Difference between revisions of "Moxiane/UltimateWeapons"

Latest revision as of 00:14, 9 June 2010

Ultimate Weapons

A quick exercise in the creation of five-dot artefact weaponry, sparked off of ideas I had recently. Updates & alterations for Exalted 2nd edition are given in italics.

Shattering Crescendo

Orichalcum & crystal long powerbow

An elegant weapon, Shattering Crescendo appears to have been cut from almost perfectly clear crystal, shot through with threads of orichalcum. Despite its construction, the limbs of the bow bend smoothly and silently, and the single hair-fine thread of silver that acts as the bowstring is tuned to a perfect C, and the weapon seems to sing for joy when used in battle. Shattering Crescendo has sockets for two hearthstones.

Speed 5, Accuracy +4, Damage +9L, Rate 4 (3), Range 600, Min. Str ••, Min. Dex •••, Commitment: 8 motes

Shattering Crescendo has the following additional powers.

• Every successful attack against any given target grants one cumulative automatic success to further attacks against that target. This bonus persists until the target is killed or destroyed and has no upper limit.
• All damage against inanimate objects is tripled before soak.
• The wielder can spend 5 motes before making an attack which, if successful, causes every enemy within 30 yards of the initial target to suffer the same number of post-soak damage dice. This burst of energy may only be soaked by permanent Essence, and can only be defended against with the use of Charms, in which case the original attack’s successes are used. (This burst of energy may only be soaked by permanent Essence and reduces the DDV and PDV of all targets within the area to 0; it can be increased again by Charms, in which case the original attack’s successes are used).

Ravager of the Marches

Moonsilver & cold iron direlance

Forged by a No Moon elder in the days after the Lunar Exalted fled to the edges of Creation, the massive direlance known as the Ravager of the Marches was created to be the bane of the Fair Folk, and it saw much use in that long ago time. Six yards long from haft to tip, the blade is as tall as a man, and continually seems to ripple and shift as the edge always seeks the perfect cutting shape. The Ravager of the Marches has a socket for a single Hearthstone.

Speed +19 (6), Accuracy +5, Damage +12L, Defence +4, Rate 4 (3), Min. Str •••, Commitment: 9 motes

Ravager of the Marches has the following additional powers:

• Can attack out to a distance of 30 yards without penalty.
• All attacks made with it ignore penalties from anything less than total cover; even then, if the target is within range and their location is known to the character then he may attack at with a +2 difficulty (external) penalty.
• After a successful attack all dice of damage that fail to come up as successes may be re-rolled once only.
• The character spends 10 motes and plunges the weapon into the ground, making an attack as normal. This consumes his action for the turn, but it is treated as if the attack had been made against every Raksha within 60 yards. This power can also be used as a shaping attack to destroy a waypoint.

Soul Cancer

Green jade dagger

A vicious weapon of unknown but ancient origin, Soul Cancer continually exudes an acrid fume that burns the eyes and throat of anyone not attuned to it. The blade is two feet of deep green jade riddled with whorls and cracks, while the edge is a jagged nightmare that rips and tears the flesh it pierces. It is its ability to wound the spirit and soul that is most frightening, and they are what ensure it remains locked in the deepest armouries. Soul Cancer has no Hearthstone sockets.

Speed +4 (4), Accuracy +6, Damage +7L, Defence +4, Rate 7 (5), Min. Dex •••, Commitment 7 motes

Soul Cancer has the following additional powers:

• Attacks made with Soul Cancer can strike dematerialised beings, doubling its base damage against such creatures.
• After a successful attack the wielder may convert some or all of the damage into lost points of temporary Willpower, at the rate of 1 point for every two health levels that would have been lost.
• Further, upon wounding a target the wielder can spend 5 motes to poison the victim’s Essence. For the remainder of the scene, whenever the victim spends Essence they take dice of unsoakable lethal damage equal to the number of motes spent, unless the victim succeeds on a difficulty 4 Stamina + Resistance test.

Crushing Despair

Soulsteel smashfist

This huge weapon looks at first glance to be the arm of a warstrider from the Abyssal legions, but when attuned to and worn it becomes as little more than a light glove to its wearer. A powerful engine of destruction in its own right, Crushing Despair’s greater powers can be used to create, or reinforce, a foothold for the Dead within the bounds of Creation. Crushing Depair has three Hearthstone sockets on the back of the gauntlet.

