Sun-Touched Dragon King [Exalted/Highschool DxD]

[heralding_bubble]

Discussion?
Yes, this pleases me.

Not to mention that buying high stats in char-gen is cheap. It's a White Wolf game, after all. Get those 5 dot Abilities at the beginning, because they're expensive as hell to get later, even if they are Supernal/Caste/Favoured. It's far easier to learn other Abilities from scratch later one, because purchasing 1, 2, 3 dots is fairly cheap in comparison to going from 3 to 4 dots, or 4 to 5. It's sadly unavoidable to min-max, if only because it's just that much more efficient and makes the game less likely to murderize you in the first three sessions, and get a few dots here and there in the more fluffy options. But unless you build your character in a way that runs counter to the type of campaign being played, the game's not as harsh if you don't min-max (though, being Exalted, you need at least one combat Abilities as Favoured/Caste if only to not die the second combat breaks out).

Click to shrink...

Luckily we're using flat XP costs, though the training times do get longer the better you want to get.

Training time for Attributes is [Current Rating] x 7 days of 3+ hours of dedicated training time
XP cost for Attributes is 6 XP

Training time for Favoured/Caste Abilities is [New Rating] days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
Training time for non-Favoured/Caste Abilities is [New Rating] x 3 days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
Training time for Specialties is 3 days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
XP cost for Abilities is 3 XP for Favoured/Caste Abilities, and 4 XP for Non-Fav/Caste Abilities
XP cost for Specialties is 2 XP

Training time for Favoured/Caste Charms is [Ability Minimum] days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
Training time for non-Favoured/Caste Charms is [Ability Minimum]+[Essence Minimum] days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
XP cost for Charms is 8 XP for Favoured/Caste Ability Charms, and 10 XP for non-Fav/Caste Ability Charms

XP cost for Willpower is 5, and has a training time of [Current Rating] days of complete meditation

Essence increases with XP; Essence 2 at 40 XP, Essence 3 at 100 XP, Essence 4 at 175 XP, Essence 5 at 250 XP

Click to shrink...

Though it feels Ability training time is a bit small so I might tweak them before that comes into play, but it might just be me.
I'll try and write up an update for this weekend/early next week, was so long since this is a fairly important vote.
Lockdown on voting tomorrow at some point.

 

[heralding_bubble]

Vote Tally : Sun-Touched Dragon King [Exalted/Highschool DxD] | Page 3 | Questionable Questing [Posts: 68-106]
##### NetTally 1.9.10
Task: Supernal
[X][Supernal]: Presence
No. of Votes: 9
moonberserker
Alexander
Fpkfor
kenmadragon
Kieron
mrttao
NuclearBird
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider

---

——————————————————————————————————————————————Task: Caste
[X][Caste]: Integrity
No. of Votes: 9
moonberserker
Alexander
Fpkfor
kenmadragon
Kieron
mrttao
NuclearBird
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Caste]: Resistance
No. of Votes: 9
moonberserker
Alexander
Fpkfor
kenmadragon
Kieron
mrttao
NuclearBird
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Caste]: Athletics
No. of Votes: 7
kenmadragon
Alexander
Fpkfor
Kieron
mrttao
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Caste]: Lore
No. of Votes: 7
kenmadragon
Alexander
Fpkfor
Kieron
mrttao
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Caste]: Performance
No. of Votes: 2
moonberserker
NuclearBird
[X][Caste]: Survival
No. of Votes: 2
moonberserker
NuclearBird
[X][Caste]:: Resistance - Athletics - Integrity - Presence
No. of Votes: 1
Grinix

---

——————————————————————————————————————————————Task: Favoured
[X][Favoured]: Occult
No. of Votes: 9
moonberserker
Alexander
Fpkfor
kenmadragon
Kieron
mrttao
NuclearBird
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Favoured]: Awareness
No. of Votes: 9
moonberserker
Alexander
Fpkfor
kenmadragon
Kieron
mrttao
NuclearBird
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Favoured]: Dodge
No. of Votes: 7
kenmadragon
Alexander
Fpkfor
Kieron
mrttao
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Favoured]: Melee
No. of Votes: 7
kenmadragon
Alexander
Fpkfor
Kieron
mrttao
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Favoured]: War
No. of Votes: 7
kenmadragon
Alexander
Fpkfor
Kieron
mrttao
SwiftRosenthal
wasprider
[X][Favoured]: Socialize
No. of Votes: 2
moonberserker
NuclearBird
[X][Favoured]: Lore
No. of Votes: 2
moonberserker
NuclearBird
[X][Favoured]: Brawl
No. of Votes: 2
moonberserker
NuclearBird
Total No. of Voters: 10

Click to shrink...

