So: Make me a totally 'I whup your ass single handed' blind dude.  

I don't care how. All I care is that he's 'legal'. He's blind (mechanically, whatever that means... that is it's not just color and I use fully sighted rules and claim he's blind), and he is a credible threat to a starting solar or solars.

Oh: Second Ed...








This thread has been brought to you courtsey of a minor brain fart while I think of the thread I really meant to post earlier....

If he's blind, he probably has an awareness charm up and running all the time.

How much XP do you want to build him with, and whose ass do you want him to whup?

XP totals aren't too important as this is purely meant as an NPC, capable of challenging (that is, potentially winning, but also of being beaten) by a circle of three 0 xp solars by himself.   I may use him in the 'four way duel' to teach the players both stunting and how to work together in a fight, but his real purpose is the 'wise old man that knows some serious shit and can't be forced to give it up', while simultaniously playing on the unbeatable blind old man trope.

And that's what I've got. :keke:

An essence 4 Sidereal with a smattering of low end SMA charms from Scroll of the Monk should fit the bill.

Hmm.. given what I've heard about scroll of the monk, and given what I understand about martial arts in general (namely: Charms ARE Kung Fu. How can you have Kung Fu-ery Kung Fu?) I don't think I want that book.

No: Scenelong awareness charms, that is obviously the step one on the road to blind mastery. Now I need to take a look at which ones I have available to me and look for step two... :haw:

Another approach would be to create an artifact that allows perfect sensory awareness of one's environment (including spirit sight, essence flows etc.) when worn. I'm thinking of those 'blind man's bandana' things that you see movie martial artists wear across their eyes, maybe embroidrred with first age glyphs. It would have multiple Perfect perceptual effects within it's power suite, with the downside is that you have to gouge your own eyes out in order to attune to it.

Hmm.....

I can be suitably inspired to suggest an artifact that forces you to gouge out your eyes (to, say, replace them with gemstones) while going...


... not for this guy. I want him to be,  you know, BLIND. Not:Alternatively sighted.

Quote from: SpikeHmm.....

I can be suitably inspired to suggest an artifact that forces you to gouge out your eyes (to, say, replace them with gemstones) while going...


... not for this guy. I want him to be,  you know, BLIND. Not:Alternatively sighted.

Well it does give him a nice exploitable weakness. You could make him an uber powerful party killer who could be whittled down to a more manageable size with a single well placed blow. Of course pentrating his defenses would be an issue, but that's where the players are required to get creative. Sensory overload from stunts (huge, chiming bells, sudden anima bursts etc.) could work, as could an artifact designed to explicitly counter the effects of his own. Cue much questing.

And besides, wouldn't persistent Awareness charms just be another form of alternative sight?

Scroll of the Monk is one of the best books for Exalted 2e. If you want martial arts to be a factor in the game you should pick it up.

Charms themselves aren't kung fu. Only martial arts charms are kung fu. The rest (at least for Solars) are the supernatural extension of standard human capabilities.

You must not watch the same Kung Fu movies I watch.  Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle immedeatly spring to mind when I think about charms/kung fu for making bread.  Or Tenjho Tenge, where one character uses 'kung Fu acupuncture' to heal people.  

I mean, you have social combat charms, which is kung fu debate for god's sake!


And for solars, the 2e book points out that solar charms are just better than MA, which is why they don't include solar MA's as charmsets really. All those other kung fu's are pretenders to the Solar dominance in charms, or so they tell me.

Then I contrast it with words from the drooling idiots... I mean fanbois at RPG.net, where half the Scroll of the Monk is hopelessly game breaking, half of it is pathetically weak and half of it is directly reprinted from 1st ed with out an update to the new rules.  Obviously there is some crossover.

I'd almost say yours is the first 'review' that suggests it's awesome on toast.

I remember a 1st Edition Martial Arts charm on the Air Dragon Celestial martial arts form that lets you see all around you by sensing air currents. It's a sight that's not dependent on eyes, so when my Air Immaculate Monk was blinded by an angry Lunar (in something that resembles DM-fiat when I wasn't there), I was still able to kung-fu the shit out of people.

Quote from: Thanatos02I remember a 1st Edition Martial Arts charm on the Air Dragon Celestial martial arts form that lets you see all around you by sensing air currents. It's a sight that's not dependent on eyes, so when my Air Immaculate Monk was blinded by an angry Lunar (in something that resembles DM-fiat when I wasn't there), I was still able to kung-fu the shit out of people.

Now that is the awesome blind kung fu shit there.  I'll look at the DB book and see if I can find it when I get home tonight.

2e still has it, as part of Air Dragon Style.

Basically what I'm saying is that if you're wanting an Exalted game with lots of supernatural kung fu goodness, it might behoove you to pick up the book that's entirely dedicated to supernatural kung fu goodness.

Yep, there are definitely some martial arts styles your Solars won't want to get. They're categorized as Terrestrial for a reason. But they still make great flavor and useful combat tricks for NPCs, and great tools for a GM. I think most of the people that complain about them are players of Solars or Sidereals. I could be wrong of course, but I know that as a GM I've found plenty of use for it when designing NPCs.

Then there's the middle half, the Celestial styles. They're not always as beefy in melee as a Solar with a Grand Daiklave (sometimes they are), but they're full of variety for a martial artist, including stealthy assassin style, kill you with my voice style, and Exalted's answer to Equilibrium's Gun Fu. There's also my personal favorite: I'll Rip Out Your Still-Beating Heart and Show It To You Before You Die Style.

Last but far from least are the Sidereal martial arts, which will get your group's martial artists drooling. They're the Holy Grail for kung fu fighting, and learning them can provide the GM with any number of plot hooks. They have to be taught by a Sidereal, meaning you have to first find out the sidereals exist, then convince them to tach you what amounts to state secrets.