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
***
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