your coadjutor was one of the ludicrously illegal First Circle Demon Sorcerers in Hell. In his long life, he learned ten spells from the Emerald Circle, of which he can serve as a tutor for. If the Thaumaturge option was also chosen, he knows an additional two degrees.

*Martial Artist: Your coadjutor was one of, if not the, most knowledgeable First Circle Demon sifu in all the demon realm, having studied at the feet of Suntarankal himself. He has mastered three full Terrestrial Martial Arts, of which he can serve as a sifu for. Furthermore, these charms require only half the normal experience cost to learn.

*Scion: Your coadjutor was a spiritual savant the likes of which are unknown amongst the First Circle Demons. He vehemently pushed the boundary of Essence 5, and attempted to find a greater existence for the meager existence dealt to him. Even as a coadjutor, he still maintains access to three Spirit Charms he had access to in his mundane form. When the Infernal achieves Essence 3, 4, and 5, he selects one of these charms to integrate into himself, treating that charm as his own, fueling it with his own Essence and Willpower, placing it into combos, and everything else that it entails. Normal restrictions on charm choices apply as if the Infernal were a Fiend.

(Finally, and most impressively, a 5-dot coadjutor is invariably impressively voice acted. A demon of Elloge might speak as Morgan Freeman, whereas a demon of the Ebon Dragon could sound like Mark Hamill or Tim Curry.)

Demonic Command

As the Reclamation looms ever closer, mortal Yozi cultists continue to perform profane rituals that summon unbound First Circle Demons into Creation at the behest of their blasphemous masters. These demon soldiers await only a proper commander to lead them to glory in the name of the fallen titans in the faint hope of bringing a green dawn to Creation.

A character with dots in this background may muster demon and cultist forces from the Direction they happen to be in, so long as they have a corresponding rating in Mentor specifically for the Yozi most directly leading the assault on that Direction.

A Mentor rating in (Reclamation Yozis), such as the one granted by Infamy, is considered to be one half its normal value, rounded up, for these purposes - however, it stacks with dots of Mentor for specific Yozi. (For example, an Infernal with 2 dots in Mentor (Malfeas), and 3 dots in Infamy, would be able to support 4 dots of Demonic Command).

Adorjan and her souls direct the Reclamation in the North. Malfeas does so for the East and the Scavenger Lands. She Who Lives In Her Name holds dominion over the demonic efforts in the West, Cecelyne (obviously) for the Southern front and, finally, the Ebon Dragon for the Blessed Isle. (If these Yozi have joined the Reclamation, Metagaos may also function for the North, Szoreny for the East and Scavenger Lands, Kimbery for the West, and Isidoros for the South.)

Mustering these forces requires a dramatically appropriate length of time after the Infernal sends forth word among the Reclamation that he requires troops, unless the word is sent out utilizing supernaturally swift means. In which case, it takes less than a dramatically appropriate length of time.

Demons and Cultists come fully armed and armored, expect no payment, and are typically content to scavenge food from whatever countryside is unfortunate enough to host them with no loss in morale. The amount of soldiers the Infernal may have under his command at one time is below (if he continues to lose vast quantities of troops, he may find the number that arrives next time is substantially less - even if only because it takes time for mortal thaumaturges to replenish the quantity of the demons in an area):

Rating X
Meh.

Rating ●
The Infernal is trusted with a small contingent of little more than discontent teenagers and the products of their rebellious non-conformist demonology practices. He may have up to 20 Cultist Extras (Use the Townsmen template), as well as 12 First Circle Demon Extras, and one non-extra First Circle Demon with enough leadership skills to relay orders to everyone else. They are of Undrilled quality at this point.

Rating ●●
The Infernal has something resembling a military force, complete with folks that have held a sword by the correct end at some point in their life. He may have up to 100 Cultist Extras, 60 Zealot Extras (Use the Soldier template), as well as 40 First Circle Demon Extras, and five non-extra First Circle Demons. These troops approach Barely Disciplined quality.

