Ty Lee and Equalist Chi Blockers

For my second Marvel Avatar attempt I thought I’d tackle Ty Lee and chi blocking. Working out exactly how the chi blocking would shut down bending and traits in general gave me a lot of trouble. I’m not entirely happy with what I came up with, but it’s certainly a decent place to start.

Ty Lee

Affiliations:

Solo d6    Buddy d8    Team d10

Distinctions: 

Head in the clouds.

Fearsome Friend.

Circus Acrobat.

Powersets:

Chi Blocking

Chi Strikes d10    Enhanced Durability d8

Enhanced Reflexes d8    Enhanced Stamina d8

SFX: Blocked Chakras. Target any of your opponent’s Traits. If successful, shut the power down if your effect die is equal or greater. Step the power back by one if smaller. Targets can recover the power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

SFX: Paralyzed Chakras. Add a d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when inflicting a chi blocking complication on a target.

Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Chi Blocking power to add 1 d6 to the Doom Pool. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Specialties:

Acrobatic Master d10    Covert Expert d8    Combat Expert d8

Equalist Chi Blocker

Affiliations:

Solo d4    Buddy d6    Team d8

Distinctions: 

Fanatical follower of Amon.

Faceless Menace.

Powersets:

Chi Blocking

Chi Strikes d10    Enhanced Reflexes d8    Enhanced Stamina d8

SFX: Blocked Chakras. Target any of your opponent’s Traits. If successful, shut the power down if your effect die is equal or greater. Step the power back by one if smaller. Targets can recover the power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

SFX: Paralyzed Chakras. Add a d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when inflicting a chi blocking complication on a target.

Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Chi Blocking power to add 1 d6 to the Doom Pool. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Specialties:

Acrobatics Expert d8    Cover Expert d8    Combat Expert d8    Menace Expert d8

Mob of Equalist Ninjas

Affiliation

Team 3d8 or 5d8

Distinctions

Faceless Threat.

Unquestioning Loyalty.

Powersets:

Ninja Traits

Ninja Training d8    Coordinated Attacks d8

SFX: Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 and keep +1 effect die.

Limit: Mob Cohesion. Defeat Team dice (with d10 stress) to reduce mob.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome and wanted.

Marvel Avatars

The following are my first attempts at expressing Aang and Korra, from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra respectively, with the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying iteration of Cortex+. They’re far from perfect, and I’m not satisfied with various elements for one reason or another, but I’m pretty happy with the results as a whole.

Avatar Korra

Affiliations:

Solo d10  Buddy d8  Team d6

Distinctions: 

I’m the Avatar! You better deal with it!

I’ll make my own way.

I’m totally serene. No really, I am!

Powersets:

Power of the Avatar

Elemental Control d10    Enhanced Strength d8    Enhanced Reflexes d8

Enhanced Durability d8    Enhanced Stamina d8

SFX: Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.

SFX: Versatile. Split Elemental Control into 2d at –1 step, or 3d at –2 steps.

SFX:  Multipower. Use two or more Power of the Avatar powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.

SFX: Healing. Add Elemental Control to your dice pool when helping others recover stress. Spend 1 PP to recover your own or another’s physical stress or step back your own or another’s physical trama by –1.

SFX: Elemental Contructs. Add a d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when using Elemental Control to create assets.

Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Power of the Avatar power to gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Naga the Polar Bear Dog

Enhanced Stamina d8    Superhuman Strength d10    Enhanced Speed d8

Superhuman Durability d10    Enhanced Reflexes d8

SFX: Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.

SFX: To the Rescue. If Korra is stressed out, spend 1 PP to have Naga remove her
from the Scene.

Limit: Unexplainable Absence. Earn 1 PP if you have Naga the Polar Bear Dog shutdown for the remainder of the Scene.

Specialties:

Combat Expert d8    Acrobatic Expert d8    Pro-Bending Expert d8

Milestones:

Legacy of the Avatar

1 XP when you first admit you are the Avatar.

3 XP when being the Avatar forces you into an uncomfortable situation or gets you in over your head.

10 XP when you fully accept your role and responsibilities as the Avatar.

The Equalists’ Revolution

1 XP the first time you contradict the Equalists’ rhetoric.

3 XP when you defeat an Equalist for or plot, or demonstrate how Bender’s and non-Benders can coexist.

10 XP when you discover Amon’s true identity and goals.

Avatar Aang

Affiliations:

Solo d10  Buddy d6  Team d8

Distinctions:

Weight of the World.

Irrepressible scamp.

Smile at world and the world smiles back.

Powersets:

Power of the Avatar

Elemental Control d10    Superhuman Reflexes d10    Enhanced Durability d8

Enhanced Stamina d8    Flight d6

SFX: Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.

SFX: Versatile. Split Elemental Control into 2d at –1 step, or 3d at –2 steps.

SFX:  Multipower. Use two or more Power of the Avatar powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.

SFX: Whirlwind. Add a d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when inflicting an Air Element complication on a target.

SFX: Avatar Form. Step up or double any Power of the Avatar power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.

Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown any Power of the Avatar power to gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Kite Staff

Flight d8     Weapon d8

SFX: Area Attack. Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.

Limit: Gear. Shutdown Kite Staff and gain 1 PP. Take an action vs. the doom pool to recover gear.

Specialties:

Combat Expert d8    Mystic Expert d8    Acrobatic Master d10

Milestones:

Legacy of the Avatar

1 XP when you first admit you are the Avatar.

3 XP when being the Avatar forces you into an uncomfortable situation or gets you in over your head.

10 XP when you fully accept your role and responsibilities as the Avatar.

The Fire Lord’s War

1 XP when you first aid someone against the Fire Nation.

3 XP when you put yourself directly in harm’s way in order to protect your allies or bystanders.

10 XP when you strike a major blow against the Fire Nation.

I toyed around with a second method of expressing the Power of the Avatar powerset that would have each element as a separate Power Trait instead of just Elemental Control.

So the Avatar’s powersets would look like this:

Power of the Avatar (Aang)

Air Bending d10    Earth Bending d8    Water Bending d8    Superhuman Reflexes d10

Enhanced Durability d8    Enhanced Stamina d8    Flight d6

Power of the Avatar (Korra)

Earth Bending d8    Water Bending d10    Fire Bending d8    Enhanced Strength d8

Enhanced Reflexes d8    Enhanced Durability d8    Enhanced Stamina d8

I like the elements being split up, but 7 power traits seems a but much. It does make the two Avatars’ powersets more distinct though and makes the Versatile and Multipower SFXs much more potent.

I’m going to keep toying around with these two, and probably work up a few of the other characters, but for now I”d love to know what other people think about the write ups.

Permanent Essence and Exalted Power Levels, v2

In my second pass at sorting out the power levels and such I’ve opened up the levels quite a bit, and changed the terminology to something that seems to work better. I’m still unsure about using Second Breath as the name for the newly exalted tier. It’s more evocative than Newly Exalted, but I’m afraid it’s not as clear.

I like the levels being tied to age/experience much better than using the various Exalted power tiers from the stock game, which broke down really quickly once I thought about implementation. Refresh still functions as Permanent Essence and a cap on what kind of powers and effects a character has access to.

I spread the levels apart a fair amount in an effort to emulate how White Wolf’s mechanics scale exponentially and how things get more than slightly crazy at high levels. I’ve never played a FATE game with such a high refresh level, so the levels may expand or contract as I test building characters.

Permanent Essence and Exalted Power Levels

Permanent Essence is Exalted is roughly equal to the role the Refresh level plays in The Dresden Files RPG, which is to say a really rough gauge of the character’s power level. The concept can’t be translated directly, but should work well enough.

For the various Exalted (or campaign) power levels I’m borrowing heavily from Strands of Fate. I looked at how Dresden divides up the starting power levels, but Dresden characters don’t tend to be dripping with various powers like they are in Exalted. They way Strands structures the power levels, scaling from normal dude all the way up to Superman, works much better for Exalted.

Balancing refresh, starting skill points and Charm Points between the various power levels is proving to be the toughest challenge. Below is a really quick and dirty first attempt. I’m sure there’s problems in it, but until I’ve got some of the Charms/powers worked up I don’t have any real way of testing the various numbers.

The names for the levels are just working names and will probably get changed before I’m done. At the very least they won’t be 1:1 connections to the various Exalt types. Using terms that connect more to the age of the Exalt might be less confusing/ misleading. Thinking something along the lines of Heroic Mortal -> Second Breath -> Experienced Exalt -> Veteran Exalt -> Elder Exalt. Still needs some work, but that seems like the better way to title the power levels.

I’m also kicking around the idea of dropping the number of Charm Points a bit for each level and allowing players to “cash in” refresh for Charm Points on a 1:2 point exchange. This would reign in some of “over the top” nature and make Fate Points more scarce. I’m not sure how much I want to do either of those things, but I don’t want players to get their full Refresh every session either, because I’m afraid doing so would take some of the teeth out of the Great Curse and make taking advantage of the Sponsor mechanics less of a temptation.

Further noodling is required.

Essence

Handling Essence in FATE is proving to be a tougher problem to crack than I had originally thought. When I first looked at it I thought the Hunger mechanics from Dresden* would fit perfectly, with a stress track to represent the character’s Essence pool. If only it were that easy.

Modeling the Anima Banner as consequences is a natural fit, with the anima banner’s intensity scaling very nicely up the ladder of consequences. There’s just one problem, Stress is absorbed in a non-linear fashion in Dresden and SotC**, while Essence is spent in a very linear fashion in Exalted. In Exalted, as you spend Essence your anima banner grows, but in FATE you might check your very last stress box to absorb your first hit, or take a moderate or severe consequence before you take a mild one.

After beating my head against a wall all weekend, plus a bit, I’ve finally switched to using Void Star’s stress track in this case. The Stress tracks work in a more linear fashion in Strands of Fate,which solves the above problems, but I’m not happy about including an entirely different Stress mechanic for Essence alone***.