Winners be
[Supernal]: Presence
[Caste]: Integrity
[Caste]: Resistance
[Caste]: Athletics
[Caste]: Lore
[Favoured]: Occult
[Favoured]: Awareness
[Favoured]: Dodge
[Favoured]: Melee
[Favoured]: War

 

[the DragonBard]

Hmm.
I'd suggest, if going by canon Issei at this point, a specialty in Awareness of 'attractive women,' and at least a dot or two in Craft with a specialty in 'attractive women' since he made that statue of Rias in canon and it didn't seem to use a dot of Willpower for an auto-success.

 

[heralding_bubble]

[Supernal]: Presence
[Caste]: Integrity
[Caste]: Resistance
[Caste]: Athletics
[Caste]: Lore
[Favoured]: Occult
[Favoured]: Awareness
[Favoured]: Dodge
[Favoured]: Melee
[Favoured]: War

---

You are to love as I am to light. For this, you are Chosen. Doubt not, fear not; yours is the mark of Zenith, bright as noonday sun. March forth against all darkness for you are now Exalted, a Champion of the Unconquered Sun.


You wake with the dawn.

You blink away the dream of a four armed man, or was it a dragon, and stretch. You feel... great. Awesome, even. Better than you ever remember feeling. It's like there was another layer added to, or perhaps removed from reality. You wonder for a moment why exactly that is, before blanching as the memories of yesterday come back to you. With a grimace you bring your hand to your stomach where Yu- Raynare stabbed you and wince at the pain. It still hurts. Looking down on it, at least the hole isn't that big anymore, nor is it bleeding.

Rising from the bed with a groan, you check under you bed. The bundled ball of bloodied clothes is still safe there. You entertain the thought of dropping them to the pile of dirty laundry in the bathroom for a moment before dropping it with a shake of your head. Mother would have questions.

Sitting back down on the bed with a sigh, you run a hand through your head and think. Raynare tried to kill you because of your Sain- Sacred Gear. But you don't have a Sacred Gear. You look down at your hand, as you clench it to a fist and release it. You don't have a Sacred Gear, you think... But you are something more. You think back to your dream of the four armed man. No, you frown and shake your head. He is not a man. He is a god. Your god. Unconquered Sun. You are His Chosen. You are His word in this world. You are Exalted. You are Zenith.

The rightness of it makes you grin.

After the moment of self reflection you finally look at the clock. You knew it was 05:47 even before you laid your eyes on it. You can tell the time apparently. Useful, you suppose. At least you'll never be late. Unless held back by things out of your control.

You hum, thinking back to the start of your self-reflection. Sacred Gears... You'll have to ask more about them in the meeting after school. You can't help the grin that comes with the thought of seeing Rias again. She is one of the Three Princesses of Kuoh for a reason. Hopefully you'll also learn more about the world you've stepped into.

Which reminds you of the Fallen Angels. Although Dohnaseek you think his name was, said that they'd look after Raynare, you can't help but think about the possibility of her escaping and coming after you again, or worse, your parents. She was their group's leader after all, so it would make sense if she was the strongest, right? You sigh and idly play with a strand of hair. If she went after your parents... Should they know? Be prepared to run away in case they see her, or something? And what about the rest of the stuff; Sacred Gears, Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels...

You frown. It would be best if you...
[][Parents] Speak to them at breakfast.
-[] What do you tell them:
[][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[][Parents] Don't tell them. Ignorance is Bliss.

You sigh. Hopefully it'll be for the best.

You settle your eyes on the bookcase on the wall opposite of your bed and wonder what to do. A thought of the time tells you it's 06:09 which means you probably shouldn't start breakfast yet, unless you want to eat it cold. Letting your eyes roam around they settle on your laptop. After a mental shrug you move to sit at the desk and boot the thing up, and start trying to find information online about the Unconquered Sun. Just searching "Unconquered Sun" gives you Sol Invictus, who was a Roman god of the sun according to what you found. But even though the name feels like it matches, there is no mention of dragons in relation to him. Searching for "Four armed sun god" gives you some assortment of Hindu gods instead along with Surya, but he has three eyes and again no mention of dragons. And "Sun God Dragon" just gives you Yu-Gi-Oh! card results.