Rating ●●●
The Infernal has what one might refer to as an "army". If one's opinion of "armies" was rather low. He may have up to 300 Cultist Extras, 100 Zealot Extras, 75 Oathsworn Extras (Use the Elite Soldier template), 120 First Circle Demon Extras, and ten non-extra First Circle Demons. These troops are still, by default, Barely Disciplined.

Rating ●●●●
The Infernal now has a mob large enough to knock over small ice cream parlors and the less defended teddy bear factories. He may have up to 500 Cultist Extras, 150 Zealot Extras, 100 Oathsworn Extras, 200 First Circle Demon Extras, and thirty non-extra First Circle Demons. In addition, he may have up to two non-extra Thaumaturges. They automatically know the Demonsight and Summon [Species] degrees of the Art of Demon Summoning, with the capability to summon one kind of combat-focused First Circle Demon each. With them, they bring enough pseudo-magical doodads for a force incorporating them to be considered to have "Thaumaturgical talismans and alchemical potions" for the purposes of their Might rating. These troops are officially of Disciplined quality.

Rating ●●●●●
The Infernal is a Demon General, leading a legion of monsters and madmen that will shake the face of Creation with their death march. He may have up to 1200 Cultist Extras, 500 Zealot Extras, 400 Oathsworn Extras, 800 First Circle Demon Extras, 100 non-extra First Circle Demons, 10 thaumaturges, and 1 Enlightened Mortal Akuma, which should be specifically built using normal character creation rules, rather than as a generic template.

Rating N/A
The Infernal's forces have drained the already shallow pool of unbound Demons that the Reclamation has access to all throughout Creation. His Yozi patron has called in favors, their Third Circle Souls have called in favors, and now something is going to burn. To attain the equivalent Mentor rating to be capable of purchasing this background, the Infernal must have both Infamy and Mentor (Specific Yozi) rated at five.

The Infernal has 10,000 Cultist Extras, 1000 Zealot Extras, 600 Oathsworn Extras, 3000 First Circle Demon Extras, 500 non-extra First Circle Demons, 60 Thaumaturges, 10 Enlightened Mortal Akuma, 2 Dragonblooded Akuma, and 5 Second Circle Demons.

For the love of Sol, make it count.

Infernal Henchmen

As a special function of the Infamy Background, an Infernal may commit his temporary Background points to obtaining "Infernal Henchmen". Characters gained from this Background typically have an Urge to fulfill the designs of the Reclamation, or similar.

Rating ●●●
The Infernal has been assigned an Enlightened Mortal Akuma as a companion in his service to the Reclamation.

Rating ●●●●
The Infernal has been assigned a Dragonblooded Akuma as a companion in his service to the Reclamation.

Rating ●●●●●
The Infernal has been assigned two Dragonblooded Akuma as a companion in his service to the Reclamation.

InfiniteNothing
2011-06-04, 07:51 PM
It looks interesting so far. Still, why no 1 or 2 dot Infernal Henchmen? Or are you simply waiting for inspiration to strike for the real 4 and 5 dot Infernal Henchmen so you can move the others down a couple spaces?

Indon
2011-06-04, 09:31 PM
The coadjutor is a big source of potential power, but generally powerful backgrounds also have ways to make things interesting. I would propose adding something to do with the coadjutor's urge to high levels of the background, such that more potent coadjutors have more influence on the character's thought processes.

aetherialDawn
2011-06-05, 05:31 AM
I agree with Indon. A Coadjutor of 3 dots and above should have some effect upon the character which is at least not so positive. It's okay; we're Infernals. Taking on a little insanity for a little power is something that just comes with the territory. Besides, a Coadjutor can never be removed, and is essentially impossible to detect. There are inherent upsides which ought to come with downsides.

I love the coadjutor background flavor-wise, but it needs negatives, and as more dots go in, it becomes less worthwhile.
I'll compare it to artifact backgrounds with the help of Oadenol's Codex. As the dots climb, my commentary gets long, so be warned now. In total; it's good at 1 dot, good at 2 dots, starts to get uneven at 3 dots but is still really good, starts to fail at 4 dots but is close enough to be reasonable, and at 5 dots you have one option that doesn't really work, one that is good early on but loses steam, and one which is good, but just too powerful.
Also, it should have a downside. Powerful artifacts attract attention. A powerful Coadjutor should attract... insanity, probably, or at least demonic thinking.

