Dice Exalted 3E - Tale of a Falling Empire OOC

[Random Word]

I've been in the hospital since Thursday with double pneumonia and covid. I'll post more later on when I have more energy.

My deepest condolences. That sounds fucking awful. I hope you're feeling better soon and have no lingering symptoms.

 

[Rykon]

Ditto. I pray for a decisive and speedy recovery. Take care man.

 

[Rykon]

Random Word , do you have a preference on settling the response to Asuna's message before or after the current meeting in terms of timeline?

 

[Random Word]

I wasn't actually expecting a literal return message, nor to have the message delivered on screen (Though it was absolutely hilarious). I was just establishing they've been upgraded from Sworn Kin to lovers (and that certainly won't end in tears given the campaign setting), and that Asuna is going to have to get creative to keep up with Manato's prodigious gift giving abilities.

Out of character I'll have to give some serious thought to what sort of gift Asuna could give Manato to really impress him. The secret recipe to a rival's finest spirits? Blackmail material on V'Neef Merina (giving blackmail material to the House that specializes in blackmail material seems liable to be a case of 'I appreciate the sentiment, but I already knew this')? Maybe she just dedicates her victories in the field to him. Asuna is only really good at three things: Fighting wars, manipulating people, and knowing all the secrets.

 

[D. Rex]

jaydude

Has it been brought up if Satori has any collection or armory of artifacts that she can use to buff up any of her growing Dragon-Blooded forces that aren't fully equipped?

 

[jaydude]

jaydude

Has it been brought up if Satori has any collection or armory of artifacts that she can use to buff up any of her growing Dragon-Blooded forces that aren't fully equipped?

No, it hasn't. Though I imagine that each Dragon-blooded would at the very least have an artifact weapon of their own.

 

[D. Rex]

No, it hasn't. Though I imagine that each Dragon-blooded would at the very least have an artifact weapon of their own.

Indeed. I wouldn't imagine them leaving without their own personal weapons. However, it isn't likely they came prepared for war against anathema. So its possible they didn't bring what they could have. Armors, bardings, miscellaneous artifacts that of offensive or defensive capabilities, and suitable Hearthstones should they have any. Or at the least bringing out exceptional weapons and armor to fill the the gaps.

It might be something that is worth testing Satori's generosity over.



Lol and I'm not saying this as a loot hungry player. Fel would turn down what is offered unless everyone else has what they need first. He will take the dregs as he won't be in a position to need any. Other than an extra greater Hearthstone that he requested as a backup power for the warstrider.

 

[Rykon]

I wasn't actually expecting a literal return message, nor to have the message delivered on screen (Though it was absolutely hilarious). I was just establishing they've been upgraded from Sworn Kin to lovers (and that certainly won't end in tears given the campaign setting), and that Asuna is going to have to get creative to keep up with Manato's prodigious gift giving abilities.

Out of character I'll have to give some serious thought to what sort of gift Asuna could give Manato to really impress him. The secret recipe to a rival's finest spirits? Blackmail material on V'Neef Merina (giving blackmail material to the House that specializes in blackmail material seems liable to be a case of 'I appreciate the sentiment, but I already knew this')? Maybe she just dedicates her victories in the field to him. Asuna is only really good at three things: Fighting wars, manipulating people, and knowing all the secrets.

That works for me. There are still quite a few things Manato would eventually confide in Asuna over time, but it's not critical to the current scene. As for the expectation of tragedy or death, I am still optimistic that we have a fighting chance at survival. Even if everything around the characters starts to fall apart in the process.

As for gift-giving, I'd been pondering that myself. I think it's cute Asuna wants to return the favor though. As for Merina, he'd probably prefer to forget about her if he could. I will say there are a few of Manato's objectives that haven't been revealed in play yet. So she may still find clues on a perfect gift in time.

EDIT: Speaking of fighting chance... I'm probably going to be wracking my brain on how to leverage declaring facts to tip the scales for a while. I have a few loose strands to pull on, but any suggestions are welcome.

 

[D. Rex]

That works for me. There are still quite a few things Manato would eventually confide in Asuna over time, but it's not critical to the current scene. As for the expectation of tragedy or death, I am still optimistic that we have a fighting chance at survival. Even if everything around the characters starts to fall apart in the process.

As for gift-giving, I'd been pondering that myself. I think it's cute Asuna wants to return the favor though. As for Merina, he'd probably prefer to forget about her if he could. I will say there are a few of Manato's objectives that haven't been revealed in play yet. So she may still find clues on a perfect gift in time.

