Heirs To The Shogunate Backers Preview just dropped

[LostLight]

Who is that? (Got work, so I will have to read it more later.)

Dominie of Pasiap's Stair. Very loyal to the students and the school. Extremely devoted to the Empress and her memory. Awfully disgusted but how the Empress's descendants act. Hope to gut at least one of the later.

[Jefepato]

Dragon's Egg Hatched is interesting. As a player, though, I doubt I would ever spend XP to learn this Charm when being a sorcerer with Summon Elemental is so much better.

Granted, sorcery doesn't fit every character (and carries a stigma in the Realm that this Charm probably doesn't), but I haven't played many non-sorcerers with Occult 5 either.

[Jefepato]

Also, I'd like to point out World-Weaving Dragon Demiurge.

This pretty well establishes that you can, in fact, have Charms that help with sorcerous workings. (Of course, that still leaves open the question of what a Solar or Lunar sorcerer might develop...)

[Snakesandsuns]

I kickstarted but I didn't seem to get this, now I am sad. I guess I didn't fund up to a high enough level. Is there any cool new archery charms? I thought that tree needed some more pizzazz

[The Wizard of Oz]

There are a bunch of new archery charms, but I didn't read them closely. I'm sure someone else will go into them later.

[DrLoveMonkey]

I kickstarted but I didn't seem to get this, now I am sad. I guess I didn't fund up to a high enough level. Is there any cool new archery charms? I thought that tree needed some more pizzazz

How about one that lets you fire off ropes made of vines/smoke to reflexively move around the battlefield or pull objects towards you, one that lets you fire a landslide arrow that knocks enemies back and down, one that lets you turn your bow into a ballista, one to make an arrow bloom into a poisonous thicket, and one that lets you move while aiming?

Also a charm in archery but applicable and purchasable by many abilities that lets you attune to a bunch of artifacts at once for cheap.

[Epitome]

There are a LOT of Charms, these are just some of those that stood out to me :

Special - Charm that reduces attunement cost of all artifact weapons after the first by 3, is simultaneously an Archery, Brawl, Melee, Thrown and War Charm.

Archery - Create a rope-arrow which also counts as a basic craft project! At E3, aim and move on the same turn for a small mote and ini cost. Also, you can turn your bow into a ballista and your flame weapon into a flame canon

Athletics - create ice under your feet, creating difficult terrain and allowing you to walk on water.

Awareness - On join battle, transfer up to 5 ini to your allies (if they are hearthmates they get bonus ini). Also you can see the world as if you were at long range above your current position.

Brawl - Cause an eruption, dealing aoe with lava.

Bureaucracy - Once per Story, treat your Resources as 2 dots higher than they really are! Also easily convince someone that you are their superior or they should hire you in a position of authority.

Craft - once per artifact you craft, if you gift it to a family member or hearthmate, unlock some of their evocations with white exp.

the most powerful charm seems to be a Dodge Charm, I'm pretty sure it's actually OP right now in the right context. Reflexive counterattack after dodging which uses the opponent's initiative and benefits from their charms, to which you can then add your own Water Dragon Charms. If DBs have such a thing as a Solar killer Charm this is it. Also you get a Charm to catch arrows with your anima, that's pretty neat.

Integrity got amazing stuff. You can form a hearth/solar bond with a Lunar (!!!!!!!!!!). You can use your hearthmates' intimacies to resist influence!

Larceny - has an incredibly evil Charm that helps you betray your hearthmates. Also a Charm to make your anima appear as a diffent aspect!

Linguistics - you can understand and be understood by all dragonbloods. you can "steal" a target's breath, causing them to speak quietly but granting you one language they know for the duration.

Melee - too much awesome to list. Become a lightning rod that absorbs magical attacks, decisive with a lightning bolt, create a lava eruption inside your enemy, the works.

Occult - bonuses on Sorcerous Workings which are elemental in nature.

Occult + Lore - that's right, there is a dual ability charm. lets you keep some of your summoned elementals as familiars like a twilight.

Lore lets you "keep in" your anima flux so you don't damage people and things around you, and then you can unleash it in a decisive to add damage.

Presence lets you add half your appearance to your attack roll and then reduce your damage to improve the target's attitude towards you. If the attack would kill the target they fall unconscious instead but cannot spend willpower to resist your influence.

Sail lets you treat your ship as solid ground for the purpose of Earth Charms which only work on solid ground.

Socialize lets you take a bath to make everyone around you have a minor positive tie towards you for a week so long as you remain pleasant around them.

Survival lets you convert uncountable environmental damage into 10 dice of damage and then roll Hardness to mitigate it.

War lets you rally for numbers when you rout a battlegroup, recruiting from the enemy. Also you can join battle with war which doubles as a first turn free attack for your battle group.

[LostLight]

I really enjoyed the Outcasts section. The example outcasts in the end really show how even a lone outcast can make life for themselves as a demigod in faraway lands. The Cult of the Violet Fang competes with the Forest Witches for how strange they are- and that means something. I am only a bit disappointed that the Wanasaan didn't get some further expansion beyond the new Scions of Note, but those example characters did in fact expanded upon the coupe and its effect on the organization. Overall, I had some great fun reading it.

[Moss Reynholm]

Can someone tell me about the material on the forest witches?

They get a full chapter, 20 plus pages. Think of an an extended Great House write-up from WFHW (plus a chapter fiction), with named noted figures and the like, plus rules for acting within the Sea of Mind (with starting character tweaks) and some style of play notes. Dead characters can even attune to walking effigies to interact with Creation. It's all suitably weird and looks kinda great.

I kickstarted but I didn't seem to get this, now I am sad. I guess I didn't fund up to a high enough level. Is there any cool new archery charms? I thought that tree needed some more pizzazz

Ninja'd by others. There are six archery charms total though – that's amongst the most new charms, some abilities only got one I think.

I personally really liked Dragon-Graced Raiment in resistance. Think Dragon-Graced Weapon but for your armour. Silent heavy armour – yes please.

Imagine someone much more adept will do a 'reads' thread on it soon.

[Leliel]

Can someone tell me about the material on the forest witches?

They are some of the most viscerally horrifying things I have ever read about, and I can't wait to use and/or play them.

My inner Persona fan thanks the devs sincerely for them.

[Nicolas Milioni]

Thanks Leliel and Moss Reynholm

[Eldagusto]

Divine Heritage is a simple and elegant Solution to a lot NPCs I have, and even PCs from previous games. Its a game changer tucked in this book not just for Dragonblooded.

[SunAndSpring]

Didn't get my charm changed like I asked, super disappointed. It's so fucking boring the way it was implemented.

[Robert Vance]

Didn't get my charm changed like I asked, super disappointed. It's so fucking boring the way it was implemented.

Shoot me an email or a DM on Discord and I'll get that done. Sorry I missed where you asked earlier.

[The Wizard of Oz]

Divine Heritage is a simple and elegant Solution to a lot NPCs I have, and even PCs from previous games. Its a game changer tucked in this book not just for Dragonblooded.

It's probably the best way to do it, though I feel it may be slightly too open-ended.