You spend some more time trying to find something about Him but find nothing. The result makes you frown. Perhaps he is a god in some remote corner of the world like somewhere in the Amazon or something? With a sigh at your lack of success you shut down the laptop at 06:51 and start heading downstairs to make breakfast. You might as well do it since you're already awake.

Maybe Rias might know something about Unconquered Sun? Something to ask about, you guess.

As you start preparing the coffee, eggs, toast, and bacon, a thought occurs to you. You had been rather... vocal, about the upgrade of your relationship status. As well as your first date with Yuuma. It wouldn't surprise you if most of the school knew about them, or at least rumours of them by now. What then, will you say about the events of yesterday? You wouldn't be surprised if people expected you to gloat about it today. You should think of a story to tell them, perhaps...

[][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.
[][School] She revealed it was only a game for her and she did it all just to toy with you.
[][School] For some reason she decided to just dump you at the end of the day.
[][School] At the end of the day it was clear that you weren't suited for each other and mutually broke it off.
[][School] Write in:

---

Attribute, Ability, and Willpower Dot voting.

You have 13 dots to spread between your Attributes and Abilities to a maximum of 5, and Willpower to a maximum of 10.

An example vote
[X][Dots]: Appearance +3, Presence +3, Willpower +1, Lore +2, Melee +2, Craft (Armour) +2
This would result in Appearance 5, Presence 3, Willpower 6, Lore 3, Melee 2, and Craft (Armour) 2.


Your current Willpower is 5.
Your current Attributes are

Spoiler

Strength: OO
Dexterity: OO
Stamina: OO

Charisma: OO
Manipulation: O
Appearance: OO

Perception: OO
Intelligence: OO
Wits: OO

Your current Abilities are

Spoiler

Those marked with – are Favoured/Caste Abilities, that which is marked by + is the Supernal Ability.

Archery:
–Athletics:
–Awareness:
Brawl:
Bureaucracy:
–Dodge:
–Integrity: O
Investigation:
Larceny:
Linguistics: O
–Lore: O
>> Specialty: Eroge
Medicine:
–Melee:
–Occult:
Performance:
+Presence:
–Resistance:
Ride:
Sail:
Socialize:
Stealth:
Survival:
Thrown:
–War:

Craft:
>(Expertise):

Sorry it took so long, life got in the way like it has a habit of doing sometimes. I also had this finished four hours ago, but then refreshing the page ate the thing and I had to start from scratch. It feels kind of rambling, and I'm not that happy with it.

I also added the 7 XP you were supposed to get at the end of last post.

 

[SwiftRosenthal]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

This is probably the most believable TBH. "She was actually interested in Issei of all people," should have been the first warning sign.

I'll hold off on a dot vote until I see an analysis I like.

 

[gadrial]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.
[X][Dots]: Wits +3, Intelligence +2, Awareness +3, Dodge +3, Resistance +2

 

[shanagan]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

 

[Phantom Blaster]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.
[X][Dots]: Wits +3, Intelligence +2, Awareness +3, Dodge +3, Resistance +2
Close enough to the truth, we tell them when we get waifus at this point we need to get strong on social to get Asia on our harem.

 

[moonberserker]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

[X][Dots]: Appearance +1, Charisma +3, Presence +3, Willpower +2, Lore +2, Melee +2

Appearance to be about average for the setting.
Charisma and presence maxed because Zenith
More willpower is always good
Lore and Melee as for knowledge and some fighting skill.

 

[ryuan]

I would tell Issei to try Ignis Divine since it's also his name/epithet, but it would also turn back as failure.

 

[Lifelink]

[x][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
If the Devils work business as usual, they'd be erasing their memories anyways and they should be telling us that. If not then there's something wrong going on or they'll be asking us if our parents are actually knowledgeable about the new world we're stepping into. Wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do a comprehensive history sweep on the family because of their inquisitive nature anyways so we have a right to demand them doing their job and acting as protection for them.

[x][School] Write in: Tell them that it was all just a punishment game for her.
This is Issei, his reputation at school won't allow people to believe anything other than 'Yuuma' was playing games with his heart. Better to not let people fill in the blanks with how you usually act and make your reputation worse off for it. No one's going to believe she was a yandere for the Perverted Trio's Hyoudo Issei. Maybe tell them that it was some kind of punishment game for her that she did after she lost a bet or something. Sure it'll make us look pathetic but that's better than what a teenager's rabid imagination will cook up.

