Ask the Devs

[ReshyShira]

Yep, the XP/BP related part of that has been in the playtest since it started.

(They also get unique anima powers and Lunar XP-gaining conditions, of course)

Oh, so they get special anima powers different from the three other castes?

[The Unsung Hero]

When is the exact moment a clinch ends (presuming it's not ended with a throw/slam/etc) after round of control reaches 0?

1. Beginning of attacker's turn?
2. End of attacker's turn?
3. Beginning of victim's turn?
4. End of victim's turn?

[SamuraiMujuru]

Looking at the calendar, the next Exalted monthly release lands squarely on Halloween. Will the October releases be somehow thematic to the holiday? For example, will we finally see that Yokai that Vance teased a while back?

[Kingdom of One]

The Survival-Supernal Zenith Ambiguous Competence has had just about enough guff from Vine-Ripened Hearts, a wandering Wood Aspect Dragonblooded who has made it her mission in life to crush the orchard-fruit denizens of Creation and distill their many disparate struggles and passions into one delicious vintage called "blindly worshipping Vine-Ripened Hearts." In all fairness, she'd figured the Jade Prison was good to hold forever when she started. So! After succeeding on a Lore roll to declare her very particular blend of pheromone Charms happens to have a scent known and feared in the jungles of his home as "catnip o' death," Ambiguous Competence sics his dire saberliger familiar Actual Protagonist on Vine-Ripened Hearts with the command "kill her," enhanced by Familiar-Honing Instruction. Actual Protagonist's player (also playing Ambiguous Competence) decides the best way to do this is with a grapple gambit leading into a seven hundred Merit combo.

The player and the Storyteller are both given pause, however, upon realizing that Familiar-Honing Instruction doesn't enhance a specific roll for an action - it enhances an "attempt" to carry out the Solar's order, a whole action's worth.

Which interpretation of what happens next is correct?

1) Actual Protagonist gains the bonus die from Familiar-Honing Instruction on the attack roll of the grapple gambit. New activations are needed for each other roll.
2) Actual Protagonist gains the bonus on the attack roll, Initiative roll, and control roll.
3) As 2, but Actual Protagonist also gains the bonus on the attack and damage rolls of a withering savage made during the same round.
4) As 2, but a savage attempted during the same round is a new action. However, a decisive attack would add the bonus die to both attack and damage rolls.
5) Something else is correct.

I have no idea what the intent was here - is it a simple accuracy booster, a high-powered accuracy-and-damage booster, some kind of full-turn murderbuff meant to serve as the essential anchor of Survival familiar builds? Combat is the obvious case, but "infiltrate the shrine and knock over the big statue in the middle" or "sing anyone who enters this grove to sleep" also bring up the question of duration and scope.

[Meghan Fitzgerald]

Looking at the calendar, the next Exalted monthly release lands squarely on Halloween. Will the October releases be somehow thematic to the holiday? For example, will we finally see that Yokai that Vance teased a while back?

I actually never know which releases are coming out when, because I deliver them in batches to the layout team. So it’s always a fun surprise for me, too. There were a few fairly scary things in the last batch so we’ll see!

[GenericMaleNPC01]

I actually never know which releases are coming out when, because I deliver them in batches to the layout team. So it’s always a fun surprise for me, too. There were a few fairly scary things in the last batch so we’ll see!

Scary things? Promises promises....

[Sakii]

One of the reasons for the martial arts merit and having to buy all MA separately is because of the benefit of being able to combine different styles to create a powerfull effect. So what is the balancing factor when you make one style that is gated behind only weapons? Are those charms more powerful?

[Nilihum]

When I use Killing Shroud Technique to pull an Exalt away from his allies to fight one-on-one, what's stopping them from popping their Anima Banner until Stealth is impossible? Wouldn't that completely nullify KST?

KST keeps my enemies concealed for (control) rounds. The Mastery effect of Joint Locking Technique allows me to exchange any initiative I gain for more rounds of control. Does these extra rounds of control also count towards the amount of rounds I keep my enemy hidden for?

