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Homebrew Exaltation - Godhand[WIP]; ATATATATATATATATATATATATATAAA!
Topic Started: Mar 4 2018, 07:50 AM (1,979 Views)
Scrapyard_Dragon
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So, I have to ask. Why an exalt who's only claim to fame is "Punch good"? There are classes for that, and for this you might as well just be a paragon monk for all the flavor difference it makes.
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roko10

Scrapyard_Dragon
Mar 9 2018, 09:43 PM
So, I have to ask. Why an exalt who's only claim to fame is "Punch good"? There are classes for that, and for this you might as well just be a paragon monk for all the flavor difference it makes.
Why is there a Keyblader (and now Buster) exaltation when the Meister exists? Why is there an Dragonblooded Exaltation when you can play as a Dragonborn right out of the gate? Why is the Volver/Metamorph there when there’s a perfectly fine Kyton race?

Overlap between Exaltations, classes and races will always be there. Compared to your suggested “Paragon Monk”, this one has a concrete limiter in that it can’t use weapons at all, in exchange for eventually punching so hard people wielding Great Daiklaves would look at you in envy, as wel as a whole spate of different abilities that are different from a Paragon Monk’s. It has a right to exist even if it slightly steps into the boundaries of something else.
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TheWawior

Magnus
Mar 8 2018, 10:59 AM
Other than that, It looks good to me.
You might consider working on the fluff now.
Would you like some help with the fluff? Or do you aready have something in mind?

I have a few ideas for fluff if you are interested.
Sure thing, dude!
Just shoot me whatever ideas you got ^-^
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GuardianTempest
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+8:00 GMT || Unlucky & Miserable
I'm tired and sleepy so I'll get a lot of things wrong.

roko10
Mar 10 2018, 04:16 AM
Why is there a Keyblader (and now Buster) exaltation when the Meister exists? Why is there an Dragonblooded Exaltation when you can play as a Dragonborn right out of the gate? Why is the Volver/Metamorph there when there’s a perfectly fine Kyton race?
Difference in author and inspiration, primarily. I can't speak from his perspective but he still has a point. My opinion is that the same distinction comes from the difference between a Promethean and a Warforged. You want to play as a robot? Promethean, but if you want to play as a robot that can change size, turn into an animal, is a living solar panel, etc...

This is just me nitpicking to answer your questions


However, Scrapyard's concern is from a different angle. I think his point is that its scope seems too narrow, it can punch really good without ever losing limbs and...that's it. The difficult part is coming up with a fluff reason for how this happens. Other characters can punch really good by taking Boxer or a combination of other classes/items/abilities that boost unarmed damage; then take a [tooltip=Darksteel Skeleton(?)]I don't remember if this is the one that prevents your limb from getting severed easily[/tooltip] for limb fortification. Of course, this statement is hypocritical on my end since I'm not complaining about the likes of Devotee/Meiste, which are really good at what they do and don't explicitly have any out-of-combat abilities (outside of specific circumstances) but it can't be helped when the exalt is built around weapon bonds. The immunity to limb loss is a cool thing though, my subconscious wants to label this as "Olympian" with a fluff revolving around physical perfection but this sentence is as far as I have gotten with it (and there are dozens of ways of reaching perfection).

Now that I'm taking the time to properly examine this, I'm having opinions of my own. In a way, this exaltation serves as a psuedo-alternate of Devotee/Meister since the mechanics (at least the important ones) are similar. Although I recognize the amount of unique abilities prohibiting this from being an alternate; but that's not my main concern. I think the exaltation pigeonholes you into too few classes— Okay I take that back, listing down the classes I didn't take into account the likes of Sacrificial Lion and Juggernaut, which supports having dots in Brawl but doesn't (completely) centralize around it. Although people will still opt to blaze through Boxer due to free-ish feats, but that's just the nature of optimizing and I have no power around it. To be fair, [tooltip=that class]Boxer, I mean.[/tooltip] is already XP intensive anyway. But I still want Boxer to be open to other exaltations.

In hindsight this was a horribly-made post, I'll regret it tomorrow morning but I had to post at least to address some of your concerns.
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Magnus
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Honestly, I don't see the problem with an exalt that is focused on punching. Overlord's powers all focus on minions. Assimilator powers all focus on absorbing people. I doubt that anyone would argue that those exalts shouldn't exist for being too focused.

"You can do the same thing by taking boxer and a one of the various things that boost unarmed damage."

That is missing the point of this Exaltation. The point is to be a viable unarmed combatant without using those things.

