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Comments on the Crimson Thicket of Bamboo Style

This is an exciting start to a Style. Don't forget your sutra! - willows

Thanks! I don't want to work too hard on the sutra until I have all the Charms, though. It'd be annoying to have to keep rewriting it.  :) - Quendalon

Towering Oak Stance: "I'm Big, I'm Strong, and my skin just turned into Starmetal." Hmmm. For some reason it reminds me of an expensive, minor DBT for Martial Artists. But, as for doing Monkey King based charms, have fun with that! - DODurden

Well, I based it roughly on the "Giant" Wyld blight, but couldn't think of a decent way to incorporate the additional health levels that "Giant" normally grants. Really big people should be able to take more damage; I'm not sure if simply adding soak fits well, and adding extra health levels gets wonky when you leave the stance. Any thoughts? - Quendalon

Hurray for usernames. At the end of the day, it's your charm, do with it as thou wilt, and so on and so forth. But when it comes down to it, if you're huge there's simply more skin, muscle and tissue to tear through before you hit organs/arteries/etc. If you want to give health levels, then by all means go ahead. Personally, I just think that Starmetal effect + high soak = quick road to shrugging off blows. As for how to get rid of health levels, that's easily done: take off the bonus levels first, then when the charm ends, those go away. Instant healing, but this translates to the person making his wounds shrink down to scratches when she ends the charm. -- DODurden

OK, better? Still worthwhile as a Sidereal MA Charm? - Quendalon

Looks fine to me! In the end, playtesting is the ultimate arbiter of Rock vs Suck. It's your charm, so have fun with it! -- DODurden

I like the way this style is shaping up. I have a couple of Celestial styles that would make great precursors to this (and are pretty similar in a couple of effects) - MartialArts/HarmoniousForestStyle and MartialArts/DiscordantForestStyle. - SMK

Thanks! Yes, there are some definite similarities, as might be expected given the similar themes. How is Discordant Forest Style coming along? - Quendalon

Actually, it's pretty much done. I have a minor question about a prereq, but that's just for my own houserules. - SMK

Rending Hemorrhage Shout is disgustingly overpowered. If you have the sutra up, all you have to do is either damage someone or wait for them to activate a Charm that costs an Agg or Lethal HL, and they die. 2 motes per round, and they die. Poof. The idea of perfect-attacking an area for 12 Motes and a Willpower (let alone for 2 motes), with unsoakable damage that's applied rather than rolled, is completely ridiculous. I wish I had something constructive to offer, like an alternative, but I can't think of one right now. - SMK

SMK, we all know that you can offer Charm critique without describing exactly how your stomach is turned by the Charm. I agree with you, the Charm's pretty strong. But I think that there are better ways to express that than "completely ridiculous" and "disgustingly overpowered". Please try and separate your reasonable commentary from your bile. It makes the Wiki a happier place.

I would go with a standard "environmental damage" mechanic for RHS; roll Stamina + Resistance (maybe at a diff of current HLs incurred); on a success you take half levels. You can completely escape the damage of this effect with perfect defences, of course.

- willows

Edit Conflict! Gasp!

Quendalon can defend his own page. =P\\

But to address your concerns - if someone suggested a thaumaturgical path for mortals that allowed them to transform themselves into 4-Essence small gods the instant character creation was over, I'd consider that disgustingly overpowered as well. If a Charm made a character immune to damage as long as 5 Motes were commmitted to it, that would be completely ridiculous. Likewise, when a Charm deals levels instead of dice of damage, which can't be defended against without perfects (incidentally, the only canon Solar Charm that stops this attacks is PoCB) and affects an area and basically just rapes everyone, it is overpowered, and I'm not sorry for saying so. Seriously, with the sutra up, look at what this Charm does: 2 Motes, Instant, Simple, everyone near you who's taken damage is suddenly crippled or dead. Whoops. Next round, while they're healing, poof, there it goes again! What are you supposed to DO about that?\\ As for your fix, I like it - do you mean to make the damage soakable like environmental, or still unsoakable?\\ -SMK

