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[PenDragon]

More importantly, do we need to bother tracking damage to structures? Like, when does that even come up? I think most storytellers would just narrate that the roof is blown off and the walls are sputtering fire, I certainly don't want to track the health of my condo.

Edit: All this talk of Mummy powers being too weak might run too close to splat comparison, I think what we really need to do here is check them against inspirational material. Fortunately, that's an easy pick. So without further ado How do Mummies in 2e match up against Imhotep from the 1999 Universal action film The...

[PenDragon]

In this regard I think they had a difficult job in front of them. A newly awakened Mummy must be terrifying enough that no group of mortals would ever dream of standing their ground against it, while not so overwhelming that a plucky Brendan Fraser & Rachel Weisz cannot mount a daring escape. That's a tough line to walk. Most 2e lines resolve the Mortals vs Monsters problem by rewarding ambush tactics, the far off sniper for the mage, the house fire for the vampire, etc. This straight up does not work on Mummies, whom for the most part are unkillable by mortal means (save fire, and even that'll...

[PenDragon]

You have succinctly captured my thoughts. Thank you.

That said! I don't want to come off as a total downer. As Daigotsu Max pointed out, to a newcomer I'm sure the powers fall well within the jaw dropping range. The fact that we've been conditioned to expect considerable power increases from the 2e reimaginings may be tainting my PoV. And for what it's worth I think most of the Utterances are nicely squared away in the "holy shit" zone of power. Hell, feeling a little disappointed with the powers might well be within Mummy's "powerful, but not powerful enough"...

[PenDragon]

Actually, I need to nitpick the Earthquake power. Because for me it is by far the biggest letdown. The text pitches this as a miraculous power of vast destruction, which is certainly is, unfortunately the time to cast it is measured in DAYS. Even with good rolls you are looking at a 48 hour period to cast this Utterance (which, IMO, kinda goes against the Words of Power feel of Utterances). Not only that, but you have to be at the center of the quake, so there's no using this to shake down an adversaries lair from afar.

Powers like this worry me because of how punishing they can...

[PenDragon]

I don't mind target number manipulation, it's easy to understand and conveys their tie to fate nightly. But as per Tessie's point the term Target Number refers to something different in 2e.

Edit: Reading through the Utterances in more detail I see a number of them have Pillar Clauses that are the same as their Pillar Prerequisite, for instance: Tier 3 of Awaken The Dead has the clause "The Arisen with a Ren Pillar rating of 5 is the true master of this tier, those raised by her can remain at liberty for Memory + Sekhem days, instead of hours." But the Arisen must already...

[PenDragon]

Awesome! I knew something was up when I read it, heading agg isn't THAT special....

[PenDragon]

TBH I'm kinda shocked by how similar most of the mechanics are to 1e. Don't get me wrong, Mummies are still potent as always, but next to the buffs other Splats picked up they feel a little underwhelming. Not that I'm trying to make this a cross over fight or anything.

I would have at least expected the kinda cludgy Pillar/Utterance system to see a rework. All the prerequisites and caviats struck me as trap mechanics, systems that demand a fairly comprehensive understanding of the value and rewards of certain investments that non-crunch oriented players can get screwed over by. Sahu...

[PenDragon]

Just skimmed the new Preview, liking what I saw. A question about Sahu Repair though it says "Once per turn, mummies may sacrifice dots of Sekhem to fully heal aggravated damage at a rate of one Sekhem dot per one box of aggravated damage." Is that intended to be, "Spend one Sekhem, heal one aggravated" or "Spend one Sekhem, heal your Sekhem dots in aggravated". I ask because the former seems like a really awful use of Sekhem...