New Taboo rules

[DagonXIII]

Please comment on this... I want to give it a quick once over before offering it to the exalted forums.

The taboo background has limited use, reducing the number of dice from Wyld Taint rolls for Casteless Lunars. So I had an idea how to make it more useful and available to non-Lunars.

Altered Background: Taboo
In exchange ritual dedication and prayer to a God, Elemental, Demon or other powerful spirit, he blesses the Character with greater ability in his dedicated area. This background gives a unique specialty as long as the character completes his rites.

The god must have at least the essence of the Taboo he wishes to grant, and the taboo must thematically fit with the perview of the spirit. It is given with a use of the Spirit Charm Endowment so the exalt better make it worth it! For instance, Solar Insatiable Toucan offers to keep a ritual tiger stripe painted on his skin as a tribute to a Cat God in exchange for a 3 dot taboo in Tiger Style, while his Lunar bond, Frozen Tiger offers to keep his tail permanently on fire as a offering to an Elemental Dragon for a 5 dot Taboo in Craft Fire.

If the Character fails to commit his requirement, he loses the Taboo until he makes a successful prayer at a difficulty of (7 + the levels of Taboo.) Alternatively he may reduce the bonus of his taboo by one level in order to reduce this prayer roll to 3. This would allow him to break his taboo if necessary and pick it up again later on, such as if he needed to attend a royal ball or appear in court.

This background also functions as a slightly weaker version of ally, since a Deity must like the character to allow his this bonus. As a general rule he will be willing to give minor aide to a character, such as hiring a lawyer to aid the character during an celestial audit or allowing her to hide in his domain. However most Gods would be unwilling to risk life or position to help them without very good reason.

Taboos cannot exceed 5 dots in one ability. A player can have 5 dots of taboo and 3 dots of specialties in the same ability, but they do not stack. In all other aspects they function as specialties.

1 = Little boon and little cost. The character must make a daily prayer to his patron spirit, or carrying a pendant marked with the God's insignia.
2 = The character has noticeable but harmless and generally acceptable marks such as wearing cat ears and a tail.
3 = Difficult requirements, or at least time and effort consuming, such as eating only beef and cheese while only drinking milk.
4 = Truly odd requirements, such as raw fish tied to the character’s head or ending every sentence with a serpentine flick of the tongue. These requirements typically will keep the character out of ‘respectable social venues,’ and will almost always invite questions.
5 = Odd and Difficult requirements, such as shaving your head and growing a rare grass on your scalp.

[CodexGigas]

So this background would be available to any character? It feels a little underpowered; penalizing yourself just for a specialty, and you have to pay XP anyways. I'd maybe come up with a more unique and powerful benefit.

[DagonXIII]

Okay then. Howabout
A character with a Taboo is marked as having a special relationship with a deity. As long as he has not broken his taboo he is considered a priest, gaining the appropriate benefits.
At the three dot level, your character gains a +1 die bonus to all social rolls that play on his humility and reverence to his patron God, increasing to +2 dice at 5 dots. At the four dot level, The holy energy empowering you regain an additional (rating) essence every hour you deal with his patrons purview. (For instance a follower of Ahlat might regain extra essence while he is stealing cattle from a nearby village.) At the five dot level, your essence becomes entwined with the divine energy flowing through you; you may learn spirit charms as a God-Blooded, though only with a mentor and only with charms your patron knows. A mortal may also buy levels of Inheritance.

[CodexGigas]

I like it.

You should probably clarify what the "priest benefits" are; same as the merit or same as the benefit Zenith/No Moons get?

I don't think it's a problem to let people learn spirit charms, but you'll almost certainly get complaints from people on the forum (mainly the anti-eclipsoid camp). Do you intend to let Exalts benefit from this or only mortals/others?

I'd add a clause to Inheritance, maybe limiting it to the rating of Taboo.

[DagonXIII]

They only gain the benefits of the one dots priest merit.

Both Mortals and Exalts can benefit from the essence regain and ability to buy spirit charms, so long as the mortal has the ability to channel essence. If he doesn't though, his patron will probably enlighten him shortly.

To those freeks, I think that there are enough benefits for exalts to get 5 levels of Taboo (a +5 specialty, +5 motes per hour and +2 dice to many social rolls.) A story teller may decide to simply ignore the 5 dot bonus.

A mortal cannot buy ranks of inheritance until she has 5 dots of Taboo. A mortal so chosen by a god is very close to the god's heart, a servant who has proven her worth time and again. If she keeps her word and oaths faithfully, he may even accept her as a god into his courts! Such faithful servants are hard to find.

[Sponsored content]