Difference between revisions of "HearthstoneRelay/DragonKings"

Latest revision as of 01:16, 6 April 2010

The thirty-sixth theme is Dragon Kings

Once lords of Creation, the mighty Dragon Kings mastered the arts of Essence long before humanity discovered the power of fire. Worshipers of the Sun and skilled wielders of all five elements, they turned their wisdom to the design of powerful and alien Hearthstones in their never-ending quest for understanding and power. Though now fallen and all but gone, their Manses still stand as testament to the ancient knowledge they alone possessed...

Sunning Lizard Scale (Ikselam)

Solar Manse 1

Trigger: Sunning.

This oblong hearthstone is covered in shiny green scales. It lets its user store up the warmth of the sun for when she needs it.

To activate the stone's power, the character needs to rest in direct sunlight. For every hour she spends sunning, the stone can keep her warm for an entire day, up to a maximum of five days. If the character is a Dragon King, Solar Exalted, or other strongly Sun-aspected being, she can sacrifice a day's warmth to reflexively add one mote to her essence pool.

Viridian Essence Bloom (Hapushet)

Wood Manse 2

Trigger: Placing the stone in a Hearthstone socket or on a vegetative artifact.

This unusual Hearthstone appears, at first glance, to be two pieces: a pale green crystalline flower, and a shimmering amber sphere around which the flower's petals are tightly wrapped. Only careful examination reveals that the flower is no more alive than the stone, and both are a single construct.

When placed into a Hearthstone socket on an attuned artifact, the "flower" portion of the stone rapidly sends out tiny vine-like runners that criss-cross the artifact. Two more blossoms burst forth, as crystalline as the original, but their petals stand open and waiting. These two additional blossoms can be used in every way as additional Hearthstone sockets. When a Hearthstone is placed into the open petals, they close tightly around the stone, holding it in place and granting the attuned user all the usual benefits of attunement.

In addition, the Viridian Essence Bloom can be placed on an artifact lacks a Hearthstone socket. The Hearthstone melds itself seamlessly with the artifact, appearing to have grown right out of it, and produces its runners and additional blossoms as normal.

Regardless of construction, a given artifact can only support one Viridian Essence Bloom at a time; placing a second such Hearthstone into a socket (whether original or via the secondary blossoms) causes all the vines and secondary blossoms to wilt and disintegrate to dust as the divided Essence flows starve both Hearthstones into uselessness. The same thing occurs if the artifact becomes unattuned, leaving only the Hearthstone still in the socket. Unfortunately, the Bloom will not remain if planted on a artifact without natural sockets that becomes unattuned - it wilts and drops off, as most flowers do in autumn.

Seed of Efficacious Duplication (Ikselam)

Wood Manse 3

Trigger: Concentration.

This hearthstone looks like an avocado pit. Once attuned, its owner can cause it to germinate into a vegetative artifact.

The seed's power allows it to duplicate an existing artifact, to which the character must be attuned at the time he activates the hearthstone. Upon activation, the stone pops out of its setting and cracks open, revealing a rapidly-growing sprout. Over the course of the next 24 hours, it will grow into a perfect copy of the target artifact; if planted in fertile soil or water, it will send out roots and mature twice as fast.

The seed can only duplicate artifacts of rank 3 or less. As soon as it activates, it counts as having been broken, and will reform at its Manse as normal.

Embryonic Witch - willows

Wood Manse 4

Trigger: Concentration

This Hearthstone looks like a snake's egg; it is leathery, moonstone-white, and translucent. When attuned, the bearer can enter the egg; he vanishes and a foetal shape appears inside the stone. He and his equipment are in fact Elsewhere; he continues to benefit from it, and will return to Creation if the stone is broken. Most normal bodily processes are suspnded, but a 'stored' character will regain Health Levels as though resting. The floating shape in the stone is merely a graphical reminder. Now, a second bearer may attune and wear the stone; the embryonic bearer may Ride the other, as spirits do with Dragon King olchiliké.

A being inside the stone may reflexively spend 1 Willpower to swap places with the external bearer, if they are linked by Ride. The Embryonic Witch will swap positions with another Hearthstone setting if necessary. He may also spend 1 Willpower to simply eject himself from the stone.

Arainthu's Secret (Ikselam)

Sidereal Manse 5

Trigger: None.

This hearthstone forms in the Great Observatory of Rathess. It bears a powerful Arcane Fate, making it almost impossible to identify; it is likely that even the Dragon Kings did not know it existed. It orbits as part of the Orrery of Arainthu, the only part of it that does not represent a real celestial object.

Those who are able to observe the Secret in its natural home are able to perform divinations involving beings outside of fate. If the stone is attuned, it can also be used in conjunction with any other astronomical modelling system; to use it, the character releases it from its setting, allowing it to fly about. It will continue to move in this fashion until it becomes deattuned, 24 hours after leaving its setting.

