AlchemicalFlawIdeas
A discussion of how an enterprising Storyteller can add an interesting tragic flaw similar to the Great Curse of the Solars, the Sidereal's Paradox, or the Abyssal's Resonance.
Every kind of Exalted thus far has some sort of dramatic flaw associated with them. Why should the Alchemical Exalted be any different? The following is an optional system for introducing such a flaw.
There is a strange sort of existance resulting from being a collective consciousness composed of the heroes of Autochthonia; they’re all striving for control, for the right to exist again. The Alchemical constantly use their willpower to keep the chorus of voices from overpowering and taking control of their bodies.
Mechanically, this means that whenever the Alchemical Exalt has spent all his temporary Willpower, his control over the voices within is lost, and the strongest personality will come into control for at least a number of days equal to the Exalt’s highest virtue. This Atavistic effect means that the character is effectively ‘somebody else’ for awhile, and the dominant personality should be detailed prior to play.
- - Darzoni
Another idea: inhumanity. I'm a bit concerned that the restrictions aren't properly balanced. Also, I don't want the mechanism for restoring humanity to be a cheap way of regaining Willpower.
It's known that the highest Essence Alchemicals rarely communicate or interact with lesser beings. Despite their grafted souls, Alchemicals and their abilities are fundamentally mechanical and inhuman in a way that other Exalts aren't. An Alchemical's virtues are what ground him in his humanity: every time he surpresses these virtues, he becomes slightly less human and more machine.
Whenever an Alchemical spends a Willpower point to act contrary to one of his virtues, he must make a Willpower roll at difficulty equal to his permanent Essence. If this roll fails, the Alchemical gains a point of Inhumanity. As an Alchemical gains Inhumanity, he becomes increasingly cold and emotionless. If an Alchemical's Inhumanity exceeds his lowest virtue, he suffers a -1 penalty to all rolls involving Charisma (Manipulation rolls suffer no penalty). If an Alchemical's Inhumanity exceeds his temporary Willpower, he suffers a -2 penalty to all social interactions, and suffers a -2 penalty to all actions that do not directly advance his goals. If an Alchemical wishes to act in accordance with a virtue, he may make a difficulty 1 roll of that virute's rating to waive the penalty in that instance. (An Alchemical would only have to roll once for an extended activity such as defending an unimportant village.) If the Alchemical wishes to act against his goals for the sake of a virtue, he must succeed at a difficulty 1 roll of the virtue, and receives a -2 penalty at that action even if successful.
If an Alchemical's Inhumanity exceeds his permanent Willpower, he loses all non-rational motivations. He only cares about other beings to the extent that their wellbeing is his responsibility, or advances his goals. He only keeps his sworn word until the benefits of breaking it exceed the repercussions, including the extent to which a reputation for dishonesty would hinder him. Honor in combat is meaningless to him. He is incapable of love, knows no fear (although he may value himself for his usefulness to his cause), and knows neither joy, sadness, anger, nor hatred (although he is capable of cold satisfaction or dissatisfaction). To the Alchemical pain is merely information, and thus he ignores all wound penalties and is impervious to all forms of torture (although he may decide that preventing harm to himself is more important than what the torturer wants). The Alchemical never fails a Conviction, Temperence, or Valour roll to pursue his goals in the most efficient manner. The Alchemical adds his Inhumanity rating in dice on rolls to resist supernatural fear or adoration. The Alchemical keeps whatever goals he had previously, although stripped of emotion: An Alchemical questing for a forgotten treasure will continue to seek it, although if greed was what had motivated him, the Alchemical will cease to seek the treasure if he sees a more efficient way to gain wealth. An Alchemical soldier will continue to serve his country. An Alchemical who loved others will either cease to care about them or will serve their interests as a steward serves a plot of land: the Alchemical will act in what he considers their interests, without any care as to what they want or what they think of him. (In his emotionless state, is likely that an Alchemical might forget the non-material aspects of a person's wellbeing, or consider them unimportant. Thus, an Alchemical might imprison his loved ones to ensure their safety.) As he forgets what it means to be human, the Alchemical suffers penalty to all social interactions equal to half of his Inhumanity, rounded down (to a minimum of 2). If the Alchemical wishes to perform an action that, while advancing the Alchemical's goals, has another primary motivation, the Alchemical must succeed a difficulty 1 roll of the motivating virtue (if any) or face a -4 penalty, and suffers a -2 penalty on the action even if successful. If the player wishes to perform an action that is irrelevant to the Alchemical's goals, the player must make a virtue roll to act at all, and even if the roll is successful all dice-rolls associated with the action receive a penalty of -4. (The only way for the Alchemical to act against his goals is to fully give himself over to a virtue. See below.)