A zero-dot artifact doesn't exist. A zero-dot coadjutor is someone you tune out, and so fundamentally also doesn't exist. (Or if you can get their advice, and follow it, you get a penalty, just as if you try to swing a sword you don't have.)

A one-dot artifact is flavorful, and a clever player can use it to gain an edge. But it's not game-changing. It might amaze a mortal, it might be convenient, but it's not impressive to an Exalt because you do cooler things. It should be a 'Minor Tool.'
A one-dot Coadjutor provides knowledge of Old Realm (Convenient but unimpressive), a 3-die pool for particular uses of Lore and Occult (Most exalts can manage that on their own), and can tutor their host in any ability speciality that relates to demon culture.
If it related to the demon realm, I'd say that was too strong - but an artifact which helps to prevent a faux pas, but only with demons, seems appropriate to a 1-dot background. At most, it enables minor things, but it does not enhance. Good.

A two-dot artifact is quite useful in its native circumstance, or just moderately useful outside of it. Daiklaves, and replicating Essence 1/2 Charms, are specific examples. It should be an 'Effective Tool.'
A two-dot Coadjutor provides the aforesaid bonuses when dealing with demons (moderate use, restricted circumstance, so just fine) AND ALSO two specialty points regardless of your own favored abilities. In short, it's useful in its own circumstance, and also useful in one circumstance of your choice.
That alone would be a little weak for a two-dot artifact, but as a Coadjutor is naturally concealed and has no attunement cost, it's quite nice. Good again.

A three-dot artifact is supposed to be very useful in many ways, or extremely useful in its area of specialty. This is the point where an artifact might change the game up a bit, and tends to be around the level of Essence 3/4 Solar charms. It should be a 'Wonder.'
A three-dot Coadjutor provides
-A knowledge pool for the Demon Realm which is better than someone with no Lore and no Occult can otherwise use.
-Enough cultural bonuses to make interacting with the demon realm easy
-Two specialties in a single ability regardless of favored abilities
-One of:
Regenerating lethal health levels to full in between most scenes (One per minute, or two bashing)
Permanent Essence Sight with a minor version of Insignificant Embers Intuition, all the time and not at all obvious.
10 extra motes once per day, which can be provided to another person if desired, and fill like a slow version of Sun-Heart Furnace Soul as long as you fight reliably.

Looking at this, Permanent Essence Sight is slightly too powerful - make it a costless charm activation to discern relative essence, so that the Infernal cannot auto-spot Exalts who aren't otherwise obvious, and it will be good. The extra motes is slightly underpowered; the fact that it requires combat is the primary limiting factor. If the infernal could 'feed' motes to his Coadjutor for later use I think it would be fine, though it might be interesting to make it (10+Infernal's Essence) motes, to bring its lesser capabilities more in line with Sun-Heart Furnace Soul in terms of power (though I am aware that the ability to discharge the motes into someone else enhances its flexbility, I think that adding (Essence) motes to the maximum is still needed.) As it is, those Fiends who are going out and twisting peoples' minds and souls are out of luck. Regeneration I am not that great at comparing; so I shall compare it to the regeneration provided by the the Five-Dot Celestial Battle Armor's Enhanced Healing ability (One bashing per tick, one lethal per hour) - a few other abilities are equivalent to three-dot artifacts, so this seems the best approximation. Clearly, the regeneration as-is is very generous outside combat, and less so inside it. I think that replacing the healing with one bashing every action and one lethal per hour would be good - not quite as good as what you could get from a truly dedicated artifact, but powerful enough to make an impact.

In short, it starts to need work, and at this level is just a bit too weak for Essence Drain, just a bit too powerful for Spotter, and too powerful for Lethal+too weak for Bashing for Regeneration. Enough to impress even Exalted, now, but still fundamentally only one of your awesome tools available, like any other, not centralizing.