EDIT: Speaking of fighting chance... I'm probably going to be wracking my brain on how to leverage declaring facts to tip the scales for a while. I have a few loose strands to pull on, but any suggestions are welcome.

Your knowledge of trade routes can do us wonders!

For example, if we are low on something, Manato can think of projects he had heard of and how a trade route passes nearby. With which we can appropriate for the good of the realm.

For example. Jade. We are going to need jade. Green preferably, ideally processed. But any color or quality in a pinch. Failing that, we would need steel. This is just for materials, given I'm not sure how long our current stock will last given how much abuse it will take.

Maybe could think of possible trades in the area involving machined parts or other supplies that could help us skip steps in fabricating parts and repair.

Maybe Manato knows that the waters are exceptionally good for fishing and farming, which makes it annoying for certain routes do to having fishing boats compete with trading barges for space. Could use it to feed us.

Or turn it into a weapon! To be able to look at a map know instinctual where the enemy would be transporting their goods. Understanding terrain and travel strategies that could lead to us decimating their supplies.


Given this is likely to turn into a siege... they are much more susceptible to attrition and harder to supply than we are. And with them being a bigger army, they will need much more to stay supplied.

 

[Rykon]

Your knowledge of trade routes can do us wonders!

For example, if we are low on something, Manato can think of projects he had heard of and how a trade route passes nearby. With which we can appropriate for the good of the realm.

For example. Jade. We are going to need jade. Green preferably, ideally processed. But any color or quality in a pinch. Failing that, we would need steel. This is just for materials, given I'm not sure how long our current stock will last given how much abuse it will take.

Maybe could think of possible trades in the area involving machined parts or other supplies that could help us skip steps in fabricating parts and repair.

Maybe Manato knows that the waters are exceptionally good for fishing and farming, which makes it annoying for certain routes do to having fishing boats compete with trading barges for space. Could use it to feed us.

Or turn it into a weapon! To be able to look at a map know instinctual where the enemy would be transporting their goods. Understanding terrain and travel strategies that could lead to us decimating their supplies.


Given this is likely to turn into a siege... they are much more susceptible to attrition and harder to supply than we are. And with them being a bigger army, they will need much more to stay supplied.

A lot of these ideas can work, but we are still outnumbered before the War Charms effectively double their troop count. Might as well go for big leaps forward. Manato doesn't need to lean on just trade routes, all he needs is time and materials to study with and he can temporarily snag a Lore specialty in anything. So he can declare any kind of thing he wants as long as it has the ST's blessing.

I've got two competing ideas at the moment. One is declaring an old pact to draw upon a nearby Prasad station. Let's call it, the "Gondor calls for aid!" option.

The second is declaring an abandoned military post that could somehow net us a couple of extra implosion bows, artifacts, or other goodies. Whether it because it was left in extreme haste, harried by hungry ghosts in the night, assailed by toxic winds that occur under arbitrary and mysterious conditions... Long story short, the "Another man's trash..." option.

 

[D. Rex]

⁹

A lot of these idea can work, but we are still outnumbered before the War Charms effectively double their troop count. Might as well go for big leaps forward. Manato doesn't need to lean on just trade routes, all he needs is time and materials to study with and he can temporarily snag a Lore specialty in anything. So he can declare any kind of thing he wants as long as it has the ST's blessing.

I've got two competing ideas at the moment. One is declaring an old pact to draw upon a nearby Prasad station. Let's call it, the "Gondor calls for aid!" option.

The second is declaring an abandoned military post that could somehow net us a couple of extra implosion bows, artifacts, or other goodies. Whether it because it was left in extreme haste, harried by hungry ghosts in the night, assailed by toxic winds that occur under arbitrary and mysterious conditions... Long story short, the "Another man's trash..." option.

Both of those could big a big help to us. Especially some extra implosion bows.


The idea of them coming to us coming to us Gordor style would fit right along with the vision if the Jirai wyld hunters coming to us via the imagery of Gandalf leading his army down the mountain at helm deep.


The idea of a hidden bunker is also pretty intriguing... which gives me an idea. Maybe we can tie its misfortune to something we want to affect the enemy army negatively. For example, it ended up seeing it flooded, so we have to dive to loot it. What flooded it? Maybe a a strange monsoon that comes from the wyld every few years. And it is coming again. But hangry ghosts and toxic winds also sound pretty awesome to just dismiss outright.

