Small fixes for Lunars?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.whitewolf (More info?)

Ok, was talking with a friend who played a Lunar in one of my Exalted games.
After recent threads about how gimped Lunars are compared to what they are
described as being, I was wondering about a slight fix.

Has anyone ever tried giving them a free level of Deadly Beastman
Transformation? It occured to me that this would mitigate (granted only
slightly) the fact that they pretty much need it to be competent in combat.
I know this up the permanent essence requirement, but it mite be worth it.
Any thoughts? This would effectively give them 10 starting charms, I know
thats alot but....

Oh, one other question about Lunars. Does the way that "Finding the Spirits
Shape" work bug anyone? More specifically, the way it makes you go out and
slaughter an animal you have a totemic connection with? I get that Lunars
are primal and thus kind of brutal...etc...but the idea that the one animal
I'm closest to in the world (like family really) I have to go and rip the
heart out of? My idea is more of a, you start to think like this animal and
have an urge to seek it out. You find a pack, herd, what ever (if the
animal is a solitary one, you just live like one); and live with them/as
them until you truly become one of them. Again, just an idea. Perhaps this
has already been discussed.

Jesse

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.whitewolf (More info?)

Jesse Stevens wrote:

>
> Has anyone ever tried giving them a free level of Deadly Beastman
> Transformation? It occured to me that this would mitigate (granted only
> slightly) the fact that they pretty much need it to be competent in combat.
> I know this up the permanent essence requirement, but it mite be worth it.
> Any thoughts? This would effectively give them 10 starting charms, I know
> thats alot but....

This does not fix them at all.

Their problem lies in:

A) A very badly developed charm tree, in which effects that are often
accomplished in one charm for most Exalts are spread across 2-3 tiers
for the Lunars, if not across different *branches*, and,

B) Stupidly high XP costs, which make it that much harder to navigate
their stupidly sprawling charm trees.

Granting them one free charm does not fix this.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.whitewolf (More info?)

Jesse Stevens wrote:

> Does the way that "Finding the Spirits
> Shape" work bug anyone?

Nope.

People have eaten the hearts of their totem animals for a long, long
time. In reality. They continue to, in fact. A friend of mine, Randy
Jorgennson, not-so-long-ago finished his I-forget-what-its-called
(warrior necklace), up in Alaska, with a local tribe there. He had to
personally kill and eat the heart of every totem animal he wanted to
invoke for his necklace.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.whitewolf (More info?)

"Jesse Stevens"

> Oh, one other question about Lunars. Does the way that "Finding the
Spirits
> Shape" work bug anyone? More specifically, the way it makes you go out
and
> slaughter an animal you have a totemic connection with? I get that Lunars
> are primal and thus kind of brutal...etc...but the idea that the one
animal
> I'm closest to in the world (like family really) I have to go and rip the
> heart out of? My idea is more of a, you start to think like this animal
and
> have an urge to seek it out. You find a pack, herd, what ever (if the
> animal is a solitary one, you just live like one); and live with them/as
> them until you truly become one of them. Again, just an idea. Perhaps
this
> has already been discussed.

It's more like you have to accept the gift your totem is giving you. I
always pictured the scenes of this to be similar to the episode of Buffy
where Willow is sitting all peacefully in a field, and a deer comes up to
her and she sacrifices it. It's one of those "You probably have to do
something that, on first impulse, you think you wouldn't do to join the
club" things.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.whitewolf (More info?)

Jesse Stevens wrote:
>
> Oh, one other question about Lunars. Does the way that "Finding the Spirits
> Shape" work bug anyone? More specifically, the way it makes you go out and
> slaughter an animal you have a totemic connection with? I get that Lunars
> are primal and thus kind of brutal...etc...but the idea that the one animal
> I'm closest to in the world (like family really) I have to go and rip the
> heart out of? My idea is more of a, you start to think like this animal and
> have an urge to seek it out. You find a pack, herd, what ever (if the
> animal is a solitary one, you just live like one); and live with them/as
> them until you truly become one of them. Again, just an idea. Perhaps this
> has already been discussed.

They do it that way because that's how they get the form. They can't
shift into their totemic form *without* consuming the animal's heart's
blood.

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