Ask the Devs

[Robert Vance]

First question, fluff: What language do they speak in Medo? Skytongue? Riverspeak?

I'll leave that to Eric.

Second question, mechanics:
When I asked you a year ago Vance, you said Lunar excellencies are based on the Lunar's own stats (though you hadn't quite decided about Strength to damage and Stamina to soak).
So if you have Dex 4, then you can use the Dex excellency to add 4 dice to your attack whether in the form of a turtle or a tiger or a tyrant lizard (unlike in 2nd ed, where if their dice pool was bigger than yours it took away from your dice cap).

Is that still true?

Yep.

Also, can Lunars use their own dice pool if it's better than their animal form's?

Yep.

And lastly... are there any Totemic charms that a horse-totem Lunar would get via Totemic?

Yep.

What kind?

There's enough Totemic Charms that I can't easily recall off the top of my head. x_x

[The Wizard of Oz]

That's fair. Thanks for your answers!

[Robert Vance]

Not sure if this has been clarified before. Apologies if it has:

When a lunar with str 3 turns into an animal form the maximum her str would be in that form would be 6, correct? If she wanted to then stunt another attribute to raise her cap, she would need to spend the motes on excellency after she's changed. She can't stunt her shapeshifting action to raise her str to 3+3+Sta so long as she's in that form, correct?

Your dice cap is always evaluated separately for each action. If a form's dice pool doesn't hit the dice cap of an individual action, you can add more on to it with Excellencies or other Charms.

[armyofwhispers]

Your dice cap is always evaluated separately for each action. If a form's dice pool doesn't hit the dice cap of an individual action, you can add more on to it with Excellencies or other Charms.

Oh right, because we're comparing against a QC dice pool, correct?

I'd like to run through an example here just to make sure I'm getting this right.

A Tyrant Lizard's grapple pool is 8.

A lunar with Dex 5, Brawl 1 would normally have a dice pool of 6 with a cap of 11 dice not including stunts. So in the Tyrant lizard form, you've got a dice pool of 8, with excellency max of 11. IE your base pool in this form uses up two dice from excellency. She can add a further 3 dice

However, a lunar with dex 5, brawl 3 would normally have a DP of 8. which is the same as that of the form's. Which means they can add a further 5 dice on top of that.

Is it intended that the lunar's BRAWL is what's changing the lunar's ability to add dice here, or am I making a mistaken assumption somewhere? Or is this just a matter of "so long as the total dice pool remains at the same cap it doesn't really matter what it's coming from"?

[Robert Vance]

Is it intended that the lunar's BRAWL is what's changing the lunar's ability to add dice here, or am I making a mistaken assumption somewhere? Or is this just a matter of "so long as the total dice pool remains at the same cap it doesn't really matter what it's coming from"?

It doesn't really matter where it comes from, but you're generally correct that a high-Brawl Lunar will benefit from higher dice caps on her natural attacks, a high-Athletics Lunar on her movement actions, and so forth.

[Shaddar]

Are there expansions on the tree where you can make those testing grounds to turn people into beastfolk to further enhance them?
Im thinking of a lunar charging with his army, roaring, and everyone gets a blessing of power.

[Robert Vance]

Are there expansions on the tree where you can make those testing grounds to turn people into beastfolk to further enhance them?
Im thinking of a lunar charging with his army, roaring, and everyone gets a blessing of power.

Not coming out of that particular Charm, but there are Charms that'll let you do that kind of thing.

[Calboon]

So reading the lunar playtest thread I am getting a bit confused about how dice caps work with animals again.

So if a Dex 3 Brawl 3 lunar and a brawl 5 dex 5 lunar both turn into a tyrant lizard what is each of their bases pools for a bite attack (normally 11 dice) and how many dice can they add on to it with their dexterity excellency?

Also have you mentioned how damage and soak are calculated for a lunar in a animal form and if not would you be able to mention if there are any limits? Like if a strength 1 lunar turns into a bear do they still get 15 damage as a base on a bite?

[prototype00]

Does a Lunar Stunting an action raise her dice caps? (By taking the second Attribute into consideration) and if so by how much? (Presumably the amount equal to the second attribute being stunted, but I may be wrong).

[Robert Vance]

Does a Lunar Stunting an action raise her dice caps? (By taking the second Attribute into consideration) and if so by how much? (Presumably the amount equal to the second attribute being stunted, but I may be wrong).

It works the same way it does in the Antagonists section of the core book—with an appropriate stunt, you can add a second Attribute to the dice limit of an action. If a Lunar smashes a stone pillar with a feat of strength, her normal dice cap is (her Strength). If she stunts it with a description of how she spots the pillar's weakest point with her keen senses and strikes at it, she can raise her dice cap to (her Strength + Perception).

[Robert Vance]

So reading the lunar playtest thread I am getting a bit confused about how dice caps work with animals again.

So if a Dex 3 Brawl 3 lunar and a brawl 5 dex 5 lunar both turn into a tyrant lizard what is each of their bases pools for a bite attack (normally 11 dice) and how many dice can they add on to it with their dexterity excellency?

Dex 3, Brawl 3 Lunar has a default dice cap of +3 on attacks. Her normal attack pool is 6, +3 Charm dice brings that up to 9. 11 is higher than 9. She only rolls nine dice to attack, because she can't go over her dice limit.

Dex 5, Brawl 5 Lunar has a default dice cap of +5 on attacks. Her normal attack pool is 10, +5 Charm dice brings that up to 15. 11 is lower than 15. She rolls 11 dice for attacks, and could add up to +4 more with the Dexterity Excellency or other Charms.

(Stunting might change the above math)

Also have you mentioned how damage and soak are calculated for a lunar in a animal form and if not would you be able to mention if there are any limits? Like if a strength 1 lunar turns into a bear do they still get 15 damage as a base on a bite?

You use the animal's values. No caps.

[GenericMaleNPC01]

Do Lunars still get charms that permanently increase the size of their spirit shape?
And do they get survival favored? And do they get a single other favored ability?. (my instincts tell me no, buuuut.....)

[Robert Vance]

Do Lunars still get charms that permanently increase the size of their spirit shape?

Not permanently.

And do they get survival favored? And do they get a single other favored ability?. (my instincts tell me no, buuuut.....)

Lunars don't get any favored Abilities.

[prototype00]

You use the animal's values. No caps.

I take it then that a High Strength/High Stamina Lunar also adds nothing to the Damage/Soak values?

*Sees an opportunity for High Dex dump Strength Lunars with Kaiju Forms.*

[Robert Vance]

I take it then that a High Strength/High Stamina Lunar also adds nothing to the Damage/Soak values?

*Sees an opportunity for High Dex dump Strength Lunars with Kaiju Forms.*

Your Strength and Dexterity still determine the amounts you can add to damage and soak with your Excellencies.