 

[D. Rex]

Time is a luxury though. We have seven days to prepare, which isn't much time at all given what we need. And if the war charms are as potent as you say, then we are going to have to pull out every trick and exploitation in the book to survive the first wave.

I'm not sure how long it will take to make a weapon for a warstrider. But if I can make a least a long point lance of jade to use as a lance, then that would be a a very formidable upgrade. But time and resources.

 

[Random Word]

To be fair, they can't actually double the number of troops. Battlegroups cap out at Size 5, or 1 000 soldiers. They have fifteen Size 5 battlegroups of soldiers, and Jinlong (presuming she's the one carrying the Solar War Charms) can take one of them and add one point of Size when she rolls Join Battle. Unfortunately you can't go to Size 6, and there aren't any great rules for dealing with the overflow passed Size 5. Adding a second Size 3 Battlegroup maybe? The Charm actually works best with small Battlegroups, allowing you to go toe to toe with a foe who outnumbers you.

That extra point of Size is really the least of our worries when it comes to Solar War, though. Much more frightening is the Elite Drill peasants with the statline of Elite Soldiers. She probably hasn't had time to upgrade all 15 000 of those soldiers, so if Asuna's being metagamey she wants to be personally overseeing one of the battlegroups that will be engaging the elites, as she can make unaugmented mortals hit way above their weight class in a way even Solar generals generally can't (Nicely following the theme that DBs were field officers and Solars were in overall command). It will blunt one group of supersoldier peasants, but not stop them all.

I doubt Jaydude wants to roll Join Battle with... what are we at now? 23 Size 5 Battlegroups? 12+ Exalts? So it's tough to say how things will play out.

 

[D. Rex]

And don't forget, I can make some nasty passes on any of the enemy battlegrpups with devastating actions from the warstrider.

A bit of coordination from Asuma, and I can soften a battlegroup up before she hits it, or aid one she is clashing with.

 

[Rykon]

True, I was being hyperbolic and abstract. I'm still learning how to work around the "war" driven systems as opposed to basic combat. So I do appreciate the perspective. I wonder if War God Descendant could restore a lost 5th dot of Size if under the proper circumstances. That's a bit awful to be on the other side of morale wise. I could also see a second Size 3, being a potent but fair concession.

Right now, I'm looking at the challenge of the Lunar horde as "If I was fighting Toun, what am I most afraid of?" the answer to that being (other than almost everything ffs) a Giant Eagle with nigh unbreachable soaks airdropping Exalts over the wall to harass us periodically. Or the giant eagle picking up the Implosion bow and running away with it, because why wouldn't he? Suffice to say, the possibility of the enemy taking flight could be a big problem if they're smart about it.

Some of that assumes the Lunar is at least E2, which is not beyond the realm of believability. I am certainly happy that in 3E Lunars are far scarier to me than most opponents I can think of "out of the box".

 

[Random Word]

Larissa is close to a hard counter to flying soak-monsters. She can fly and Death of Obsidian Butterflies is an undodgeable initiative ignoring decisive attack out to Medium range, so it completely sidesteps soak. The big problem with DoOB is its relatively low single target damage (Essence 2 + Extra Successes (+ Occult damage against battlegroups); Her attack pool is Per 4 + Occult 3 (+ Unknown Specialty for Occult 1?) + Essence 2), so it can be no-sold by moderate Hardness. Flight of the Brilliant Raptor is frankly absurdly good at downing soak monsters, but she doesn't know that one (possibly yet).

 

[D. Rex]

Larissa is close to a hard counter to flying soak-monsters. She can fly and Death of Obsidian Butterflies is an undodgeable initiative ignoring decisive attack out to Medium range, so it completely sidesteps soak. The big problem with DoOB is its relatively low single target damage (Essence 2 + Extra Successes (+ Occult damage against battlegroups); Her attack pool is Per 4 + Occult 3 (+ Unknown Specialty for Occult 1?) + Essence 2), so it can be no-sold by moderate Hardness. Flight of the Brilliant Raptor is frankly absurdly good at downing soak monsters, but she doesn't know that one (possibly yet).

Well, we might have some other sorcerers among the dragon bloods. What if they pool together and make an Obsidian Butterfly Storm?

 

[Random Word]

That's devastating to Battlegroups. Even Tiger Warriors will cry when they see that. Sadly it does nothing to overcome Hardness, so the question for downing hypothetical Flying Lunar Soakmonster is mostly: Does he have Artifact Medium or Heavy Armour or a lot of Hardness boosting Stamina Charms? If not, then yes, a bunch of flying Sorcerers might give him a bad day.

