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tonberrian
2011-06-06, 12:05 PM
Anyways, forum ate long post, running out of time, so only chassis of idea. Jotting this down to remember and for feedback.


***

The Basics

While there have been many designs of Warstriders over the years, if one were to take all the extraneous details away they would find that almost all Warstriders have two features in common - a frame and a pilot.

It's easiest to think of the frame as the skeleton of the Warstrider. The frame provides the basic framework to which everything else (armor, weapons, and other artifacts) is attached, and usually the only piece that the pilot attunes to. Furthermore, it serves as the basic blueprint onto which the pilot's iconographic projection (see below) is imprinted. Although there are many different models of frames, they can generally be classified into 4 groups - Class I (Common), Class II (Noble), Class III (Royal), and Class IV (Divine) (OOC, these classifications are based on the frame's (Artifact - 1) - there are no Artifact 1 frames). Based on it's classification, a frame has an Essence pool (see the table below). These motes can only be used to power the Warstrider, power other artifacts attuned to the Warstrider, and attune other artifacts to the Warstrider. Each frame is made of a single Magical Material, and attunes to other artifacts as if it were an Exalt of the appropriate type.

{table=head]Classification|Essence Pool|Commitment|Sockets
Common|25 motes|5 motes|1
Noble|50 motes|8 motes|2
Royal|100 motes|12 motes|2
Divine|200 motes|15 motes|3[/table]

If the frame of the frame of the Warstrider is its skeleton, the pilot is the muscles. Well, not exactly. It might be more appropriate to call the pilot the brain of the warstrider, and his iconographic projection the muscles. See, by attuning to a Warstrider, a simulacrum combining iconic imagery from the pilot with the form of the frame is created and projected over the frame as a living, breathing creature (unless, of course, the pilot is not living and/or breathing). Exalts generally project imagery associated with their anima (and are always considered to be at the 16+ level while attuned to the frame), spirits project images based on their normal form, and the few enlightened mortals who can claim to have used a Warstrider have all projected featureless white. In many respects, this projection is the pilot - they share all statistics (with modifiers being applied based on the specifics of the Warstrider), with a few standout cases. Whenever the Warstrider is attuned, the projection is created with the same health track as the wielder, with the same damage. Should the pilot be attacked while he is piloting the Warstrider (generally difficult, since the cockpit provides total cover), the projection receives the same wounds through sympathetic feedback. On the other hand, should the projection suffer the attack, the pilot also takes the same damage - but dropped one level in severity (Aggravated drops to lethal, lethal drops to bashing, and bashing is not applied at all, even if the Warstrider suffers enough bashing damage to loop around his health track and start converting them to lethal damage. Similar rulings should apply for effects that loop lethal around to aggravated). Crippling effects work normally on a projection, but while an amputation might remove its arm, it wouldn't harm the frame itself (anything wielded in it would be dropped from the powerless arm). Should the projection be "killed", the pilot is forcibly unattuned from the Warstrider. If the pilot is conscious, he can attempt to reattune to the frame, but the magic keeping the cockpit closed is no longer functioning, and it can easily be forced.

*special rules for multiple pilots TBD*

Powering a Warstrider

A Warstrider needs power, even to move. Each action tick, a mote must be paid, either from the frames own reserves or from the pilot himself. A frame usually has a number of hearthstone sockets, based on its classification. A pilot may choose to power the Warstrider via a hearthstone of a rating at least as high as the Artifact rating of the frame, but he loses all the benefits of that hearthstone while it is powering the frame. An unattuned Warstrider never needs to be powered. Refilling the Warstrider's mote pool is simple enough - the owner of the Warstrider can spend his motes to refill the Warstrider's at a 1-1 rate, and the Warstrider can also benefit from the regeneration of any hearthstone not actively powering it.

Things to do:

1. Add needless verbosity
2. Fill out rest of sections
3. Playtest

tonberrian
2011-06-06, 12:07 PM
Warstriders and Artifacts

Warstriders can be equipped with two types of Artifacts - integrated and modular.

Integrated artifacts are artifacts built directly into the frame of the Warstrider. The commitment cost for these artifacts comes directly out of the Warstrider's Essence pool. In exchange for being impossible to remove (at least without repurposing the artifact completely, see below), these artifacts have a much lower attunement cost (ratio TBD).