An Alchemical whose Inhumanity is twice his permanent Willpower loses all of his former motivations: he now cares only for the wishes of Autochthon. The Alchemical would think nothing of sacrificing his life in Autochthon's service, although he would not deprive Autochthon of a servant by throwing his life away meaninglessly. In absence of commands from Autochthon, the Alchemical will act to achieve what he believes Autochthon would want, and may obey those whom the Alchemical believes to be more attuned to the will of Autochthon. At this level of Inhumanity, the Alchemical is treated as an automation for the purposes of virtue rolls and supernatural compulsions, although effects such as the penalty for breaking a Geas will still apply to him. All of the Alchemical's rolls involving Charisma or Socialize start with a dice pool of zero before the use of charms, and the Alchemical suffers a penalty to all other social interactions equal to half of his Inhumanity (rounded down to a minimum of 2). Such an Alchemical follows the above rules for pursing actions irrelevant (or for another primary reason than) Autochthon's wishes. Such an Alchemical can only give himself over to a virtue (see below) by channeling a virtue point. Should such an Alchemical increase his permanent Willpower above his Inhumanity (or decrease his Inhumanity below his permanent Willpower), he may or may not immidiately regain his old priorities.
An Alchemical can regain his humanity by acting in accordance with his strongest virtues. An Alchemical can lose a point of Inhumanity by acting in accordance with one his virtues with a rating of at least 3 when opposing it would require a roll: then Alchemical may then roll a number of dice equal to the virtue's rating, and loses a single point of Inhumanity upon a success. (If the Alchemical has high levels of Inhumanity, the Alchemical may have to make a seperate roll in order to follow his virtues. An Alchemical cannot lose more than one point of Inhumanity this way in a single scene, or more than three points of Inhumanity this way in a single day. An Alchemical cannot lose Inhumanity for performing an act he was compelled to do, or for an act that he performed for a primary reason other than the virtue.) However, an Alchemical can also strengthen his nature and reaffirm his essential humanity by completely giving himself over to a virtue. Mechanically, the Alchemical acts in accordance with a listed Virtue Flaw. The Alchemical can only do this when an appropriate trigger occurs, and must succeed at a difficulty 2 roll with the appropriate virtue if he wishes to receive any benefit. (Channeling a virtue point yields automatic success on this roll.) When an Alchemical fully gives in to a virtue in this way, it is difficult to regain control prematurely: in order to break free of a virtue flaw before it runs its course, an Alchemical must succeed a Willpower roll with a difficulty of the virute's rating and pay a point of temporary Willpower. (Spending the willpower point increases the Alchemical's inhumanity, as normal.) While in hold of the virtue, the Alchemical ignores all of his accumulated Inhumanity. If the Alchemical allows the virtue flaw to run its course, at the end of its duration the Alchemical rolls a number of dice equal to his rating in the virtue, and subtracts the successes from his Inhumanity rating (to a minimum of 0). Completely abandoning yourself to a virtue can be cathartic: the Alchemical may increase his temporary Willpower by the number of points of Inhumanity he lost (although he cannot increase his temporary Willpower above his permanent Willpower in this way). An Alchemical cannot lose Inhumanity by giving in to a Virtue Flaw more than once per day.
-- Raindoll
Contemplating the exact nature of alchemy in the real world, it seems that the old alchemists believed that in order to practice alchemy, you also need to achieve spiritual enlightenment. The Alchemical Exalted sort of follow this same idea. As they grow more powerful (increasing their permanent essence), they become more in-tune with Autochthon and less in tune with their human souls. To the Autochthonians, wouldn't this be a sort of spiritual enlightenment? So perhaps the Great Flaw of the Alchemicals has actually been present all along, in the form of their permanent Essence. -Darzoni
It is not stated, that I can find, that the Alchemical Exalted waged war upon the Primordials. Also, recall the reason why the Exalts have the Great Curse in the first place- the gods used their power to protect themselves from the curse of the Primordials, causing it to be deferred to the Exalted who served the gods. Autochton is no god, and on that point might infer that despite siding with the gods, he escaped being targetted by the Great Curse, and, by extension, his Exalted escaped having the Curse shunted onto them. This makes them different from any type of Exalted presented thus far. Alchemicals are not like any other Exalted type presented to us before. I would not, personally, lump the size increase linked to Essence as being the same as the Great Curse induced Limit Breaks of other Exalted types, but if the Alchemicals do indeed have a 'Great Flaw,' the weakness induced by their limited Essence is it, combined with the Personal Essence pool limiting the number of charms they may have. -Andrew01
