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Homebrew Exalt - The Font; Henshin or bust
Topic Started: May 22 2015, 06:57 PM (2,165 Views)
SporkMaster5000

So Highwind made an exaltation, T_A made a different exaltation, Eisenritter made some edits to it, and they both got into book 3 despite stepping on each other's toes. Then it all went to shit and I started from square 1.

Fluff:
Spoiler: click to toggle


Crunch:

Spoiler: click to toggle


Assets:

Spoiler: click to toggle
Edited by SporkMaster5000, Jan 4 2016, 01:18 AM.
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SporkMaster5000

Eisenritter
Aug 1 2015, 10:23 PM
If they were, previous versions would have seen fit to add them. Note that Highwind's Champion outright said that it gave you a trinket that was only counted as an artifact for the plot armor, unless you actually spent dots for the background. T_A's Wellspring just said "external source of power" and left it for the player to decide what that meant.
the champion got a functional artifact power up type thing at 3 power stat.

the issue arises from trying to capture that transformation trinket function, I just don't think it really meshes mechanically or is necessary flavorfully.
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Cork

Okay, so I'm a little confused how this Exaltation is supposed to actually play. Combat starts, goes Avatar, maybe goes Super Mode, then... what? I have to spend a Drop every turn or I'm going to lose my form, but what am I supposed to be spending those Drops on? The only things I can even potentially spend them on are Super Mode, whatever my Asset lets me do that's not even going to be applicable all the time, +1k0 on tests, break out of stunned/dazed, and maybe a reaction action.

I mean, I get the idea of "take Avatar form, do cool stuff," but there's no cool stuff I can actually do with Drops as far as I can see. And the capstone five dot skill lets me potentially blow as many Drops in one turn as I want... on what? Again, there's really nothing I can do with them. I'm not spending points to do cool stuff, I'm spending points just for the sake of spending them so that I don't lose the stat bonuses on my form and have to waste another full action getting it back.

I'm left with a fairly low resource point cap that unless I'm spending every single turn I lose almost all of the advantages of the Exaltation, and in actually spending them I'm not really getting to do anything. For the Exemplary Hero asset this mostly makes sense, as that's kind of the point and it lets you potentially use Drops outside Avatar (but again, to spend on what?) in exchange for that nice constant +1k1 while in Avatar state and a high-risk recourse point refill, but why would I really want to take anything else? I burn out just as fast, and I don't even have a way to refill except watching my buddies get beat up, which is limited.

Am I just missing something here? I really like the idea of this Exaltation, I just can't figure out how to make it actually work.
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ReptileViking
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Did you know there are uses for resource points outside of specific granted powers? It's on page 54 of the first book.

The Font can get Reaction actions, recover from Stuns and Dazes and get a +1k0 to skill tests with their Drops. Normally spending resources is capped by the power stat but as you noticed Fonts can spend extra at Channel 5.
Edited by ReptileViking, Oct 3 2015, 01:00 AM.
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Methodia
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Mediocre Overlord
Hey Cork, welcome to the forums.

@Reptileviking, I'm pretty sure he addressed those points in his post, end of the first paragraph. And near the beginning of the second one for the 5th power stat ability.

Cork totally has a point though, and it's been something I've been pointing out to people recently. The whole soft tax on resource points to keep Avatar up. While I agree it would be nice for Font to get something nice to spend resource points on, I do think you're underrating the power of a +1k0 or an extra reaction Cork. Those two are arguably the most useful. You also neglected to mention that resource points can just be raw used to heal yourself with a healing surge no matter what exalt you are, some just do it faster. Reactions are vital to not getting fucked in combat, or if you're more offensive minded you can use those reactions to just pump out a Swift/Lightning attack chain.

That being said, I think the Avatar power should at the very least be reworded. The line about needing to spend a drop each round or you drop out of it should be emphasized because it's easy to miss. Ideally I'd like Avatar to be reworked somehow but at the moment I'm not exactly sure what that should be. Cork has a point though. You could reword the 5th level power easily (and fix the Avatar power) and satisfy most people.

I suggest for a quick change, give the 5th Channel power a ride-on ability to be able to spend Drops to increase damage rolls, only while in the Super mode along with it's normal benefits. So that makes a 5th level Font a real threat when they can just burn their entire pool on one finishing blow (which will probably hurt them), which fits in line with the rest of the theme of the Exaltation.

Cork is totally right about another thing though, Exemplary Hero is the greatest asset for Font.
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ReptileViking
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Derp. Missed that.
Still, I'm pretty sure that's what the intent was to use those abilities not something unique to the Font.

Not that I don't think it could stand another pass. It's a pretty bland Exalt powerwise as is.
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Methodia
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Mediocre Overlord
The thing is, rewriting the Avatar power would totally be nice and I approve of such a thing. But you'd also need to reword and rebalance the other static powers, which would basically be another re-write. Which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'd want Sporkmaster's approval before I did something like that though. But I do have ideas on how to improve Font.
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Cork

Okay, I totally forgot Healing Surge, since it's not listed with the rest of them. So that is one more nice option.

I'm not saying +1k0 or a reaction are bad, it's just... that's all you've got. You're basically on a (fairly short) timer with Avatar, and when you run out of points most of your Exaultaion just sort of goes poof. Other Exaultations can do those same things with bigger pools and/or more ways to recover points, and without the restriction of needing to take a full action before they can even start to do so (except Exemplary Hero). Like ReptileViking said, it's really bland at best in that regard.

I'm not really sure what I'd do to "fix" it, personally. I feel like Exemplary Hero is the only one that should require Drop every turn to maintain Avatar, but I really don't know what to do with the rest of it. I do like that idea for the 5th Channel power Methodia, that feels like the kind of thing I'm talking about. Plus it makes me think of Nanoha, and I feel like that's what this Exaltation should make me think of.

Random aside, I feel like shouting your attack names should be a thing. Enemies get a bonus to parry/dodge/resist/whatever because they know what it is, but it gets some kind of bonus like refunding a Drop or something. Because something something friendship.

Seriously, I have an idea for a fairy that goes around Befriending everyone and it's a perfect fit for Font's direction, I just feel like the Exaltation itself doesn't quite click.

EDIT: Okay, I just got an idea I like and hate at the same time. Avatar Form doesn't require Drops to be expended (except Exemplary), but special attacks/trick shots/combo magic in Avatar require a Drop. This gets you all the nice bonuses, clicks with what the Exaltation really does, and gives you the option of saving points for other things instead of forcing you to bleed them just to maintain Avatar. Combine with shouting your attack names and you can break even if all you're doing is special attacks, losing all form of subtlety/surprise.
Edited by Cork, Oct 3 2015, 03:43 AM.
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Eisenritter
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Old Iron Knight
...We've gone full circle now. First there was bitching over having to expend Drops specifically to stay in Avatar form, then when that was removed there was bitching about not having to do that, and now this...
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ReptileViking
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Forums are magical aren't they?

:P
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Eisenritter
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Old Iron Knight
Methodia
Oct 3 2015, 02:56 AM
The thing is, rewriting the Avatar power would totally be nice and I approve of such a thing. But you'd also need to reword and rebalance the other static powers, which would basically be another re-write. Which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'd want Sporkmaster's approval before I did something like that though. But I do have ideas on how to improve Font.
Midboss57 already started the split, anyway; he went and made a magical girl exalt more based on Princess: The Hopeful.

If you've got ideas for improving this, go ahead and share them, since Spork might show up now that people are posting in his thread again.
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