Below is my first draft at the Essence mechanics. Things may still move around a bit once my group starts play testing, but will probably stick fairly close to this method.

Essence Pool

Each character has a special stress track called Essence, which represents their reserves of power. As there is no Essence Skill, the number of boxes is determined by the character’s Exalt type****, though more can be purchased later. The track is divided into a series of consequences representing the character’s Anima Banner.

Essence Spending and Stress

Each time a power is used, roll the associated ability (Melee, Athletics, etc) against the listed difficulty. If you pass, the power activates without trouble. If you fail, the power activates but you also suffer a number of stress equal to the difference of your roll and the power’s cost. Essence stress boxes don’t have a number associated with them, so as you suffer stress simply fill in the first open box, suffering a consequence if necessary. If you already had a consequence, replace the old one with the new one.

Recovering Essence

A character’s Essence track clears of all stress at the end of the scene. Anima Banner consequences also recovery much faster than regular consequences, with Out of Essence immediately downgrading to Bonfire Aura at the beginning of the next scene. The Anima Banner will continue to downgrade one level per scene(or one level every 20 minutes if the scenes are particularly long) so long as the character isn’t forced to take Essence Stress.

*or the Activation Stress from Strands of Fate. Same mechanic, just turned on its head.

** For an example of what I mean, check pages 201-202 in The Dresden Files: Your Story or pages 65-67 in Spirit of the Century

*** I made this a lot harder than it should have been by trying to stick with Evil Hat’s FATE mechanics for some time before switching to Void Star’s Activation Stress. I’ve not used any of the differing mechanics from Void Star up until this point, and had wanted to avoid doing so. Going this way makes Essence an exception to the normal rules and exceptions usually equal trouble.

**** The example included has a completely arbitrary number of boxes per level. I’ll nail that aspect down as I get the templates for the various Exalt types worked out.

Stress Tracks

I currently trying to decide between two different methods of setting up the stress tracks: Spirit of the Century’s method and the method used in Strands of Fate by Void Star.

Spirit of the Century style stress tracks

The Skill rank determines how many boxes you get over the default 5. (Average/Fair +1, Good/Great +2, Superb/Fantastic +3). In The Dresden Files you also gain another Mild Consequence to be used for that specific kind of stress, which I might use if play testing proves to be too lethal.

physical = Stamina

mental = Willpower

social = Presence

So a character with Superb Stamina, Great Willpower and Fair Presence would have a set of stress tracks that looked like this:

Strands of Fate style stress tracks

Strands of Fate uses a tiered stress track, where each tier is a different level of Consequence. You determine the number of boxes by adding 2 Skills together, plus any other modifiers, usually from Power Advantages. Default is one box per tier.

The result is that each stress track (Physical, Mental and Social) looks like this:

On the one hand I like this system. I looks like Exalted’s health track. On the other, Strands uses a completely different Skill system with 12 total Skills. To use it as written would mean either abandoning Evil Hat’s version of FATE in favor of Void Star’s or trying to shoehorn it into Evil Hat’s, neither of which is something I want to do.

I may ultimately try to blend the two different methods together, with tiered stress tracks derived from a single Skill. I’m not sure how well that would work, or if there would be any mechanical advantage besides the ability to have the same level of consequence from different sources (ie. having both a severe physical and mental consequence), something you can’t do in Spirit of the Century.

Skill List, v2

This is my second (or thirtieth, if you count all the revisions I didn’t post) version of the Skill list. Most of the Social Skills are unchanged from The Dresden Files, as it seemed like the effort to alter them was an exercise in reinventing the wheel. They work fine in DFRPG, so why change them? Several of the Skills had their names changed to fit better in Exalted’s setting.

I ultimately ended up restoring Contacts and Resources as Skills, instead of Stunts. I was hesitant to do so, because there already 24 Skills excluding those two and a character/player only has so many points and slots on the Skill Pyramid. On the other hand, while both are Backgrounds in Exalted, Backgrounds are cheap (or free) in Exalted. Stunts are not. Skills aren’t free either, but the currency used to buy them is much more readily available than that used for Stunts.

 

Archery (Guns)

Athletics (Athletics)

Awareness (Alertness)

Contacts

Crafts (Craftsmanship)

Deceit or Manipulation (Deceit)

Empathy

Integrity (Discipline)

Intimidation

Investigation (Investigation)

Larceny (Burglary)

Lore (Scholarship)

Martial Arts (Fists)

Might: I’m keeping the name Might because I think it’s more evocative than simply Strength.

Melee (Weapons)

Occult (Lore)

Performance (Performance)

Presence: Keeping Presence for the same reason as Might. Also, after a bit of re-examination, it seems Presence is a closer match to Exalted’s Mental Defense Value than Charisma.

Rapport

Resources

Ride: For riding live mounts or First Age mechanical equivalents.

Sail (Driving): As in WW’s rules, Sail will also handle piloting airships and other First Age vessels.

Stamina (Endurance)

Stealth

Survival

Willpower (Conviction)