Speed +5 (5), Accuracy +5, Damage +14L, Defence +5, Rate 4 (3), Min. Str ••••, Commitment 8 motes

Crushing Despair has the following additional powers:

• Attacks made with the weapon drain double the normal number of motes from the target.
• Anyone struck by the weapon must make an immediate Valour roll against a difficulty of 3 or suffer a -4 (internal) penalty to all dice-pools for the next five turns (for their next five actions).
• The wielder can initiate a clinch one-handed, and gains 3 additional successes to all rolls for initiating or controlling the clinch. Further, the character may still attack as normal with Crushing Despair, causing both the attacked and clinched characters to suffer the same damage.
• If an attack with this weapon kills a character the wielder may spend 7 motes to create a small shadowland centred on the victim. It has a radius equal in yards to the dead character’s permanent Essence and will exist for a week barring any attempts to destroy or reinforce it. Multiple uses of this power in the same area stack, and the weapon can also reinforce “naturally” occurring shadowlands.

Clotho’s Mercy

Starmetal daiklave

Deep within the hidden archives of the Violet Bier of Sorrows, the ancient sword called Clotho’s Mercy waits patiently. A thin blade and simple hilt and guard belie its true strength, for its powers are such that only in the direst emergencies is it unsheathed. Granted only to the greatest warrior of the Five-Score Brotherhood it is one of the greatest weapons in Creation, for the blade is so ultimately sharp that it can slice at the very fabric of the Tapestry. Clotho’s Mercy has a pair of Hearthstone sockets, one on the crosspiece and the other at the end of the pommel.

Speed +10 (5), Accuracy +4, Damage +9L, Defence +4, Rate 6 (3), Min. Dex •••, Commitment 10 motes

Clotho’s Mercy has the following additional powers:

• All attacks and parries made with Clotho's Mercy ignore any and all dice-pool penalties (except for multiple-action penalties). (All attacks made with Clotho’s mercy ignore all internal and wound penalties, but not flurry penalties. The PDV of the wielder is affected by flurry and onslaught as normal, but ignores penalties for all other actions.)
• Any successful attack will always inflict at least 1 health level of damage, even if otherwise soaked or reduced to zero.
• When used on any creature considered to be outside Fate, the sword inflicts Aggravated damage.
• By spending 10 motes and successfully making an attack roll with a +5 difficulty (external penalty) the character can temporarily sever his target from the Tapestry. For the remainder of the scene the victim can no longer regain motes or Willpower through the use of stunts and is considered to be outside Fate. If this is used on a creature already outside Fate then it forcibly brings them within its bounds - the crippling effect on stunts remains. This effect can be dodged but not parried.

Invincible Golden Rampart

Orichalcum shield

When unattuned, this mighty artefact appears to be little more than a small pedestal of orichalcum. When fed with the requisite motes, it unfurls to become a glowing sunburst, eight limbs of the Unconquered Sun's holy material suspended in a web of raw Essence and surrounding a boss carved with the likeness of the greatest of the gods. It is both a powerful defence and a potent weapon against those that Sol Invictus has declared to be unclean and unworthy of his light. The shield has sockets for three hearthstones and requires the commitment of 8 motes.

Invincible Golden Rampart has the following powers:

• All attacks against the wielder (regardless of awareness or direction) suffer a +3 difficulty (external) penalty.
• Should the attack of any Creature of Darkness miss the character as a result of this penalty then they are instantly incinerated (if an Extra) or they suffer five dice of Aggravated damage. (If the attack of any Creature of Darkness would have hit the character but for the DV bonus given by the shield then they are instantly incinerated (if an Extra) or they suffer five dice of Aggravated damage.)
• The shield can also be used as a weapon, in which case it has the following profile:

Speed +3 (6), Accuracy +3, Damage +9B, Defence +7 (N/A), Rate 3 (2)

• • Note that if it is used to parry with then the power above will not activate, but using it as a weapon doesn't adversely affect this ability. (This makes no sense in Ex2 and can be ignored.)
• The character may reflexively spend 8 motes to completely absorb any single attack that he is aware of into the shield. This negates any damage or other effects that the attack might have had, were it to have struck.