If I intercept an attack with Dark Sentinels way, and then use a charm to make a counterattack, does that break Stealth or can I go back into hiding immediately?

Any advice for what a Solar Larceny charm that interacts with Conceal Evidence should do? The only charm that acknowledges that action exists is Master Plan Meditation while DBs are all over it.

[GenericMaleNPC01]

So to my understanding, a lunar with a spirit shape like, say, a black widow spider, can use the lunars true human form dice pools instead of the spiders right? So a tiny spider could grab a guy by the finger and throw em around?

[ReshyShira]

How does Burning Eye of the Deliverer interact with Lunar Shapeshifting? Can a Solar using this charm see through the effect, even though normally Lunar Shapeshifting prevents any attempts to see through the effect unless you know the tell? Also, what does "Noticing" and "Seeing Through" mean in this context? Just noticing that they're not who they claim to be on a success, or does it reveal the identity of the Lunar or other shapeshifted person (And if you fail, do you even notice the deception at all)? Lastly, if it's possible to make this check, is the difficulty 7 as a mundane awareness roll would require if you knew their tell?

Additionally, if the Lunar is in their spirit shape, HBT/DBT, or human form, which do they appear to be if they're revealed as who they truly are? Those are, flavor-wise, implied to be just as much the Lunar's self as their human form is.


I also wanted to ask a couple questions about hearthstones:
Hearthstone bonus dice count as charm dice, correct?
Hearthstones sometimes say grant access to evocations, or may awaken them. Do those always cost experience, only sometimes, and can these evocations be expanded upon?
Do Hearthstones socketed into an artifact reduce the commitment cost of an artifact at all?
The Essence-Detecting effect of a Hearthstone, can it be used to detect essence use around the owner of the stone?

[Lerinome]

Quick question, debs.
Let's say a sorcerer has a elemental/demon as a companion or familiar.
How would it advance in terms of power? Sorcerous workings to do that? The PC paying xp to upgrade stats or buying charms?

[RustedAir]

Could a Dragon-Blooded use Elemental Concentration Trance without introducing a fact to get the benefit of Elemental Empowerment Meditation's motes?

[Siegemonkeys]

So, question regarding Fire-Eating Fist. The charm itself says:

"If the Solar dissolves an energy attack or burning elemental bolt, her fist becomes wreathed in her attacker’s Essence, enjoying (opponent’s Essence) bonus attack and damage dice on her next attack."


However, it also lets you stack charges at Essence 4, specifically:

"At Essence 4+, this effect becomes stackable to a limit of (Stamina) stacks. Therefore, clashing four elemental bolts from an Essence 3 opponent, a Stamina 4 Lawgiver’s fists would be wreathed with twelve bonus damage worth of pain."


And then Apocalypse Flare Attack bases it's damage on how many stacks you have of Fire-Eating fist. So, my question is, how long do the stacks on Fire-Eating Fist last? Do they all get expended on the next attack you make? If so, how are you building stacks on multiple clashes when they're expended on the next attack? Definitely think I'm missing something here, would appreciate some clarification.

[Isator Levi]

Question about the Forgotten Blade:

The write-up says that, while it's attuned, being out of sight causes people to forget its appearance. While it is not attuned, being out of sight causes people to forget its existence.

Does that mean that a simple barometer for knowing whether or not it is, somewhere in the world, attuned to a wielder is people being aware of its existence? Can people be told that it exists, or read accounts, while it's unattuned? Can people retain the idea of it as an idiom?

EDIT: Actually, it feels like these questions can be readily answered by extrapolating from To Fall Unmourned, so unless any such responses would be mistaken, never mind then.

[Robert Vance]

What’s the deal exactly with this whole sacred hunt thing Lunars have to do? Like, if someone tries to mug you in an alleyway what’s the big deal if you get their form out of it?

The Lunars are divine apex predators. The sacred hunt reflects this—it is, quite literally, a hunt. Getting mugged by someone who you end up eating isn't a hunt in any sense.

Note that the Lunars do have Charms that expand their shape-taking capabilities.