Difference between revisions of "HumbleLunars/Structure"

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This is a brief discussion of how HumbleLunars work and where they get their power, with a focus towards combat.  This is not my forte, and so I'm happy to have feedback.  under construction.
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This is a brief discussion of how HumbleLunars work and where they get their power, with a focus towards combat.   
  
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General: Lunars have a crapload of Attribute dots, Attributes as high as 7, and 5 favored Abilities.  This is their insurance policy.  It means that a Lunar can roar out of character Creation with one or two truly ridiculous die pools for a minimial investment of points.
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Character Creation: Lunars are built more or less like Solars.
  
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Charm Structure: "9 Great Oaks".  Lunars have 9 Attribute focused trees, all of which are quite large and have many branches.  They all lead down to one "root" prereq Charm.  Go out of your way to keep them structured.  They must look like a literal tree when you're done, with little to no wacky interconnections between branches.   
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Charm Structure: Lunar Charm trees are very densly packed together, a bit like the Abyssal Melee tree.  A higher level Charm probably requires Charms from several branches of the tree.  This is allows Charms to have tough prereqs without creating lots of silly speedbump charms.  For example, imagine there's no "Bulwark Stance" and Fivefold Bulwark Stance requires Dipping Swallow Defense +  Hungry Tiger Attack.  A little weird, but it more or less works.
  
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Combat: Lunars have a relatively small number of mostly not that strong combat charms.  They may choose from a variety of prebuilt DBT forms.  The DBT forms make some of their combat charms much, much better.   
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Combat: Lunar combat trees look a lot like Solar combat trees, although they're missing a lot of the best tricks.  They have two weaknesses in particular - they Lunars have no persistent Dodge or Parries (5FBS or FLB), and its very tough for them to attack and defend in the same round (even with a combo).  Instead, they get DBT.  DBT Gifts are designed to interact with a Lunar's normal charms in interesting ways.  For example, a DBT Gift might let you soak lethal with bashing; a Stamina Charm might increase your bashing soak.  I'm trying to create other fun little interactions like this, although this isn't my forte.
  
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Excellence Charms: "Excellence Charms" are things like Unsurpassed Sense Discipline that let you do something you could do any way.....only much, much better.  Pretty much all Solar Charms fall into this category.  Lunars have some of these, roughly the lower half of equivalent Solar trees.  They do not have the most powerful Solar level effects, however. Lunar excellence Charms should accentuate how cool the Lunar is, rather than how much cool stuff the Lunar can do.   
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General Charms: Lunar Charms are very immediate, and they deal with life. They don't deal with abstractions. Ie, a Solar might look at a bureaucracy and see a bureaucracy. (funny that.)  A Lunar looks at it and sees a lot of people.  A Solar says "I want this Bureau to move on this iniative!" and it does.  The Lunar says "I want these people to be more efficent Bureaucrats" and they are.  Maybe their bureau gets a commendation...doesn't mean the Lunar gets what he wants.   
  
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Blatant Magic: Lunar charms often do things that are blatantly magic in D&D style.  You can't see a Night Caste cuz she's hiding REALLY WELL.  You can't see a Gibbous Moon cuz she's invisible.  The effects are often similiar, but different in tone.
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Lunars often get the first half of a Solar tree.  Ie, they might have Sensory Acuity Prana but not Unsurpassed Sense Discipline.  Instead, they have their own strange magic, which I think you'll like.  Its not quite as flexible and powerful as Solar powers.  But its pretty horrifying, in its own way  (See Sleepless Months Meditation in the Stamina tree for an example.)
  
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Flexibility: Lunars do have Charms in many different areas.  They are not limited to combat and similiar schticks.   
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Strength Charms: Lunars keep many of their best offensive Charms here.  There are no defensive Charms here, and no scene length combat charms.  There will probably be some Athleticsie  type stuff.  Oh, and some Brawl stype stuff.   
  