 

[NuclearBird]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] For some reason she decided to just dump you at the end of the day.
[X][Dots]: Wits +3, Intelligence +2, Awareness +3, Dodge +3, Resistance +2

First get more intel, THEN open the bag to let the cat loose.
The second is because irrational schoolgirl stuff, I guess.
On the dots, I'll defer to more knowledgable people. For now, gadrial's vote makes sense to me.

 

[kenmadragon]

You blink away the dream of a four armed man, or was it a dragon, and stretch.

Click to shrink...

Fun Fact: One of the Unconquered Sun's more favoured forms in the early days was a massive, four-armed Dragon King with a body of molten orichalcum and empyreal fire.

You have 13 dots to spread between your Attributes and Abilities to a maximum of 5, and Willpower to a maximum of 10.

Click to shrink...

Well, this is certainly different from, well, standard character creation. Normally, you have to assign dot-priorities to the Attributes, then you get 1 dot in all your Favoured/Caste/Supernal Abilities, spread 23 dots to any Abilities you want (but no higher than 3), assign 4 specialties, 10 dots of Merits, 15 Charms, and then spend bonus XP (which is where you raise Abilities higher than 3 and can get more Willpower).

Hmn, I'm gonna have to look through the rule-book later and analyze the options.

I'm inclined to go with moonberserker 's suggestion (though maybe only 1 dot to Lore, the other to Willpower because that's expensive to increase later), but have to wonder why Exaltation didn't give the automatic "1 dot in all Favoured/Caste/Supernal" Abilities.

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

 

[Alexander]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

 

[wasprider]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

 

[Kieron]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

 

[the DragonBard]

Aren't you supposed to start with a dot in your favored, or was that rule gotten rid of in 3rd?

Also, as I said, he should probably start with a dot in Craft, since he was able to make a nude statue of Rias so easily in canon.

 

[Kerfirou]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

 

[mrttao]

[x][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[x][School] She went full Yandere and you managed to run away.

this is funny to me... hope an expert steps up to help finish the build

 

[Lifelink]

Issei, the guy who can't even be faithful to the girl he manages to get. What a wonderful new addition to our reputation.

 

[the DragonBard]

[X][Dots]: Charisma +2, Stamina +3, Resistance +1, Appearance +1, Brawl +1, Dodge +1, Presence +1, Dexterity +1, Lore +1, Willpower +1
Went with Craft (Attractive Women) to fit his bit of making a nude statue of Rias in canon so easily
Stamina because it's the stat Boosted Gear is tied to most, same with Resistance
Charisma, and the Presence specialty because it fits his canon self, and they (and Appearance) will make things easier to attract women
Brawl, because it's the cheapest way to up his fighting, since people aren't going to 'waste' XP to up his Brawl with Melee being Favored

Edit: Traded out Wits and Craft for Dodge and Dex to help increase surviveability.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She revealed it was only a game for her and she did it all just to toy with you.

Wouldn't craft (armor) be a specialty? I remember Craft having the elements, magitech, and genesis as the main branches, but it has been awhile since I read the corebook, and I never got into 3E, which based on the Supernal ability, is what you chose to use.

How many dots does he have in his Eroge specialty? Just one?

What is his Permanent Essence? I checked the sheet; 3rdE allows a Celestial Exalt to only have E1?

Not sure about the dots, except that we should put most into attributes,

 

[heralding_bubble]

[X][Parents] Speak to them after you know more.
[X][School] She revealed it was only a game for her and she did it all just to toy with you.

Wouldn't craft (armor) be a specialty? I remember Craft having the elements, magitech, and genesis as the main branches, but it has been awhile since I read the corebook, and I never got into 3E, which based on the Supernal ability, is what you chose to use.

How many dots does he have in his Eroge specialty? Just one?

What is his Permanent Essence? I checked the sheet; 3rdE allows a Celestial Exalt to only have E1?

Not sure about the dots, except that we should put most into attributes,

Click to shrink...

Craft works by breaking the Ability into areas of expertise which must be bought separately, for example Craft (Cooking) 3, Craft (Gemcutting) 1, or other broad subjects like tailoring, armour, weaponry. Craft (Artifacts) is of course required for making Artifacts, and Craft (Geomancy) for making manses.

Specialties in 3e give a single extra die to relevant subjects. For Lore, Specialties also denote a subject in which the character is knowledgeable.