A four-dot Artifact should provide overwhelming advantages in its sphere of influence, or a great advantage in a variety of situations. It should provide advantages that aren't available otherwise, it should have slightly unique and unpredictable powers, and it should start to actually change the game. It should make things possible which simply weren't before. It should be a 'Greater Wonder.'
A four-dot Coadjutor provides the following.
-A knowledge pool appropriate to a character who favors Lore and Occult, for the Demon Realm only.
-It still lets you work with demons without having to say 'Terribly sorry, what's with all the noise? Don't you people ever want some peace and quiet?'
-Two specialties in an ability regardless of whether it is favored.
-One of the abilities from a three-dot Coadjutor - all powerful, remember, but not centralizing.
-And one of the following:
A one-dot Manse, which also comes with what sounds like some nice amenities for hosting people and one dot's worth of Followers via slaves. Said followers are demons, and so powerful, but also demons, and so when you can get them to Creation you could also just get other demons. The fact that you actually own them might come in handy.
The favor merit, provided that your favor is given by a Second Circle demon. I am not all that impressed, honestly. It could give you an easy time binding a Second Circle demon, once. The best use I can think of for this is to have the demon carry on with some sort of investigation in Malfeas if the Infernal is called away to do something in Creation.
Thaumaturgy at half cost and half time, for SIX Degrees. I like this one, but I like thaumaturgy. The fact that it halves what I seem to recall being ludicrously high costs is beneficial, but I'm comparing it to a charm made by The Demented One called (Yozi) Primordial Precepts (http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Charms:%28Yozi%29_Primordial_Prece pts) - Looking at the two, the charm is more convenient, cheaper, and less restricted, at the cost of an extra willpower per activation. I would say that the Thaumaturgy choice is very slightly less powerful, but more costly - If the XP cost were waived, but the number of degrees decreased, I think that this option would be good.

Land Ownership adds a pair of one-dot backgrounds. This isn't that impressive to me, I'm afraid. It's going to need significant reworking to be appropriate; perhaps two dots which can be split between Infernal Manse, Spies, or Demonic Familiar (in the form of a retainer to your Coadjutor) none of which can stack with other backgrounds (So no adding the two dots to a two-dot manse you had already to get four dots.)
Debt Holder seems to simply not be that interesting. It replicates the Favor merit, save that you can only apply it to Second Circle Demons - which makes it extremely difficult to use in Creation, to the point that for the level of favor, it's often not worth it. In Malfeas, of course, it's more useful - but also, the already-extant status as Green Sun Prince is astronomically moreso, making it still underwhelming. This may need replacing with something else.
Thaumaturgy I've already given my opinion on; it shouldn't cost XP, and to make up for that, it should provide fewer Degrees. Thaumaturgy is unlikely to disrupt a game, but carefully-chosen Degrees DO open up possibilities which weren't there before (Especially Astrology.)

A five-dot artifact should be unbeatable in a single realm, and overwhelming in either a selection of situations or a few very vital ones. The powers provided should be unique and impossible to counter without commensurate power. It's hard to quantify, but it should be up to Solar Circle Sorcery or an Essence 6 charm. It should be a 'True Marvel.' The sort of thing that makes other Exalts go "Whoah."
A five-dot Coadjutor provides the following
-A knowledge pool which is that of an Exalted specialist, for terms of the Demon Realm only.
-More demon culture than a barrel of fancy pitchforks.
-Two specialties. This is pretty minor for a five-dot background; Your artifact happens to also make you sail well. It's a perk only by this point.
-One of three powerful, but hardly unbeatable abilities.
-One of three powerful abilities which open new possibilities for a character - but still aren't unbeatable.

Before I refresh my memory upon the abilities of a five-dot Coadjutor, I say that they ought to be overwhelming in a vital area. Since a five-dot Coadjutor already provides many benefits, it doesn't need to be unbeatable, but nearly so, and it shouldn't be an area which encompasses too much. The Coadjutor, then, should truly provide benefits like having another, lesser Exalt inside you in terms of power. You can beat it, but you can never ignore it, and in its arena of choice it is among the best.