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Themes and Restrictions: Lunar Charms must fit within at least two of the following themes.  The connection can be tenous.
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Dexterity: Defensive combat charms go here.  Lunars have great defensive charms, including reflexive (Dipping Swallow) and Perfect (Seven Shadow) defenses.  As mentioned, they don't have scene long defenses. No offensive charms here at all. Some acrobatics type stuff here, although I want to save this for last - it'd be too easy to have everything and its brother in Dexterity.   
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*Transformation: Literal and metaphorical.   
 
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*Life: Lunar Charms like to deal with people, animals, and spirits.   They do not like to deal with inanimate objects.
 
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*Rage: And of course, Lunars do break things.   
 
  
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*Nature and Evolution: *Use Sparingly*  This is basically a subset of Transformation and Life, but worth mentioning anyway. 
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Stamina: Endurance/Resistance.  They do have good soak Charms, although if you look carefully they're missing a few things.  Another area where I'm trying to avoid stuffing too many things.
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Other things:
 
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*Combos can be formed within an Attribute but not between Attributes.
 
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*Die Adder cap is Attribute.
 
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*Free or cheap animal shapechanging is still here.
 
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*Attribute Prerequisites should start at 3 and go to 7.  Add 2 to an equivalent Solar prerequisite and you're most of the way there.
 
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Strength Charms: Lunars keep all or most of their best offensive charms here.  This could include some that are focused on Brawl or Archery.  There are no defensive Charms here, and no scene length combat charms.  There may be some Athletics (smash!) or miscellanous charms here.
 
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Dexterity: Defensive combat charms go here.  Lunars have great defensive charms, including reflexive (Dipping Swallow) and Perfect (Seven Shadow) defenses.  But they have two major weaknesses.  One, they have no scene length defensive charms.  Two, they have no offensive combat charms in Dexterity.  So they can't avoid attacks worth a damn if they go on the offensive.
 
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I'm not sure what noncombat charms might go under Dexterity, without having dexterity step on the other Attribute's toes.  Perhaps a lot of Athletics.
 
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Stamina: Resistance, Endurance, Survival.  Lunars should have some kind of impressive soak type Charms, although soak is no longer the Lunars big shizam.  See the current Lunar book and the Solar Power Combat Resistance Charms for potential models.  Lunar Survival Charms should be very easy to get for what they are, since they have to compete with "I turn into a fish." Feel free to do some interesting things with Endurance and Resistance type charms.  Going without sleep might be an example.
 
  
 
Charisma: Some normal Performance and Presence type stuff.  Rewriting people's minds.  Communication.
 
Charisma: Some normal Performance and Presence type stuff.  Rewriting people's minds.  Communication.
  
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Manipulation: Stealth of all nature.  Bureaucratic stealth (can't see the effects of my words), physical stealth, disguise.  Possibly some outright illusions.  I won't rule out Phantasmal Force, although I dunno.
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Manipulation: Stealth of all nature.  Some combat charms along the model of the Solar Thrown or Brawl trees.
  
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Appearance: The Wyld, Shapechanging other people, miscellany.
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Appearance: A bit miscellanous.  Medicine - its a means of social interaction for Lunars.  Wyld Charms.  Currently, the humble mouse shape type stuff is here as well, although I'm reconsidering  this.  
  
 
Intelligence: Craft and Occult, possibly some other things.
 
Intelligence: Craft and Occult, possibly some other things.
  
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Wits: Much miscellany. Combat "tricks" - the rough equivalent of the Thunderclap Rush Attack or Cascade of Cutting Terror. 
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Wits: I am unsure.  
  
 
Percpetion: About what you'd expect, with many investigation and socialize type charms.  Some charms to deal with spirits.
 
Percpetion: About what you'd expect, with many investigation and socialize type charms.  Some charms to deal with spirits.

Revision as of 15:09, 26 May 2005

This is a brief discussion of how HumbleLunars work and where they get their power, with a focus towards combat.

