March '23: Bi-Monthly Check In, Warstrider preview
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 11:21:07 AM
Hello Gatecrashers,
We're in the final week of March 2023, and that means it's time for our regular bi-monthly update. We've been tracking this final reward for a while - it's a big, complicated beast, and the team has been spending a lot of effort getting it moving along after some massive pandemic-related challenges. We're in the early stages of layout, but bits are starting to bubble up, and I'll be re-posting a tiny bit of excitement that the Onyx Path team recently shared. After that, we'll get back into our regular check in.
Neritoum, the All-Beast Avatar(Moonsilver Warstrider, Artifact § •••••)
The Exalted of the early First Age faced many challenges as they sought to bring all the world under their rule. Among the foremost of these were the behemoths that roamed Creation, colossal monstrosities and immortal god-beasts. Created by the Ancients, the sheer power and titanic size of many behemoths made their mere existence a threat to humanity.
A hero of the Divine Revolution, Seventeen Awaiting Terrors was chosen to lead the Exalted host’s first campaign against the behemoths. They set out on the hunt in the shapeshifting warstrider Neritoum, the All-Beast Avatar, created by Thunder’s Promise, their Circlemate.
Thunder’s Promise forged Neritoum from the many trophies of Terrors’ hunts: the scales of an ancient river dragon, the sinews of a giant cave bear, the colossal squid Vig’nagha’s many-colored gladius. She alloyed the warstrider’s moonsilver armor with these trophies, innovating techniques of sorcerous artifice inspired by Lunar shapeshifting. Neritoum’s flesh and metal are inextricable from each other; few can tell where one ends and the other begins.
With the All-Beast Avatar’s power, Seventeen Awaiting Terrors made the most dreaded of behemoths their prey — the Horizon Spider, the River That Walked, the Wolf of Calibration. In the Niobraran War, the young Lunar Ravening Lamprey piloted it into battle against horrors of the ocean depths summoned by the Spoken. In the Usurpation, Daughter of First Frost hunted the Dragon-Blooded betrayers from Neritoum’s helm until it fell to the starmetal warstrider Saint of Dooms Foretold.
No artificer of the Second Age has yet succeeded in repairing the Neritoum’s ruin. Gadhaj Winter-Wheel sought to, raising a vast forge around the shattered warstrider, but the shahan-ya abandoned the project when conflicts over the Silver Pact’s priorities drove them to leave it. Neritoum still remains in what are now the ruins of Gadhaj’s workshop, accompanied by a teeming population of war refugees who’ve made their new home in the cyclopean forge’s shelter.
Attunement: 15m
Soak: 15; Hardness: 10
Damage track: –0x5/–1×5/–2×10/–4×10
Speed bonus: +2
Hearthstone slot(s): 3
Era: The Hunt for the Seven Titans
Backer: Josh Raveling
Warstriders
For more information on warstriders, see Arms of the Chosen, Chapter Five.
EVOCATIONS OF NERITOUM
Neritoum isn’t piloted using the control harness typical of most warstriders. Instead, tendrils of living flesh emerge from the many-hued shell that is Neritoum’s fuselage, affixing themselves to the pilot’s Essence meridians. The tendrils can merge with a Lunar’s protean flesh, waiving the need for warstrider specialties (Arms of the Chosen, p. 140-141).
When a Lunar shapeshifts into an animal form while piloting Neritoum, the warstrider’s moonsilver frame shifts to take on the animal’s shape. She waives the cost of such transformations. They use the normal rules for shapeshifting (Lunars, p. 131), but the Lunar can use the animal’s soak and Hardness if they’re better than the warstrider’s. She can also use animal dice pools, special abilities, and Merits that couldn’t normally be used through a warstrider, like an eagle’s flight.
The warstrider always remains at Legendary Size, replacing the Tiny Creature and Minuscule Size Merits. (They still count as having those Merits for purposes of Protean Charms). She can enter shapes with Minuscule Size or Legendary Size without needing to use Emerald Grasshopper Form or Towering Beast Form, paying only the usual four-mote cost for shapeshifting. However, she must still know the appropriate Charm.
Charms that let the Lunar manifest mutations, like Perfected Hybrid Interaction, can also transform the warstrider. This allows such mutations to enhance the warstrider’s Strength, Hardness, soak, and damage track, and also enables mutations like Wings that wouldn’t normally be usable from the cockpit.
Non-Lunars: This warstrider’s listed Evocations are unsuitable to non-Lunars. Such characters might instead awaken Evocations that let them transform the warstrider into a variety of animal-like forms and expand on each of those forms’ unique strengths.