 

[D. Rex]

That's devastating to Battlegroups. Even Tiger Warriors will cry when they see that. Sadly it does nothing to overcome Hardness, so the question for downing hypothetical Flying Lunar Soakmonster is mostly: Does he have Artifact Medium or Heavy Armour or a lot of Hardness boosting Stamina Charms? If not, then yes, a bunch of flying Sorcerers might give him a bad day.

Then we crash the flyer first. A bunch of withering attacks with the implosion bows and archers.

It can dodge all it wants. But those onslaught penalties will add up and it won't be able to keep its Initiative for long.

Taking away its ability to defend itself while the sorcery is being shaped.

 

[Rykon]

Then we crash the flyer first. A bunch of withering attacks with the implosion bows and archers.

It can dodge all it wants. But those onslaught penalties will add up and it won't be able to keep its Initiative for long.

Taking away its ability to defend itself while the sorcery is being shaped.

In my nightmare scenario, a Full Moon Lunar comparable to Toun, it's a Legendary Sized flier in Moonsilver Medium armor (just off of his sheet). Legendary sized means he cannot be crashed without something of similar scale attacking him (unless post soak exceeds 10, which with a soak above 20... highly unlikely anything more than overwhelming rating is getting through).

Also, Legendary size negates onslaught penalties of smaller opponents unless they are inflicted by magic (which I don't think we have access to that kind of attack at the moment).

Long story short, it's Warstrider dueling the kaiju or bust on fighting him off. Again, that presumes nightmare scenario.

 

[Random Word]

Okay, but Asuna's question: is he immune to poison? Also, on a related note, what are the deadliest poisons Manato can get his hands on? I figure Asuna buys her poisons from Manato, being a Cynis and all. If you have Yozi Venom or something similarly deadly we might be able to down any Celestial that isn't heavy into Resistance/Stamina Charms through poison stacking.

 

[D. Rex]

In my nightmare scenario, a Full Moon Lunar comparable to Toun, it's a Legendary Sized flier in Moonsilver Medium armor (just off of his sheet). Legendary sized means he cannot be crashed without something of similar scale attacking him (unless post soak exceeds 10, which with a soak above 20... highly unlikely anything more than overwhelming rating is getting through).

Also, Legendary size negates onslaught penalties of smaller opponents unless they are inflicted by magic (which I don't think we have access to that kind of attack at the moment).

Long story short, it's Warstrider dueling the kaiju or bust on fighting him off. Again, that presumes nightmare scenario.

Oooff, I forgot about the bonuses from legendary size.

I guess your right. Anything big will need to be attended by the warstrider. Let's hope more than one legendary doesn't attack at the same time.

But for fliers, I think there are some athletic DB charms that grant a bit of flight. But let's hope we don't have to fight a legendary flyer.

 

[Rykon]

Okay, but Asuna's question: is he immune to poison? Also, on a related note, what are the deadliest poisons Manato can get his hands on? I figure Asuna buys her poisons from Manato, being a Cynis and all. If you have Yozi Venom or something similarly deadly we might be able to down any Celestial that isn't heavy into Resistance/Stamina Charms through poison stacking.

This character? No, but our actual lunar target could be.

I'd wager it'd still be useful even if it's for other targets. Good thinking.

Even if the damage from the poison itself doesn't do much, the penalties suffered while it's in their system is still a meaningful advantage.

 

[Random Word]

Asuna is (on paper) shockingly deadly to anything that doesn't have the kit to fight her properly. If they're immune to poison or can cheaply negate all penalties on attacks/defenses (I'm looking at you, bullshit Solar Melee), can hit immaterial targets, and are good at spotting stealth, then she's not very threatening at all to a Celestial. If they don't know she's coming and don't have hard counters, I think she can murder the fuck out of a Celestial tier opponent before they even realize anyone has Joined Battle. We'll see how it works in practice.

If someone touches Flying Lunar Soakmonster to transfer Asuna, Manato can supply the good stuff, and Flying Lunar Soakmonster doesn't have the right Charms/Artifacts/Abilities he dead.

 

[D. Rex]

I wonder. Could Larissa's obsidian butterflies be cast through a veil of poisons to coat them with it, and deliver them widely and deeply. That much poisoned delivered through a thousand cuts would be sure to leave anything... tragically affected.