Oblivion's Might

Soulsteel grand goremaul

A truly enormous hammer, Oblivion's Might is so heavy that one must attune to it to even be able to move it. The soulsteel head is a half-ton block of the accursed metal, carved with hundreds of faces screaming their torment, and the souls trapped within mean that these faces can be seen to move. It has sockets for two hearthstones, set on the haft.

Speed +10 (6), Accuracy +4, Damage +16L(P), Defence +2, Rate 4 (2), Min. Str ••••, Commitment 7

Oblivion's Might has the following additional powers:

• All 10s on its damage rolls count as two successes.
• All mortal weapons and armour that it strikes are destroyed. (Mortal weapons and shields used to create a PDV against Oblivion’s Might are destroyed after one such use.)
• Multiply raw damage by ten for the purposes of knockback and/or knockdown only.
• By spending 10 motes before an attack the wielder can wreathe his enemy with the essence of the Void, temporarily reducing their permanent Essence by 1. This reduction affects the target's mote pools and ability to use Charms that they no longer meet the requirements for, and lasts for five turns minus the successes from a reflexive roll of the target’s unmodified permanent Essence. The effect is cumulative, but the total duration cannot exceed five turns regardless of the number of successful attacks and cannot, in any case, reduce a being's Essence below 1.

Endless Conflagration

Red jade reaver daiklave

This mighty weapon of the Dragon-Blooded resembles little more than still-molten lava that has been coerced into retaining the shape of a sword. Five feet long and with a visible heat haze surrounding it at all times, Endless Conflagration feeds on its wielder's power, growing ever stronger as he expends Essence in battle. Endless Conflagration can only be attuned to by the Terrestrial Exalted, and has a single hearthstone socket on the pommel.

Speed +11 (5), Accuracy +5, Damage +11L, Defence +2, Rate 5 (3), Min. Str ••, Commitment 8

Endless Conflagration has the following additional powers:

• Every stage of anima activation that the wielder has gone through increases its base damage by +2L.
• Whenever Endless Conflagration is parried (fully or partially) subtract 2 from the victim's dice pools for the remainder of the turn, as showers of sparks distract and blind him. This penalty is cumulative in the case of multiple attacks in a single turn. (Endless Conflagration doubles the onslaught penalty as well as inflicting a -2 internal penalty to all actions on his next active tick when the target uses his PDV against it. These penalties are cumulative when used in a flurry.)
• By spending 7 motes the character can call forth the spirit of the sword itself as an immense dragon of fire. The dragon will attack any single target that the character can see, without any restrictions for range. This is treated exactly as if the character were attacking his target in hand-to-hand combat except that the damage is doubled before soak is applied.

Inevitable Fortune

Starmetal polearm

This strange weapon, of unknown provenance, has been a matter of great frustration for many Sidereal artificers since its abilities were thought to be impossible and any analysis has resulted in little beyond wasted time. The rainbow-sheened blade is elegant in form but unadorned by even a simple maker’s mark, and the haft, although functionally unbreakable, is made from otherwise ordinary Haltan heartwood. Inevitable Fortune has a pair of hearthstone sockets, affixed to the back of the blade.

Speed +13 (6), Accuracy +5, Damage +16L, Defence +2, Rate 3, Min. Str •••, Commitment 8

Inevitable Fortune has the following additional powers:

• The successes of any dodge or parry attempts made against its attacks are halved (round up). (Inevitable Fortune reduces the DDV and PDV of its victims to half, rounded up. Onslaught penalties are applies to this new, lower total.)
• The wielder cannot be surprised and is coincidentally aware of all attacks made against him.
• After an attack has been made, but before any defence has been presented, the character may choose to defer up to three successes for his next attack or parry.
• Once per scene, at the beginning of a turn, the Exalted may spend 10 motes to enter a “perfect moment”. For the remainder of the turn all of his dice are considered to come up as successes and his initiative is treated as if he had rolled a 10. The wielder need not use this ability during a combat scene. (Once per scene the Exalted may spend 10 motes to enter a “perfect moment”. Until his next active tick he ignores penalties to his PDV and all dice he rolls are considered to come up as automatic successes).

Deadly Beguilement

Moonsilver fighting chain

This deceptive weapon appears to be little more than a thin (albeit unbreakable) silver rope, 20 yards in length and no thicker than the index finger of a child. When used in battle, however, the weapon seems to come alive, snapping back at its wielder's distracted opponents and granting the character almost unmatched mobility.