Apex Beast Evolution
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: None
Neritoum becomes an extension of the Lunar’s body, shifting its shape as readily as her own flesh.
The Lunar gains the following benefits:
- She reduces the cost of shapeshifting by two motes.
- When she uses an Instant-duration Lunar Charm whose Protean benefit she qualifies for, she receives a two-mote discount. If she uses multiple such Charms together, the discount only applies once.
Ever-Shifting Titan Activation
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Apex Beast Evolution, any one Charm this Evocation enhances
Neritoum’s moonsilver malleability heightens the Lunar’s control of its form.
This Evocation upgrades the following Charms (Lunars, pp. 144, 186):
- Ever-Evolving Defense: The Lunar can convert Initiative from this Charm to motes. If she has Infinite Inchoate Potential, she may add those motes to its pool.
- Perfected Hybrid Interaction: Each mote the Lunar commits to this Charm lets her manifest two dots of mutations.
- Quicksilver Second Face: The Lunar receives a one-Initiative discount on this Charm. If she has other discounts that reduce the Charm’s total Initiative cost to zero, it loses the Perilous keyword.
- Scale-Shedding Escape: All enemies suffer this Charm’s penalty regardless of their Initiative.
Mirror-Shell Adaptation
Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute, Resonant
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Apex Beast Evolution
Neritoum’s moonsilver plating mimics the color and texture of its surroundings, hiding in plain sight.
The Stealth penalty for piloting a warstrider (Arms of the Chosen, p. 142) subtracts dice from a roll instead of successes. If the roll is enhanced by a Lunar Charm whose Protean benefit she receives, she ignores the penalty entirely.
Resonant: The Lunar doubles 9s on the Stealth roll.
Stalking Behemoth Camouflage
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Mirror-Shell Adaptation, Subtle Chameleon Practice
The Lunar enhances Neritoum’s concealment with her protean power.
This Evocation upgrades Subtle Chameleon Practice (Lunars, p. 157), granting a five-mote discount and extending its duration to Indefinite.
One Flesh Symbiosis
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Resonant
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Apex Beast Perfection, Halting the Scarlet Flow
Neritoum’s flesh and moonsilver are suffused with the Lunar’s incredible vitality, healing the All-Beast Avatar’s wounds.
When the Lunar uses Halting the Scarlet Flow (Lunars, p. 256), she adds one round to its duration or one level to the damage it heals outside of combat. Its healing applies both to the Lunar and to Neritoum’s damage track.
Resonant: The bonus increases to two rounds or levels of damage.
Infinite Inchoate Potential
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Ever-Shifting Titan Activation
The power of ten thousand beasts surges within Neritoum’s beating heart.
Neritoum gains a pool of ten motes, which its pilot can spend on the warstrider’s Evocations and Lunar Charms whose Protean benefits she qualifies for. Neritoum doesn’t regain motes naturally, but the Lunar can transfer motes to it after a few minutes spent meditating in its cockpit.
Quicksilver Subtlety Refinement
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Ever-Shifting Titan Activation, Mirror-Shell Adaptation
Neritoum conceals its master’s power from her monstrous prey as they hunt in the shadows.
When the Neritoum’s pilot spends motes on a Lunar Charm whose Protean benefit she receives, those motes are muted.
Behemoth-Heart Empowerment
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Infinite Inchoate Potential, Undaunted Behemoth Avatar
Having worn the skins of many colossal beasts, the Lunar attains greater mastery of Neritoum.
Neritoum gains the following benefits:
- It gains an additional five –1 health levels.
- Its Speed Bonus increases to +3.
- It adds +2 to the difficulty of special warstrider gambits against it (Arms of the Chosen, p. 143).
Awakening: This Evocation awakens for free if the Lunar meets its prerequisites.
Unseen Devastation Strike
Cost: 8m, 2i, 1wp; Mins: Essence 4
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Resonant
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Quicksilver Subtlety Refinement
Striking in a blur of flashing quicksilver and bestial speed, Neritoum finishes its prey.
When the Lunar makes a decisive surprise attack against an enemy whose Initiative is lower than hers or who has Legendary Size, it becomes an ambush. She doubles 9s on the damage roll against Legendary Size enemies.
If the Lunar uses this Evocation to enhance her devastating action (Arms of the Chosen, p. 141), its cost is reduced to five motes and it doesn’t break concealment. Such uses don’t count against this Evocation’s once-per-scene limit.