Sorcerer provides a great number of Emerald Circle spells to tutor. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a trap. A Green Sun Prince who asks and trades a little work can find a tutor for most spells in Malfeas. The benefit to this is that it is portable. If this were an option for the three-dot background I'd say maybe use a few less spells. As an option for the five-dot background, it disappoints me even as someone who likes Sorcery. The extra degrees are kind of nice, but not important in the grandest schemes - which is what this ability should be involved in.

Martial Artist provides three terrestrial styles on the cheap - and the possibility to claim that you have a martial arts master in your head. This is fairly appropriate, giving a martial artist character a significant leg up early on, but begins to lose out as Terrestrial Martial Arts become less important. It's limited by the lack of Celestial Martial Arts, and while it initially is appropriately powerful, it soon falls short. If it could be extended into Celestial Martial Arts it would be fine; but it really... can't.

Scion provides three spirit charms, at Essence 3, 4, and 5, for free. This is truly powerful - spirit charms are not to be trifled with, chosen carefully, and since they're free and non-native charms, it's the equivalent of six charm purchases. This would be appropriate for a five-dot background all its own, I'm afraid, and so is now too powerful. One or two spirit charms, or at least restricting how they can be used (perhaps fueled by the demon's essence pool, or specifying that it needs to be as restricted as actual demon charms, the latter being my favorite of the options.)

Scion is the best of the three, although too powerful, and I would thus use it as your baseline: Aim for something like it, although lesser, for all three options.

Primal Fury
2011-06-09, 08:36 PM
Bumping because I'd like to see the Unwoven Coadjutor background at its best.

Xefas
2011-06-09, 09:14 PM
Bumping because I'd like to see the Unwoven Coadjutor background at its best.

Just to be clear, I'm not ignoring my threads. I try to keep a fairly watchful eye and read anything that gets posted in them. If I don't post, it probably means I unconditionally agree (or close to it) with most/all critiques, and am waiting for inspiration to hit me on a solution.

Sometimes I leave and make new threads and do other things for months before coming back and finishing something. I do the same thing with video games (I actually played through all of Metal Gear Solid 3, except the final boss, in a 3-4 day span, and never picked it up again until over 2 years later, where I just flipped it on and beat the final boss and finally saw the final conclusion of the story), books, and other leisure activities.

It doesn't mean I abandoned them. I just don't have a set update schedule.

One thing I can do is answer this:


It looks interesting so far. Still, why no 1 or 2 dot Infernal Henchmen? Or are you simply waiting for inspiration to strike for the real 4 and 5 dot Infernal Henchmen so you can move the others down a couple spaces?

Well, I wanted a background that granted Infernals as henchmen. I just dunno how I feel about balancing getting a whole other Infernal under your control for 1 or 2 dots.

----
EDIT:
One thing I'd like some input on is whether my basic paradigm for the Coadjutor is good (independent of numbers or actual discreet mechanics). That is, it has a separate pool of demonic knowledge independent of the character, rather than adding to their own knowledge rolls (I always thought that was weird), and then each level has a selection of a few abilities, with each level building wholesale upon the last, getting all previous benefits?

Primal Fury
2011-06-09, 10:10 PM
Just to be clear, I'm not ignoring my threads.
Oh. Didn't mean to imply that.


One thing I'd like some input on is whether my basic paradigm for the Coadjutor is good
Looks fine to me.

As a sidenote, I'd appreciate a longer list of the 5 dot voice-actors. :smalltongue:

Qaera
2011-06-09, 10:30 PM
I'm no good at crunch, but that's a really nice background!
Also, a SWLiHNoid 1st Circle would be Ellen McLain, of course.

aetherialDawn
2011-06-09, 10:37 PM
One thing I'd like some input on is whether my basic paradigm for the Coadjutor is good (independent of numbers or actual discreet mechanics). That is, it has a separate pool of demonic knowledge independent of the character, rather than adding to their own knowledge rolls (I always thought that was weird), and then each level has a selection of a few abilities, with each level building wholesale upon the last, getting all previous benefits?

YES

The separate pool is excellent, and it scales properly. If you're worried, then remember that the Coadjutors can train in specialties, so if it's needed then the player can choose to obtain the old-style specialty-type benefits that way.