Modular artifacts, on the other hand, are much like the artifacts most characters use - free to attune and unattune, and capable of being given to somebody else. The Warstrider itself can attune to the artifact as with integrated artifacts, but in addition, the pilot himself can attune to them, allowing the Warstrider to use it's mote pool for other purposes.

tonberrian
2011-06-06, 12:08 PM
(reserved)

Okay, you guys can post now.

Leeham
2011-06-06, 01:23 PM
... Yes please. This is going to be awesome.

tonberrian
2011-06-06, 05:35 PM
First post first draft is up!

DeadManSleeping
2011-06-06, 10:02 PM
Warstriders are gonna have to be pretty sad if their baseline level is "about as good as a standard no-frills daiklaive". If they prove stronger than that, then I'm wondering why you've got the artifact rating so low.

I understand that "And I'll Form The Head" is a totally valid and awesome style of play, but I don't think it's right to assume that anyone who wants warstriders in their campaign is going for that. Far from it, really. If they kick copious amounts of butt, they should be rated at a properly comparable level.

The projection stuff is...iffy. If there's one thing I liked about warstriders, it's that the good ones were supposed to be unique, just like the rest of Creation's high-level artifacts. Most mecha shows that I enjoy are ones with extremely unique giant robots that are specially equipped to randomize the atoms of their less-unique opponents' posteriors through blunt force applied with the lower appendage.

The damage conversion thing seems pretty good. I wish I were better at actual Exalted mechanics so I could search my brain for how well that would actually work in a cheese-off, but for my level of play, it looks fun.

tonberrian
2011-06-06, 10:23 PM
Warstriders are gonna have to be pretty sad if their baseline level is "about as good as a standard no-frills daiklaive". If they prove stronger than that, then I'm wondering why you've got the artifact rating so low.

Right now, just your basic Artifact 2 Warstrider plus a level 2 hearthstone basically amounts to not dying if you are killed. Which is pretty much right where I want it, baring somebody telling me this is badwronghomebrew.


I understand that "And I'll Form The Head" is a totally valid and awesome style of play, but I don't think it's right to assume that anyone who wants warstriders in their campaign is going for that. Far from it, really. If they kick copious amounts of butt, they should be rated at a properly comparable level.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying. The system as it stands doesn't let you have anything but the grittiest of robotness, because Warstriders suck. If you don't want people making giant robots made of explosions and testosterone, I'm not sure that Exalted is the game for you.

Mind you, I'm also shooting for being able to model an austere crystalline form of grace and beauty with the top-tier stuff, but expecting realism from world-shattering artifacts is, in itself, unrealistic.


The projection stuff is...iffy. If there's one thing I liked about warstriders, it's that the good ones were supposed to be unique, just like the rest of Creation's high-level artifacts. Most mecha shows that I enjoy are ones with extremely unique giant robots that are specially equipped to randomize the atoms of their less-unique opponents' posteriors through blunt force applied with the lower appendage.

The projection is designed to make the Warstrider more unique, not less. You're taking the essence of you and putting it on the basic frame, making it yours. I suppose that I really shouldn't have gone as far as making it a full-fledged body, but the theory was that Solar Bob using the Gespenst MK. II S looks different from Solar Alice using it.

Anyways, you're only looking at the basic frame, which itself isn't terribly useful. Most of the power is going to be from built in Artifacts, which is going to effectively make all but the lowliest Common class Warstriders technically Artifact N/A wonders. Some of these will be mutations to change basic appearance and functionality, some will be unique (and usable!) Essence based weaponry, and some for alternate forms or combining mecha.

DeadManSleeping
2011-06-06, 11:00 PM
I'm not quite sure what you're saying.

Well, I-


Anyways, you're only looking at the basic frame, which itself isn't terribly useful. Most of the power is going to be from built in Artifacts, which is going to effectively make all but the lowliest Common class Warstriders technically Artifact N/A wonders.

Was basically looking for something like that, yes. Don't get me wrong, I think Exalted is to gaming systems as Gurren Lagann is to anime, and that's how it should be, but when you have artifacts in the 1-5 range, you're inviting players to try to start with them (players are generally given to look for the thing that will let them most easily give the ST migraines). I can't bring myself to like the idea of a player starting with a top-tier warstrider in a game unless everybody's supposed to be in powerful warstriders at the start of the game.