HearthstoneRelay/LimitlessJoy
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The fourteenth theme is limitless joy.
Pillow-stone of Limitless Joy (TedPro)
Air Aspected Manse • Trigger: Sleep
This stone is a fale pale, smoky stone, with iridescent purple veins within which seem to slowly twist over time. Sleeping while touching an artifact set with this stone causes incredible dreams of bountiful, perfect, bodiless joy. The bearer automatically succeeds their daily Conviction check to regain Willpower - treat any failure or botch as a single success. However, this is also somewhat addictive: a regular user must make a Temperance roll to give the stone away or sleep without it.
Breaking Heart Gem (Ikselam)
Water Aspected Manse •• Trigger: Artistic endeavour.
This deep aquamarine sphere has an obvious flaw in it: a crack that reaches all the way through the stone. When attuned, it can pull all sadness, doubt, and worry from its bearer's mind, leaving only unadulterated joy. So radiant and heart-breaking is her happiness that others cannot help but be swept up in it. Mechanically, attaining such a joyous state allows the character to take a perfect success on a single roll related to inspiring happiness in others (usually an artistic effort involving Craft or Performance); every die is counted as a single automatic success, rather than being rolled.
This power can be used whenever the character wishes, but it causes the Breaking Heart Gem to live up to its name, shattering under the weight of all the negative emotions she is not feeling for that instant. The gem splits in half along its seam; the two halves quickly lose their color and dissolve into worthless salt and gravel. The hearthstone reforms normally at its Manse over the course of the next month.
Eye of Delight (Quendalon)
Water Aspected Manse ••• Trigger: Concentration
Brilliant sea-green motes drift slowly through this violet stone; they brighten and grow sprightlier in the presence of happiness. This stone has a nigh-limitless sensitivity to the presence of joy. By touching the stone and gazing at another person, the bearer becomes aware of how much joy exists in that person’s heart; by meditating upon the stone within a populated locale, the bearer learns how joyous the citizenry truly are. This may add three dice to a Bureaucracy, Performance, Presence or Socialize roll that would benefit from the knowledge provided by the Eye.
Glorious Celebration Stone (Gamlain)
Solar Aspected Manse •••• Trigger: A party or feast
This deep amber gemstone is filled with tiny flecks of orichalcum; it has no on-the-battlefield use, but is nevertheless quite powerful in warfare. When set at the focal point or above the entrance to a post- or pre-battle celebration, the Glorious Celebration stone improves the outcome of the battle by filling the troops with unlimited fervor and a fierce, savage joy of warfare if used before battle, or a feeling of unlimited accomplishment and glory if used post-battle. All those who attend a Glorious Celebration are so filled with this battle-lust that they cannot fail Valor rolls for the next day, and gain a 1 die bonus to their melee pools due to the pure joy they find in violence. In either case, the energy provided to those who attend the celebration re-energizes the exhausted, banishing fatigue in a single night, and healing 1 health level to the wounded over the course of the festivities. The Glorious Celebration Stone's power effects only those who attend the celibration who are also within recognizable sight of the stone the entire time; This feasably limits the number of troops it can effect in that manner to approximately 500 or so. Regardless of the outcome of the battles it is used in, the Battle-joy of the Glorious Celebration Stone is far more a jewel can survive broadcasting; At the apex of the Feast, the Glorious Celebration Stone explodes into harmless golden motes that blanket the main hall or camp for an hour. It will regenerate in the heart of its manse in 1 month.
Orb of Boundless Ecstasy (TedPro)
Wood Aspected Manse ••••• Trigger: Concentration
This perfect sphere is of the brightest, purest orange, radiating such enegry that it seems constantly on the verge of joyous explosion, like a tiny sun barely bound by its spherical container. When activated, all parties within 50 yards of the stone are overwhelmed by delight and fulfillment as the area is bathed in luminous orange energies. This effect moves with the stone. Previous tasks and goals pale in comparison to the joy that is felt. All those present must make a Conviction roll, at a difficulty of 2, to take any action besides lounging in ecstasy and expressing their joys. Any attempt at violence or hostility, or any attempt to move out of the radius of the stone, raises this difficulty to 4. The bearer is also effected, but difficulty is reduced by 1 for the bearer. This effect lasts a scene, and when it is over, the Hearthstone shatters. It will regenerate in the heart of its Manse in a month.
Comments
Hmm... I think that adding 'limitless' really serves to, well, limit this. How much limitless anything can you call up from a one-dot Hearthstone? Adjectives good, superlatives bad! - Quendalon
- I took that as a challenge. --TedPro
- I bow to your superior understanding. Excellent work! - Quendalon
- Gosh, thank you! Yours is rad, too. -- TedPro
- His superlative-fu is strong? Ahem. Anyway, question about the Pillow-stone. Does it grant 1 auto-success, or simply ensure that all conviction dice count as 1 success rather than being rolled, or simply mean you get 1 (and only 1) willpower back every time you sleep. Also, how does it interact with someone who has the nightmare flaw? (It increases the difficulty of that conviction roll by 1)
-- Darloth
- His superlative-fu is strong? Ahem. Anyway, question about the Pillow-stone. Does it grant 1 auto-success, or simply ensure that all conviction dice count as 1 success rather than being rolled, or simply mean you get 1 (and only 1) willpower back every time you sleep. Also, how does it interact with someone who has the nightmare flaw? (It increases the difficulty of that conviction roll by 1)
- The fourth option! It guarantees that you never get 0 successes. - willows
- Right. Amended it to make that clearer. --TedPro
No offense, Gamlain, but that Hearthstone is way too overpowered. I'd personally not only remove all of the effects except for the Valour roll thing, but I'd also impose a numerical upper limit to those it can affect.
~ Shataina
- Or, perhaps, say that they succeed in all Valor rolls, but, once they enter battle, fail in all other virtue rolls. I don't know. It is a ridiculously powerful stone as written -szilard
- I don't agree, actually. Mechanically, it's little more powerfull than Heroism Inciting Presence (one more bonus die, heals 1 health level in a non-combat situation), and affects less than, or at *most* about as many troups (Certainly, it's range should be much less than essence x 100 Yards that HIP affects!) but has a longer duration (one day vs 1 sceene). I do need to make clear it's limited area off effect, though, and thinking about it, it would be best to reduce the die bonus to the same as HIP, so I'll do that - and it also ought to be limited uses, to prevent generals from having such victory celibrations every *day*, which I didn't think of while writing it up last night. - Gamlain
- As it is, I think it's a great Hearthstone. The shattering effect means it will really only be used in climactic battles, it takes a lot of preparation, and a maximum of 500 people makes it epic in scope. The Valor effect seems like the most potent part of it - the rest is an added bonus. -- TedPro
Speaking of the "shattering" effect, a majority of stones in this relay seem to use it. I like that. --TedPro
Errm... Everyone within 50 -years- of the Orb of Boundless Ecstasy? Do you mean miles, or yards? And if it's yards... can the bearer move with the stone (and so change the area of effect) while it's on? Indeed... is the bearer effected?
- Oops. Edited that. Thanks. --TedPro