The abilities-per-tier is good. It means that as the dots climb higher, your coadjutor is more and more unique as well as more powerful - every 5-dot coadjutor has a different set of special abilities, as well as proper power. Which is how backgrounds should always work.


(I too would like a longer list of the 5-dot voice actors. The guy who voiced Balthier in FFXII, for instance. I swear I looked this up already but I can't remember anymore I'm afraid. Just an example, anyway.)

Gensh
2011-06-09, 11:03 PM
Hm. The only glaring problem that I see is the scaling Lore pool. Where are you going to be getting all these erymanthoi with dice pools of 10? :smallbiggrin:

More voice actor options: Norio Wakamoto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33P3X0aJGV8) for Cecelyne and Orson Welles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAsXnWarYT0) for Malfeas.

Xefas
2011-06-09, 11:13 PM
Hm. The only glaring problem that I see is the scaling Lore pool. Where are you going to be getting all these erymanthoi with dice pools of 10? :smallbiggrin:

Well, the reasoning is two-fold. Firstly, there are only a handful of 5-dot Coadjutor tier First Circles in Malfeas at all. There may not be an Erymanthus at that level in any given group's setting. That said, one can assume that if there were, it would be that exceptional individual who deviates from the standard path for blood apes and becomes smart enough to survive in the political hell that is Malfeas. Secondly, ease-of-use (and to a lesser degree, 'balance') reasons. I'm already asking the user to mess with a bunch of selectable special powers. It seems a bit much to add an extra layer of complexity by having them tailor some other mechanic to each individual first circle they wish to choose (and to balance some demons having a dumber knowledge pool, I'd need to add yet another mechanic to compensate them - not to mention the fact that I prefer the coadjutor's role as a knowledgeable guide).

Also, I find it a great shame that the Empyreal Chaos is no longer with us, for we shall never get the opportunity to buy a Christopher Lee coadjutor.

EDIT: I also think Keith David would make a scary good Malfeas.

aetherialDawn
2011-06-11, 01:52 AM
Hmm. I was looking at mutations in the Scroll of Heroes... and it occured to me that I may need to take another look at the Unwoven Coadjutor abilities, to try and figure out how many bonus points they're worth (Although obviously, bonus points aren't wholly balanced among the things one can spend it on, so this will merely be to see things from a new perspective, like regeneration and whatnot.)

I don't think it should just end up boiled down to something like God-Blooded Inheritance (at a lesser level to preserve balance) - you don't get generic supernatural power, you get the benefits of a bonded demon.

Regeneration may have to be reconsidered though. Argh. It is my least favorite ability balance wise because it's not something that appears too often, and it almost never appears seperate. I was just lucky to stumble on the super-healing mutations. They'll help.

Short version: I'm off to do research, and anyone else who wants to try this, I highly recommend trying to stat up those choose-able abilities as backgrounds or mutations of their own.

Lix Lorn
2011-06-12, 10:26 AM
It looks interesting so far. Still, why no 1 or 2 dot Infernal Henchmen? Or are you simply waiting for inspiration to strike for the real 4 and 5 dot Infernal Henchmen so you can move the others down a couple spaces?


Well, I wanted a background that granted Infernals as henchmen. I just dunno how I feel about balancing getting a whole other Infernal under your control for 1 or 2 dots.
There's a background somewhere that can grant Dragonblooded henchmen, I think? It may be DotfA... I'd guess a mortal akuma would rank similarly.

Edit: It's DotFA. Oh well.

aetherialDawn
2011-06-13, 01:41 AM
Edit: It's DotFA. Oh well.

Aw, that's too bad. Is it one of the usable bits, or the not-usable bits?

Lix Lorn
2011-06-13, 10:57 AM
No idea, but it's aimed for a higher power level.

aetherialDawn
2011-06-13, 01:01 PM
Found it. As far as I can tell, it simply describes the Ally background, with more people, less individual power, and a lot more loyalty.

Judging by the Ally background with what I've learned from researching DotFA (it involved a lot of 'okay, but this doesn't quite work, but at least I realized something useful along the way' since it's not really designed for the intended power level) your Infernal Henchmen background looks close enough to right to be usable in a game, but that's about all I can really say for it. It's difficult to judge.