Difference between revisions of "HearthstoneRelay/Glass"

Revision as of 09:03, 3 April 2010

The Twenty Ninth theme is... Glass

The Glassee Stone</b> - Scrollreader

<b>Manse •, Air aspect
Trigger: Looking through the stone.

This stone is many-faceted and perfectly clear. It is always the same size as the eye of it's bearer. When pressed to a surface, the bearer may look through the stone, and see through the surface it's pressed up against as if it was glass. This effect penetrates 6 inches of wood or flesh, half that of stone, and an inch of metal. It cannot see through any of the five magical materials, or through the enchanted walls of a sorceror or thaumaturge's abode. Note that looking through very thick glass is hardly the ideal situation for viewing, and the difficulties of making out more than the number and vague shape and color of objects will be increased by at least 1 for every two inches of material seen through in this manner.

Shattered Obsidian</b> - IanPrice

<b>Manse ••, Abyssal aspect
Trigger: Mounting in a 5MM weapon, especially Soulsteel.

When formed, this stone is a dull and dusty lump of obsidian. Its special properties are easily visible to Essence sight of course, but otherwise it displays no power other than the respiration of motes until it is socketed into an Artifact. When socketed, the stone explodes in a whirlwind of black glass shards, dealing 5 dice of lethal damage that ignore armor soak to the socketer. These black shards form a spikey coated across the entire surface of the Artifact but they do not impede its normal use or function. The shards do, however, remove the ability of the Artifact to support other Hearthstones. The Exalt attuned to the shards and the weapon may remove a shard at any time, plucking it off with his fingers and an act of will, in which case all the shards dissolve and re-form into the single gem.

Shattered Obsidian causes the owner's strikes to shatter almost any material as if it were mere glass. The difficulty to break any mundane object is halved, or the damage dealt is doubled, depending on what kind of roll is made for the breakage. Soulsteel items resonate especially well with the stone, gaining the same benefits against objects made of the Five Magical Materials. This power only reduces the difficulty to break Magical Materials, it does not grant the ability to do so.

The Mirror Stone</b> - Scrollreader

<b>Manse •••, Water aspect
Trigger: Touching the stone to a mirror.

The hearthstone is made up of a thousand planes, each and every one a mirror. This has the side effect of meaning that there is always a mirror which the bearer can see a reflection of something around him in, allowing for the use of mirror dependent charms and stunts. The true purpose of this stone is found when the hearthstone is is touched to a mirror. The mirror ripples and parts, and the exalt may reach through the Mirror to place or retrieve inanimate objects Elsewhere. The mirror-cahe has a 'depth' of the exalt's permanant essence in feet, and no weight limit. The exalt may retrieve items from the mirror-caches by touching the mirror with the stone again. As long as the exalt has the stone socketed in an artifact, he will see faint impressions of items held in other mirrors, as well as being able to see entirely through one way mirrors, if he wishes. Should a mirror holding any items from this hearthstone be broken, all items are immediately released from elsewhere.

The Stone of Broken Windows</b> - HeWhoSpeaksOfDarkness

<b>Manse ••••, air aspect
Trigger: Simple.

This hearthstone is a round disk small enough to be held in one hand, and just thick enough to make grasping it difficult. Its most immediately noticeable property is that its top surface visually replicates what ever it is laying on. This stone is used by viewing a place, via either a reflective surface or through a transparent one like a window, then shattering the surface and speending one point of willpower. This creates a portal to that place. The portal is as large as the object broken (or one yard in diameter per dice of damage inflicted for large bodies of liquid), and lasts as long the harthstone is not again used, and its owner stays attuened to it, and the stone is attuned. Only one such portal may exist per stone. The portal appears as a maze of cracks hanging in the air and opens with the sound of a hundred windows breaking.

Crystal of the Bastille's Gateway ~ Seiraryu

Manse •••••

Aspect: Sidereal

Trigger: Reflexive Willpower spending.

This stone is a perfectly spherical, completely clear crystal, small enough for a child to be able to hold it in one hand. The crystal was used in the First Age by kings and emperors to imprison outlaws and uncontrolably powerful opponents, or those meriting a punishment worse than death. By reflexively spending a temporary Willpower point, the bearer of the stone can convert any glass surface (mirrors, windows, glass tables, etc) into a portal that leads to a very specific place. For a number of turns equal to the bearer's permanent Essence, the character can shove, push, throw, or otherwise make any one person go through the portal (this will usually require a Brawl or Martial Arts attack involving throws or knockback, but is generally up to the Storyteller).

The person shoved through the portal will instantly find himself in a place in Elsewhere created by the crystal. This place is a small (10x10 feet), posh room, with a comfortable bed, a single table, a chair, a very large mirror on one of the walls (through which the person enters) and plenty of food (which appears every twelve hours upon the table). Nothing else can be found within the room, and the mirror is, for all intents and purposes, a regular mirror.

Whenever the bearer of the Crystal of the Bastille's Gateway activates it, any imprisoned person may attempt to escape. They are instantly aware of the activation by the mirror upon their prison's room turning a blurred, milky white. The attempt to escape requires them to leap towards the mirror, their player rolling Essence + Dodge, difficulty equal to the hearthstone bearer's permanent Willpower. If they succeed, they leap through the mirror and come out of whatever glass was activated by the crystal. If they fail, they simply crash into the mirror (which, if broken, will heal completely within one week, but any attempts to escape during that time are impossible). The bearer of the stone can enter and exit a prison (even a new one) by spending a temporary Willpower point for every time she steps through the portal. Should the stone be broken, anyone imprisoned may attempt to escape during Calibration, once per each of the five days. The difficulty is 5 on the first day, but for every failure to escape during a Calibration, the difficulty rises by one; this difficulty is reset every Calibration.