Essence increases with XP and starts at 1, and goes to a maximum of 5 in normal play.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

Craft works by breaking the Ability into areas of expertise which must be bought separately, for example Craft (Cooking) 3, Craft (Gemcutting) 1, or other broad subjects like tailoring, armour, weaponry. Craft (Artifacts) is of course required for making Artifacts, and Craft (Geomancy) for making manses.

Specialties in 3e give a single extra die to relevant subjects. For Lore, Specialties also denote a subject in which the character is knowledgeable.

Essence increases with XP and starts at 1, and goes to a maximum of 5 in normal play.

Click to shrink...

So some things are the same as 1E and 2E, but others are different. Specialties are not as thorough (you can only get one dice instead of a possible maximum of three based on your explanation).
In the previous, the Second Breath (the first breath of their rebirth as an Exalted) increased a person's Permanent Essence to at least 2 (3 in Lords of Creation), before the use of bonus points to increase it further. The only Exalted that didn't get this benefit were mortal Akuma, which were an imitation of an imitation Exalted (the Exalted Akuma). It also fully healed the person at the moment they breathed their Second Breath, but that seems to be different as well.

Thanks for the explanation of 3E rules!

 

[heralding_bubble]

So some things are the same as 1E and 2E, but others are different. Specialties are not as thorough (you can only get one dice instead of a possible maximum of three based on your explanation).
In the previous, the Second Breath (the first breath of their rebirth as an Exalted) increased a person's Permanent Essence to at least 2 (3 in Lords of Creation), before the use of bonus points to increase it further. The only Exalted that didn't get this benefit were mortal Akuma, which were an imitation of an imitation Exalted (the Exalted Akuma). It also fully healed the person at the moment they breathed their Second Breath, but that seems to be different as well.

Thanks for the explanation of 3E rules!

Click to shrink...

In 3e casual enlightened essence is not a thing as well, you have to do something that affects the person deeply to do it; one of the antagonists released in the monthly things has enlightened but she also must have a defining tie of hatred towards something, for example.

 

[the DragonBard]

Not sure about the dots, except that we should put most into attributes,

Click to shrink...

While that's generally a good idea, since they're the most expensive and take longest to train, Charms are based around Abilities, so would need time and XP to train up the abilities before could even start getting charms.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

While that's generally a good idea, since they're the most expensive and take longest to train, Charms are based around Abilities, so would need time and XP to train up the abilities before could even start getting charms.

Click to shrink...

He has fewer dots (in Abilities), then I was expecting. Need to check rules for XP gain to see where I would like the spread all things considered.

 

[the DragonBard]

He has fewer dots, then I was expecting. Need to check rules for XP gain to see where I would like the spread all things considered.

Click to shrink...

Honestly, had we the dots, I'd have maxed out Appearance, Charisma, Stamina, and Wits, then gotten a few dots into Presence, Lore, Dodge, Resistance, and Brawl, and maxed out WP.

 

[kenmadragon]

Honestly, had we the dots, I'd have maxed out Appearance, Charisma, Stamina, and Wits, then gotten a few dots into Presence, Lore, Dodge, Resistance, and Brawl, and maxed out WP.

Click to shrink...

Actually, Stamina would be the poor option. In Exalted (as it is in most White Wolf games), Dexterity is actually far more useful in combat. Dexterity is used far more often in combat and stuff, as it ties both into accuracy (and thus, withering damage through extra successes), as well as in defense through the Parry and Evasion stat both being reliant on Dexterity.

Pumping up Dexterity as high as possible lets Issei have decent combat pools, and lets us raise Stamina/Strength later (for Physical high, I tend to prefer Strength 3 to meet pre-reqs for Feats of Strength, Dexterity as high as possible so 5 because it's amazingly useful, and Stamina 3 so that taking Ox-Body is useful).

 

[the DragonBard]

Actually, Stamina would be the poor option. In Exalted (as it is in most White Wolf games), Dexterity is actually far more useful in combat. Dexterity is used far more often in combat and stuff, as it ties both into accuracy (and thus, withering damage through extra successes), as well as in defense through the Parry and Evasion stat both being reliant on Dexterity.

Pumping up Dexterity as high as possible lets Issei have decent combat pools, and lets us raise Stamina/Strength later (for Physical high, I tend to prefer Strength 3 to meet pre-reqs for Feats of Strength, Dexterity as high as possible so 5 because it's amazingly useful, and Stamina 3 so that taking Ox-Body is useful).

Click to shrink...

Yeah, but Boost is limited by how much Stamina a person has, so to make the most of it you want a high Stamina.

Though I'd be willing to trade Wits for Dex.