Thanks for the advice! This is just a first draft of the Charm, and I'm not quite used to writing up Essence 7 Charms yet, so expect things to be a little wonky. Right now, I'm thinking of allowing targets with awakened Essence to make a Stamina + Resistance roll and reducing the damage by the rolled successes. Or maybe just soak the attack with permanent Essence. And maybe the cost should be increased to account for the sutra discount. Thoughts? - Quendalon

Yeah, it gets a little tricky around Essence 6+; I'm having the same problem with Mist on Still Water Style. I like the idea of making it soakable with Essence - were you thinking of letting it be soaked completely, à la environmental damage, or doing at least 1 HL regardless? And I also like the idea of upping the cost to account for the sutra. I don't think it'd be too out-of-line for this one to cost 20M 1W. Anyway, yeah, sorry if the tone was a tad inflammatory. Good work on the style so far =)\\

-SMK

A suggestion for Thousand Eagles Assault could be that it turns the character into a Mail & Steel version of himself, say maybe as a unit with a Magnitude equal to Essence/2 and calculating the attack and damage modifiers as normal under M&S? - Moxiane

That's probably a good suggestion, but I haven't actually read the Mail & Steel rules yet, so I wouldn't know. :) I don't want to base a Charm on an optional ruleset in a book that not everyone will own. I do appreciate the suggestion though, and welcome other ideas. - Quendalon

I like. =) - SMK

The last of the Charms are up. The tree still needs a lot of work, and the new Charms may be loathesomely overpowered. Feel free to tell me so; don't get worked up over it, since I'm not trying to break the game, and I'm eager to file things down to the proper power level. - Quendalon

One thing, we going to get a Master's Sutra? ^_^ But it looks cool... and vicious. - haren

Yeah, you'll get a Master's Sutra. I don't know when; I'll need to wait until inspiration strikes. And thanks for the compliment! - Quendalon

One question I had, nothing big, but do you see Cultivating the Earthen Seed as a Manse creating MA technique? I just looked at it, and that's honestly something that can easily seeing it do if over a demense. Not that it can't be used for more mundane buildings, but you have to admit basically having "Manse - Just Add Water." is both cool and hideously scary (but well within the realm of possiblity for the requirements.) - haren

Excellent question! I've added the Manse-raising ability to the Charm. - Quendalon

Well, Elongating the Moment is hideously powerful, but I'm kind of hesitant to say it's too powerful. I'd really have to see it playtested, which is a pretty slim chance =P\\ Seriously, though, I really like the style. - SMK

I figure that by the time you get to Essence 7, your Solar and Abyssal opponents probably have access to turn-long perfect defenses, and your Lunar adversaries have turn-long perfect soak charms, that can hold off anything you can throw at them during that turn. :) My own issues are with Space-Stretching Gesture; what happens if you use it against Essence-Shattering Typhoon? A zone of destruction three yards long and one-tenth of a mile wide? That'll look weird... - Quendalon

Chick Bursts From Egg

Looks a little strong, with its instant-kill effect; under power combat, the secondary damage can't be soaked below the amount inflicted at all!

Screw power combat. :) Tweaked. - Quendalon

Budding Branches Prana

This effectively gives you Essence/2 Extra Actions each turn...which is actually less good than some advanced Abyssal Brawl. Looks good to me.

Wielding the Mountain

The style is worth it for this Charm alone. It drips with excellence. Under PC, should it also increase weapon speed?

Probably. I'd have to look at the power combat rules first. - Quendalon

- willows

I have a question regarding both Towering Oak Stance and Join the Pillars of Heaven - should those attacking the MAist get bonus dice to hit a la Savage Seas (+1 die per 10 points of Strength + Stamina)? If so, at least with the latter Charm any opponent would get twice the character's Essence in bonus dice. The style is, however, exceptionally cool. :) - Moxiane