Comments

On Shattered Obsidian - Two things I dislike. First is that it takes up all the sockets on a weapon. No other Hearthstone does that and it's really limiting, far more limiting then the effect deserves. Second is the effect. Hearthstones, as far as I remember, are never affected by *what* they're set into. It's part of how they work and this here is a weapon-only Stone and when its in Soulsteel it breaks the "5MM never break easy, EVER" rule that's pretty well established. So for a level 2, I think this is breaking a few too many rules. - Telgar

I would definately concur that breaking the 5MM is something far more powerful than a lvl2 stone should be capable of. As for the taking up multiple slots thing, well, I tend to think that's not a fair balance. it would be if, say, all artifacts had 2 slots. Also, does it have any effect if put in a non weapon item? Like a hearthstone amulet or a set of bracers? - Scrollreader Who also wonders at the +3 difficulty part. +3 difficulty from what base?

Good point. There is no roll to set a Hearthstone. It's sorta a zero force insertion, like a computer processor. - Telgar

Well, I had been under the impression that it required some kind of roll. Guess I was wrong. So, made that part unavoidable.

As far as breaking things goes, I'll note that even in a Soulsteel weapon, this stone isn't letting somebody say "I hit his daiklave so it breaks." What it is saying is that when the Soulsteel klave is used for the equivalent of Weapon-Breaking Defense Technique, it is especially effective at it, even against 5MM weapons (which that charm can break). I've added clarification text.

As for being affected by what it's mounted in, the effect I wanted here is "shatters things like they were glass." That didn't immediately lend itself, in my mind, to anything but weapons. However, I see your point, and have added a provision for other things like armor, Hearthstone Bracers, etc. - IanPrice, who honestly does far-out stuff like this just because it's more fun to discuss than to just let something sit there.

I can appreciate doing that sort of thing, I love getting comments and getting into discussions about my stuff. But it still needs to be appropriately balanced and worded correctly as you can make it. Writing something just so you can get some controversy isnt the best idea. Makes people think you just can't write and then they stop reading your stuff. Anyway. I will suggest an alternate text for your stone because now its just overly wordy and icky. (Alternate wording snipped and used by author. - IanPrice)

See, that's much more compact and simple. It still has the issue of preventing X hearthstone sockets from working. I don't get that at all. It doesn't even make sense and, again, this stone is not worth that drawback unless socketed into a 1-socket item, in which case it doesn't matter. So why's it there? - Telgar

I did make it as appropriately balanced and worded as I could make it. If I was able to always one-off make perfectly balanced things, why would I post them here? Whenever I post here, it's to explore new territory, and get comments and advice on the process. I post here precisely because I'm not perfect, and because I have a pioneering spirit. When I said "far-out," I did not mean "overpowered." I meant, "unusual."

As to your wording, it is functionally no different from mine, so I will appropriate it since concise wordings are better. Tada, moved up to the wording place. Also added an explanation of how the stone can be removed.

The blockage of Hearthstone sockets, like the damage upon installing it, are called "drawbacks." I mixed them in because I realized that the effect I was going for was rather powerful for a level •• stone, but I wanted to do it anyway. I feel that powers with drawbacks have more flavor than those that come without noticable cost. - IanPrice

Dude, the point isnt that I don't know what a bloody drawback is. I'm saying that your drawback does something really detremental that is out of proportion to the benefit. And my comments about it breaking two really cardinal rules (Hearthstones not interacting with 5MM and hearthstones taking up 1 slot only) at such a low level and for fairly little benefit still stands. Even if you like playing with the rules, you can bend them into all sorts of pretty shapes without taking a sledgehammer to them. A mozaic is not the only form of art. - Telgar

Is it a detrement if you are using it in a weapon that only has one hearthstone slot? -Miles

Hrm. I see the point here. Removed the artifact of bad luck, and replaced it with the above. Should work a little better. - Scrollreader

This is my first stone, and I don’t really know if the power level is right. I also feel that my description could be reworded, so ideas welcome – HeWhoSpeaksOfDarkness

I like the idea (at least, I like what I think the idea is), but you're right, it could be worded better. From what I understand, the intention is that you view a place, via either a reflective surface or through a transparent one like a window, then shatter the surface to create a portal to that place? If so, the power level seems about right for a level four; I'd probably let the distance be unlimited, instead of having to roll for it, and I'd cost it at a willpower, since I can't recall any stones that use mote triggers. Maybe specify how long the portal takes to form? Otherwise, yeah, nice stone. :) - LeumasWhite

If you're already shattering/breaking the surface... how is it useful in most cases? If you're scrying with a mirror or a pond, then sure, it's really handy, but how is it useful on its own? It sounds really cool, I'm just missing the utility of it, I think, and I'd love it if someone could clue me in?
-- Darloth

The utility seems to be that if you're on the top of a really tall tower with windows you can peer through the windows and see something going on and then, by smashing the window you create a portal that takes you to what you were seeing. This is particularly useful if combined with Hundred Leagues Sight Procedure. - Moxiane

So... Superman would be proud, yes? ~ Seiraryu