Speed +15 (4), Accuracy +6, Damage +12L, Defence +4, Rate 6 (3), Min. Dex ••••, Commitment 8

Deadly Beguilement has the following additional powers:

• The wielder's Martial Arts or Melee (whichever is higher) is subtracted from the dice-pools of all attacks against the character. (Anyone attacking the wielder applies his Martial Arts of Melee, whichever is higher, as an internal penalty.)
• At the beginning of a turn, the wielder may exchange points of Rate (minimum Rate 1) for +5 to Speed and 10 yards of additional length. Attacks can be made freely out to whatever the weapon's current length is. (At the beginning of his active tick the wielder may increase Deadly Beguilement’s Rate by applying an equal increase to its Speed, up to a maximum of +3 to both. Each such increase also adds 10 yards to the length of the weapon.)
• Every attack made with it is treated as if it were two identical attacks. This does not increase the cost of any Charms used to enhance the attack. If used to clinch with this effect does not apply. (Onslaught is inflicted for each of the “doubled” attacks.)
• By reflexively spending 5 motes (on Step 7)the character can instantly move to any location within the reach of his weapon. While this will not allow the character to avoid an attack by itself, if used in conjunction with a dodge the character may counter-attack his opponent, provided the opponent is within range. The character may not counter-attack a counter-attack with this effect.

Comments:

Nice. I think we needed more of these. Is that last power on Clotho's Mercy defendable against?
-- Darloth

Thanks. :) To answer - yes, hence the difficulty modifier rather than a flat difficulty. I've made a note to that effect. - forgetful Moxiane

Need a cap on the last power of Oblivion's Might (which is cool, as is all of the stuff here... thought about making this a communual project?), I'd personally suggest not being able to reduce a target's essence by more than half (round up), but certainly, you need to clarify what happens if they hit 1 and/or 0.
-- Darloth

I've modified that last power - it was too previously too vague, yes. As to the communal project thing, this is mostly just me playing with how broken I can make weapons while keeping them both useable and within a given theme. I'm going to quit at two for each Magical Material. - Moxiane

Loving the Moonsilver whip. Just loving it. – GreenLantern

I have updated, altered or clarified these weapons for use in Ex2. – Moxiane

That is one nifty collection of weapons. Do the stats include MM bonus? Did you use any specific rules set? -Azurelightthinking of trying to reverse engineer these with his rules system for artifact creation.

Thanks! Yes, the stats can be considered to include the MM bonii (although I'm buggered if I can remember them anymore); for the purpose of their additional powers the first one on each is independent of harmonisation, but the others as well as the pay-for-use ability require that the wielder be harmonised. I did not use any specific set of rules (either of my sets), I simply tried to make artefact weapons that were both horrendously broken and useable within the rules. Basically, I did it by eye. - Moxiane

..So, Soul Cancer would have a Speed of 5 if not fully attuned? (Jade X2 bonus =-1 speed)-Azurelight

Yes. - Moxiane

Another question, Mox. In what country do you live? You answerd rather quickly to my question, Second, do you use any IM? I have studied your material on the wiki, and found that I would like to discuss something with you, and a more direct means than the wiki would lend itself better to that. Regards -Azurelight

I reside in good old Blighty, or England, and have decent net access at work plus copious boredom. :) And I do have IM, but can be just as easy reached most evenings (or days during the weekend) on WoDIRC. Drop by sometime. - Moxiane

I would, but there is a bit of a problem. My computer doesn't like mIRC. At all. It has alredy diend thrice because of that program (for no good reason) and I'am very hesitant to reinstall it. -Azurelight

I'm mildly hesitant to throw random links out, but I use http:/www.trillian.cc Trillian to connect to IRC, as well as all the IM clients I need, and have no troubles. Just an option? - Trithne

You can also use the RPG.net java chat client - Moxiane

Just to chat on WoDIRC, go to www.magicstar.net and it has a java client hooked right into the proper server. - Telgar

The way Inevitable Fortune is worded, I can use those automatic successes for anything. Social combat, medicine rolls, et cetera. Is this intentional? -- GL

That was the original intent, yes. Of course, when I wrote it I didn't have Ex2 yet and was unaware of the difference in timescales between personal and social combat (I figured mass combat already). But, I don't see why it shouldn't work in social combat, too. - Moxiane