Character Creation: Lunars are built more or less like Solars.

Charm Structure: Lunar Charm trees are very densly packed together, a bit like the Abyssal Melee tree. A higher level Charm probably requires Charms from several branches of the tree. This is allows Charms to have tough prereqs without creating lots of silly speedbump charms. For example, imagine there's no "Bulwark Stance" and Fivefold Bulwark Stance requires Dipping Swallow Defense + Hungry Tiger Attack. A little weird, but it more or less works.

Combat: Lunar combat trees look a lot like Solar combat trees, although they're missing a lot of the best tricks. They have two weaknesses in particular - they Lunars have no persistent Dodge or Parries (5FBS or FLB), and its very tough for them to attack and defend in the same round (even with a combo). Instead, they get DBT. DBT Gifts are designed to interact with a Lunar's normal charms in interesting ways. For example, a DBT Gift might let you soak lethal with bashing; a Stamina Charm might increase your bashing soak. I'm trying to create other fun little interactions like this, although this isn't my forte.

General Charms: Lunar Charms are very immediate, and they deal with life. They don't deal with abstractions. Ie, a Solar might look at a bureaucracy and see a bureaucracy. (funny that.) A Lunar looks at it and sees a lot of people. A Solar says "I want this Bureau to move on this iniative!" and it does. The Lunar says "I want these people to be more efficent Bureaucrats" and they are. Maybe their bureau gets a commendation...doesn't mean the Lunar gets what he wants.

Lunars often get the first half of a Solar tree. Ie, they might have Sensory Acuity Prana but not Unsurpassed Sense Discipline. Instead, they have their own strange magic, which I think you'll like. Its not quite as flexible and powerful as Solar powers. But its pretty horrifying, in its own way (See Sleepless Months Meditation in the Stamina tree for an example.)

Strength Charms: Lunars keep many of their best offensive Charms here. There are no defensive Charms here, and no scene length combat charms. There will probably be some Athleticsie type stuff. Oh, and some Brawl stype stuff.

Dexterity: Defensive combat charms go here. Lunars have great defensive charms, including reflexive (Dipping Swallow) and Perfect (Seven Shadow) defenses. As mentioned, they don't have scene long defenses. No offensive charms here at all. Some acrobatics type stuff here, although I want to save this for last - it'd be too easy to have everything and its brother in Dexterity.

Stamina: Endurance/Resistance. They do have good soak Charms, although if you look carefully they're missing a few things. Another area where I'm trying to avoid stuffing too many things.

Charisma: Some normal Performance and Presence type stuff. Rewriting people's minds. Communication.

Manipulation: Stealth of all nature. Some combat charms along the model of the Solar Thrown or Brawl trees.

Appearance: A bit miscellanous. Medicine - its a means of social interaction for Lunars. Wyld Charms. Currently, the humble mouse shape type stuff is here as well, although I'm reconsidering this.

Intelligence: Craft and Occult, possibly some other things.

Wits: I am unsure.

Percpetion: About what you'd expect, with many investigation and socialize type charms. Some charms to deal with spirits.


comments

Lunars do not have the most powerful abilities that you might see on a Solar tree, such as Unsurpassed Sense Discipline or Heavnly Guardian Defense - Except that these are actually middling-level abilities for Solars... far from their most powerful. Do Humble Lunars not get high-Essence Charms at all? -szilard

Hmm, need to clarify. I mean "most powerful" in terms of core book charms. They definitily don't have things like Thousand League Eyes. And they definitily have higher essence Charms, they just don't function like high essence Solar Charms. -MeiRen

Perhaps a high-end lunar charm from this set might let them look through the eyes of every (pick species at charm activation) for a scene, or something like that, instead of just being able to see so well you can ACT as if you're seeing from 50 viewpoints at once etc. Is that the sort of difference you mean?
-- Darloth

That would work! -MeiRen
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