If you think about it, the exaltation is a tool to help you, the player, play out the archetype and tropes of your character. Atlanteans are supremely talented magicians and most of their powers support this. Paragons are exalted because of their general excellence. Therefore Their powers are general boosts to their competence.

Let's say that some one wants to play a character inspired by Ryu from Streetfighter. It's not that odd. Ryu is almost archetypical for Martial Artist characters.

ok. How well could you emulate Ryu in fluff and mechanics with a starting character? Ryu doesn't have a magic ring that causes him to punch harder. He doesn't have a metal skeleton as far as we know. And he doesn't have a beneficial mutation that allows him to hit harder ether. At level 1 special attacks and power attack wont get us enough dice to roll over into keep dice. In general, You would have to wait to level 3 before you could do decent damage. Level 2 if you made a special attack with a kept dice bonus to damage.

That is a rather hard for one that would want to play a character like Ryu. Most characters have some of what thet will become as a starting character. While this one is stuck with only one kept dice in damage. An Exaltation like the Godhand can close the gape and allow them to play the character they want in a balanced manner.


The thing that Godhand needs is fluff tying the concept together.

I probably need to write more down with the fluff but here is the basic Idea.

Godhands are similar to Sages. In that Sages achieve enlightenment and Exaltation through a Right Handed Path of asceticism, detachment from worldly concerns and self contemplation. While Godhands achieve Enlightenment through a Left Handed Path of transcendent Violence and perfection of the self through Martial Arts. Ascending into something akin to the Mythological Asura, Terrifying Demigods of Violance and Wrath.
The Godhand is partially spirit. And their concept of self is immutable. With some, You simply can not cut off their limbs. with others, A new limb grows in place of the one that got cut off in an instant.

Some Godhands spontaneously enlighten during a stressful situation where their wrath reaches a peak and then they understand clearly the violence inherent in the Great Wheel. Others achieve Enlightenment though reaching the peak of mortal skill in the martial arts. Sensing that they can not rise further. They meditate, Burning away their mortal skill and replacing it with Exalted skill... And others have a Godhand grafted to their arm.

As a being that is exalted by their Fighting Spirit. I would find it odd if they had noncombat powers with their Exaltation
Edited by Magnus, Mar 11 2018, 05:02 PM.
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TheWawior

Magnus
Mar 11 2018, 01:48 PM
I probably need to write more down with the fluff but here is the basic Idea.

Godhands are similar to Sages. In that Sages achieve enlightenment and Exaltation through a Right Handed Path of asceticism, detachment from worldly concerns and self contemplation. While Godhands achieve Enlightenment through a Left Handed Path of transcendent Violence and perfection of the self through Martial Arts. Ascending into something akin to the Mythological Asura, Terrifying Demigods of Violance and Wrath.
The Godhand is partially spirit. And their concept of self is immutable. With some, You simply can not cut off their limbs. with others, A new limb grows in place of the one that got cut off in an instant.

Some Godhands spontaneously enlighten during a stressful situation where their wrath reaches a peak and then they understand clearly the violence inherent in the Great Wheel. Others achieve Enlightenment though reaching the peak of mortal skill in the martial arts. Sencing that they can not rise further. They meditate, Burning away their mortal skill and replacing it with Exalted skill... And others have a Godhand grafted to their arm.
Yo, I actually really like this fluff!
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Magnus
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Glad you like the fluff.
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GuardianTempest
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+8:00 GMT || Unlucky & Miserable
Looking at this again, I think My Hands that Grasp the Earth could use very minor tweaking. Parrying melee attacks while unarmed only requires a stunt if the attack being parried uses a weapon. This is why I weirdly worded the mastery bonus in my Foxhound Protocol. So the suggested wording would probably be "Parrying attacks made with weapons using your bare heads no longer requires a stunt"; or something like that. On that note, since we're already neck-deep in fisticuffs, how about being able to parry ranged attacks without shelling out for artifacts/homebrew bionics/sword school masteries?

Also, re-reading Magnus' fluff suggestion, I like the fluff idea. Sages and the like become spiritually/mentally enlightened while Godhands become physically enlightened. Although what that means in this context is something up in the air right now, but my subconscious is deciding that essentially Godhands have achieved some level of physical perfection. The ascension isn't necessarily a violent process although mastery of the martial arts helps since the discipline hones the body. Of course, like the Sages, becoming the Godhand isn't something that can easily be achieved. You can be a monk or an olympian athlete for all your life yet never having reached the threshold to become a Godhand. But that's just my extrapolation on the idea.
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