Resonant: The Lunar doubles 9s on the damage roll against all enemies, and doubles 8s against Legendary Size enemies.
Reset: Once per scene, unless reset by incapacitating a nontrivial enemy with an unexpected attack or incapacitating a Legendary Size enemy. This Evocation can’t reset itself.
Apocalyptic Titan-Beast Ascendancy
Cost: —; Mins: Essence 5
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Behemoth-Heart Empowerment, God-Monster Transcendence
Becoming one with Neritoum, the Lunar embodies the world-shaking power of a monster that knows no equal.
The Lunar can use God-Monster Transcendence (p. XX) while piloting Neritoum.
Awakening: This Evocation awakens for free if the Lunar meets its prerequisites.
UPGRADED CHARMS
As a lagniappe, here are the Lunar Charms new to Many-Faced Strangers that Neritoum’s Evocations enhance:
Scale-Shedding Escape
Cost: —; Mins: Dexterity 3, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Protean
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Quicksilver Second Face, Skulking Rat Spirit
The Lunar slips away from her foes with a well-timed transformation.
When the Lunar uses Quicksilver Second Face and makes a Stealth roll on the same tick, characters whose Initiative is lower than hers suffer a ?3 penalty on their rolls against her Stealth. Characters who weren’t aware the Lunar could shapeshift also suffer this penalty. Penalized characters who fail their roll lose 1 Initiative.
Protean: Shifting into a shape with Tiny Creature or Minuscule Size lets the Lunar roll Stealth to enter concealment without needing a hiding place.
God-Monster Transcendence
Cost: 5i; Mins: Strength 5, Stamina 5, Essence 5
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Archetype (Stamina), Dual
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Undaunted Behemoth Avatar
Descending on the battlefield in titanic form, the Lunar strikes like a force of nature.
While in the shape of a Legendary Size animal, the Lunar gains the following benefits:
- Her defenses against smaller enemies are amplified: withering attacks need 15+ dice of post soak damage to crash her. The limit on how much decisive damage she can take from their attacks now includes levels of damage added by magic. Likewise, her immunity to onslaught penalties now includes those inflicted by magic.
[this is a second paragraph within the same bullet point]
- An enemy can overcome this by spotting a weak point in her titanic form, spending 4 Initiative to make a difficulty 5 (Perception + Awareness) roll that can’t be flurried. Success denies the Lunar these benefits against him.
- She can move away from smaller enemies without needing to disengage.
- She waives the Willpower costs of Lunar Charms that enhance her feats of strength.
- Against battle groups, her withering attacks double their attack roll extra successes when determining their raw damage. Decisive attacks against them double the damage bonus they receive (Exalted, p. 208). 1s subtract successes on rout checks triggered by her attacks.
Archetype: A Lunar whose spirit shape has Legendary Size may learn this as a Stamina Charm. (While it has a dual-Attribute prerequisite, it counts as a Strength Charm normally).
STRETCH GOAL REWARD STILL PENDING
Slight progress, with the book entering the layout phase.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
- Exalted 3rd Edition Core Rules PDF (Update #38, Apr 15, 2019)
- Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought PDF (Update #38, Apr 15, 2019)
- Songline Legend Runes PDF Bundle (Update #38, Apr 15, 2019)
- Backer T-shirt Link (Update #40, May 16, 2019)
- Lunars: Fangs at the Gate Backer PDF (Update #54, May 12, 2020)
- Lunars: Fangs at the Gate PoD Coupon (Update #61, Oct 6, 2020)
- Lunars: Fangs at the Gate Deluxe Hardcover (Update #64, Jan 22, 2021)
- Storyteller's Screen (Update #64, Jan 22, 2021)
- Cloth Map of Creation [LUNAR VERSION] (Update #64, Jan 22, 2021)
- Digital Wallpaper (Update #69, Apr 19, 2021)
- Facets of Truth - Lunars Novella (Update #88, Dec 15, 2022)
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://lunars-fangs-at-the-gate.backerkit.com. You can also access your available DOWNLOADS from your BackerKit page.
ONYX PATH PROJECT TRACKING
You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here: <February 2023 Project Status Summary>
You can find the weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every other month until the final Stretch Goal reward has gone out.
ONYX PATH DISCUSSION CHANNELS
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
TO CONTACT JAMES
If you've got a question about your pledge or BackerKit page or any part of the process, you can contact me with any of these methods
- Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
- Via Kickstarter: Click Richard Thomas under the "Created By" heading on the main page, and then press the "Contact Me" button - the message will come to me!
- Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
