Outlaws of the Sea (Exalted 3e)

[watermargin]

I'm muddling my way through character creation and reading up on the Dreaming Sea, so hopefully I'll have something to show for it tomorrow or Thursday. I do have some questions about making what seems to me like a light modification to an artifact, and about character building.

Firstly, I'm interesting in taking the artifact Soulfarer (Arms p. 86), and I'm wondering if its reasonable to have it be a Grand Goremaul rather than a Grand Grimcleaver. I'm imagining the character as using a big mace, but if that's not cool its no big deal.

Secondly, is it stretching myself too thin to grab both sorcery and necromancy? I'd be taking Sorcery on account of using Soulfarer, and Necromancy seems cool, but given that I also want to do melee combat, and have some charms left over for other things, it seems like I'm pulling myself in too many directions at character creation.

ETA: One more question, is the Manse merit appropriate for this game? Given the setup, it seems like this will be the kind of game that takes place mostly on the water, or in various ports, so have a single permanent base might not be useful, but I might be totally wrong, so I imagine it can't hurt to ask.

1) Soulfarer as a Grand goremaul sure.

2) You can do what you want, but in general I don't think its really worth it to do both unless your goal is to use all kinds of sorcery and necromancy. Most of the sorcery spells have an equivalent in Necromancy.

3) The game only takes place in the Dreaming Sea, so a Manse can serve many purposes (of course recommend it to be somewhere in the Dreaming Sea direction), from your home base to somewhere your circle returns to when they need to regroup.

@watermargin

I have been thinking about going in a.bit unconventional direction since I have been been inspired by Trazyn the Infinite. The question is would this fit into your world view of Lunars:

Spoiler

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In the shadow-shrouded city of Sijan, where the funereal arts flourish and the dead are venerated, Khion Tenebris was born amidst the ancient tombs and echoing dirges. A family of skilled morticians and exorcists, the Tenebrises were well-versed in the ceremonies of death, serving both the living mourners and the ethereal spirits with equal devotion.

His childhood was steeped in the lore of Sijan’s macabre traditions, under the dense canopy of leafless black trees. His hands, though young, were steady and precise, adept at crafting intricate tomb carvings and performing the sacred rites to guide the departed. Life was a harmonious cycle of work and worship, punctuated by the comforting regularity of familial bonds.

On a night painted with the radiant hues of a moon. Gathered with his family, their voices mingled in lively discussion about a new dragon-blooded king body, an intriguing figure of lore and might. As they spoke, an ethereal silver light began to emanate from Julian’s forehead—a mark unseen by him but unmistakable to his kin. In that same moment, Khion spoke of things that overtook him; visions of lives once lived, of souls long departed, as if he were recalling memories of another.

His family, seasoned in the secrets of the supernatural, recognized the signs of an Exalted being. Rather than shunning him or succumbing to fear, the Tenebrises, pledged to keep his true nature concealed from the eyes of those who might seek to harm him.

Compelled by visions of a past incarnation—a life brimming with purpose and peril—he sought out the Silver Pact.

His quest for understanding his past life led him to the Dreaming Sea, a region steeped in mystery and old magic. Here, his previous incarnation had left ripples through time—ripples that he could almost grasp but not quite hold. The elders of the Silver Pact, wary of what might be unearthed, remained tight-lipped, leaving him to grapple with fragmented visions and elusive truths. Here he will seek the rarest of creatures and immortalize them. He may even find a few rare souls worthy of being archived inside his own panoply of beings. That the Dreaming Sea might offer riches and creatures of great power to consume is certainly no draw back.

Now, drawn by the threads of fate and curiosity, he ventures to Champoor, the Nighted City cloaked in perpetual shadows. In this city he seeks not just artifacts or specimens but the echoes of his own past live. Each item he collects, each memory he uncovers, adds to the mosaic of his existence.

As he walks the maze-like streets of Champoor, he remains a collector. With every heart's blood he consumes, he inherits a fragment of another's being, becoming a living archive of countless lives. In the darkness of Champoor, perhaps he will finally uncover the threads of his old purpose, or perhaps he will find new mysteries to challenge the depths of his immortal soul.

It's fine to take inspiration from other characters and the likes, but as a Lunar it's worth to keep a few things in mind:

-Every Lunar exaltation involves a visit from Luna (usually shapeshifted)
-Lunars get to choose their caste when they get the moonsilver tattoos (usually after meeting with the Silver Pact)
-Seeking old lore and the likes is very common
-Seven Obsidian Leopard and Tanisa the Ring Eater on Mount Namas are the most influential Shahan-ya in the Dreaming Sea. You don't have to have a relationship with them yet since you are coming from the Scavenger Lands/Sijan but something worth keeping in the back of your mind.


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Spoiler: The reveler critic

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Let see now for the Revelers critic:

-With the game playing at Celestial level and we have people applying as Lunars too, for attributes, its fine to use the 9/7/5 setup.

-So from my understanding you want to give them more hl on top of buying Ox-Body, usually all exalted simply get more hl with ox-body technique and think it's a nice standard to follow.

-I think the anima effect and advantage could use some work. Focusing on penalties is not necessarily a bad idea, just you are probably better off making your character better for either a brief instant or something more powerful, its mostly a question of balancing if you want more constant effect or something you can do once per day or once per story or something.

-I think bloodletting keyword probably wasn't necessary, health level cost exists in exalted fine and forcing some of your charms like healing charms to interact with the bloodletting filled health boxes probably make the healing charms weaker than they should be.

-You mention that they have access to Sorcery/Necromancy something to keep in mind beside the Solaroids (Solars, Abyssals, and probably Infenral) all the other splats have requirements to access sorcery like multiple charms etc...example Lunars need 4 mental attribute charms to access terrestrial sorcery and their celestial sorcery requires 5 terrestrial spells before being able to pick the charm, Sidereals for example needs 4 secret charms to qualify for terrestrial sorcery. The solars are masters of sorcery/necromancy so they get easy access to them.

For Evocations...don't need to be too complicated really, pick one that they are resonant with and says other are neutral. Orichalcum seems to fit your reveler, so sure embrace it as resonant evocation. Neutral MM is honestly not too bad.

-For the charms general critic:
-For duration, would recommend to stick to Instant, Until Next Turn, Scene (if something is going to 3 or more rounds, it might as well be scene long, remember that motes are committed for anything longer than instant), Indefinite and Permanent.

-Unsated Blood Excitement adds to withering damage but you already can do that with the excellency, you will notice that for example on lunars to make it better they simply do things like making it double 9s on withering damage.
-If you want Unheard Drum to be a surprise attack, would need to have a condition, usually the essence 1 surprise attack have a condition like need to beat opponent in join battle rolls for example.
-Graceful Crane Stance is a basic enough charm that you can pretty much find it in all exalted types, so an easy one to insert in your charmset
-Some charms I think can benefit for some charms that came out recently in manuscript like Bacchant Recruitment Wine could take inspiration from Sidereal charms or even Abyssal charms where they empower a being.
-I can talk more about things later but this for the moment my first impression on the current presentation, think it could use some tweaks here and there.