While socketed, the Secret assumes a Resplendent Destiny, appearing to be a level 5 hearthstone. If its owner manages to remember its true identity, it lets her to briefly impose the will of the Heavens upon things from beyond the world. This power supplements a single Sidereal astrology effect, allowing it to affect a being outside of fate for a period of five days. At the end of this period, the Secret vanishes; it will reappear in its Manse after one month.

Arainthu's Secret uses the same rules for Arcane Fate as a Sidereal Exalted. Its Arcane Fate is in effect any time it is not physically socketed into an artifact; it is very easy to lose track of, even for people who are attuned to its Manse.

Comments

I think it would be appropritat if Solars could use their Anima to fuel the stone. I like it. BTW (ot), Ikselam did'nt you game with DissolveGirl? How is she now days?-Azurelight

She's been focusing on her photography lately, which is pretty cool. _Ikselam

I think the Solar idea's a good one! That's a great stone, Ikselam. - Hapushet

The Viridian Essence Bloom is a neat idea. I am not entirely convinced it's worth two dots, though. _Ikselam

I once had a friend try to convince me that you could only benefit from the essence-regeneration of a single hearthstone at once. I still don't believe them (I can't find it written anywhere), but if that were the case, it might well be worth two dots - as it's essence regeneration would most likely be additive with at least one of the others. On the other hand, they could have just been steam-rolling me. -- GreenLantern

I'm pretty sure you only get the benefit of the highest-ranked hearthstone you're currently attuned to. I know I've had the argument before, I don't remember if it ever got vigorous enough for either side to actually find substantiating evidence in the books. _Ikselam

It's in the Manse Background's writeup. - Telgar

For clarity: I just re-read the Manse background, the Build/Attune Manse action, and the Panapoly section on Hearthstones. At least in Second Edition, there is no limitation on the number of Hearthstones or Manse attunements you can benefit from at once. - IanPrice

I could swear that I'd seen text to that effect in 1st Ed somewhere as well, but I can't find it now; I am sure, though, that I saw the multiple-Essence-draw mentioned as being "new" for 2nd Ed by a commentator on RPG.net or the WW boards. Either way, Ian's right - as far as I know, there's no such restriction in 2nd Ed.

As for the power level, it seemed a bit too much for 1 - particularly as it can grant Hearthstone sockets to a class of artifacts that basically never has them - and clearly not 3. Maybe I should up the number of blossoms to 3? (For a net gain of 2, vegetative artifacts notwithstanding?) - Hapushet

Think of it this way. You are purchasing this hearthstone at chargen (which I assert is the only time balance matters, since it's typically the only time backgrounds cost points). It costs two points in Manse, but in the absolute best-case scenario (you are placing it in a veggie artifact with zero sockets), you still need to buy at least one more point in Manse for it to do anything -- you would be, in effect, paying 3 dots of Manse to get the effect of a one-dot hearthstone. The bang-to-buck ratio is even worse if you're placing it in an artifact that already has hearthstone sockets. This is a power whose nift vastly outstrips its mechanical usefulness, even if it adds more than one "socket."
Anyways, someone come on and post the next stone in the relay! _Ikselam

I agree with roger, the return on this stone is not cost-efficient as long as it has no effect of its own. If it DID something in addition to making sockets, it'd be fine.

Tweaked - it now works on any artifact that lacks Hearthstone sockets. It's now a 2-dot Hearthstone anyone can buy without stressing over only having smashfists and artifact armor; that should make it useful enough... - Hapushet

While I love the idea of your stone, Roger, I don't like it at all. It creates Artifacts that, by my reading, have no limit on number. Given time you can create 100 level 1-3 artifacts. While not really a balance issue, I find it a huge flavor issue that a Hearthstone can just allow some inept craftless, occultless, loreless combat monkey to produce enough veggie-klaves to arm an army. I'd much rather see a level 3 stone that can be used to augment the growth OF veggietech rather then creating artifacts. - telgar

Creating 100 artifacts would take almost 7 years. In that time, I'm sure some skilled artifact-gardener could produce a similarly large number of thingies; after all, the whole point of veggie-tech is that it literally does grow on trees. If you think it's too powerful, you could do something like make its rate of recrystallization depend on the level of artifact created (e.g., 1 month for level 1, 1 season for level 2, 1 year for level 3). If you object to it purely on flavor, well, I obviously disagree with you there. _Ikselam urges others to post hearthstones as well as comments.

A being inside the stone may reflexively spend 1 Willpower to swap places with the external bearer, if they are linked by Ride. Does this apply only if the named Charm is actually being used, or does it work with the stone's similar power, as well? _Ikselam

I wouldn't put the effect there if it didn't work with the stone's ability, would I? It would be sort of odd to design such an effect, as well. I would personally not distinguish between effect sources; the stone's effect is named Ride and so is the Charm's; therefore they are the same thing and the stone doesn't care which is going on. - willows

I figured, I just thought it was a curious way to word it._Ikselam