So, my group of players and I have been playing DnD 3.5 for many years now, and most of us have had our turn DMing a campaign for each other too. We dabbled with Shadowrun 4th Ed for a bit, but I first picked up Anima when I saw the core book and Gaia 1 on the shelves in Borders when they were going out of the business. (What can I say, the art grabbed me.) I've read through the core book, but naturally there are some things not quite certain to me and our group. I was hoping to post information about the characters and see if those here who have played under the system before could help with a few questions that came up as we played.

For simplicity and my own sake, we started with the module from the DM Toolkit, but without using the pre-generated characters. Stats were rolled using Method 1; here's what the party looks like:

========================================
Elin Weisser
Illusionist 1
LP 115

STR 5 DEX 8 AG I 8 CON 8 INT 8 PER 7 POW 11 WP 10
PhR 40 MR 55 PsR 45 VR 20 DR 20
Initiative 65 Unarmed, 45 Repeating Crossbow
Attack Ability 30 Crossbow
Defense Ability 65 Dodge
Wear Armor 0
AT +5 Armored Longcoat (Cut 2 Imp 2 Thr 3 Heat 3 Cold 3 Ene 0)

MA 40 Zeon 410
Magical Projection 80 Offensive, 40 Defensive
Magic Level: 50 Illusion + Heal (4) + Regeneration (2)

Daily Spells Maintained: Detect Lie (8), Infinite Bag (4), Regeneration (9)

Advantages: The Gift, Natural Knowledge of a Path (Illusion), Supernatural Recovery I, Increase POW +1, Jack of All Trades
Disadvantages: Unlucky Destiny, Susceptible to Poison, Sickly

Size 12 Movement Value 8 Regeneration 7 Fatigue 8

Secondary Abilities (which are more than bonus +10): Notice 35, History 42, M. Appraisal 50, Memorize 50, Occult 35, Sciences 25, Persuasion 50, Disguise 25, Hide 25, Theft 25, Stealth 10, Music 65, Sleight of Hand 31
======================================================

======================================================
Zozar "The Mountain"
Mentalist 1
LP 190

STR 9 DEX 10 AGI 9 CON 10 INT 8 PER 8 POW 5 WP 11
PhR 45 MR 30 PsR 50 VR 45 DR 45
Initiative 70 Unarmed,
Attack Ability 0 Unarmed
Defense Ability 0 Dodge
Wear Armor 0
AT Total (Cut 9 Imp 9 Thr 9 Heat 3 Cold 3 Ene 0) [+5 Armored Longcoat (Cut 2 Imp 2 Thr 3 Heat 3 Cold 3 Ene 0) + Psychokinetic Armor (Cut 8 Imp 8 Thr 8)]

Psychic Projection: 60 Psychic Potential 100
Free PPs: 6 (0 Free after maintenance)
Psychic Powers Psychokinesis (Psychokinetic Shield, Psychokinetic Armor, Psychokinetic Flight, Ballistics (Strengthened Once), Psychic Impact)
Innate Slots 3: Psychokinetic Shield (1pp boost, Very Difficult), Psychokinetic Armor (4pp boost, Almost Impossible), Psychokinetic Flight (1pp boost, Very Difficult)

Advantages: Free Access to any Psychic Discipline, Amplify Sustained Power, Psychic Ambivalence, Improve WP +1, Good Luck
Disadvantages: Psychic Consumption, Deep Sleeper, Easily Possessed

Size 19 Movement Value 9 Regeneration 3 Fatigue 10

Secondary Abilities Composure 21, Feats of Strength 12, Withstand Pain 41, Notice 20, Search 20, Track 15, Medicine 14, Style 10, Hide 15, Stealth 15, Art 5, Forging 20
======================================================

======================================================
Mari is our third PC, but I don't have her character sheet on me at the moment.

She's an Ambidextrous Taoist with the Martial Arts Kempo, Muay Thai, and Grappling. She also has Use of Ki and Presence Extrusion.
======================================================

So with that out of the way, some of the big questions came up around our Mentalist when the Guard Captain got the surprise on him:

1) With Psychic Shields (and other shields), is it possible for the character to use the "Absorb Hits" option in combat?
--If so, do they halve their magic projection like a fighter would normally do with their Dodge/Block skill?
--Do they have to completely forgo use of the supernatural shield to make use of the option?

2) With Psychic Impact, in the book it says the main function is to "push" and that it "can" cause damage, but...
--Are there rules for such a bull rush maneuver? If so, where?
--Does it always deal damage when used? If not, is it the users discretion whether it does or not?
--If the power does push, or bull rush an opponent, what happens when your player manifests it on said opponent 10 times simultaneously?

3) Coming from DnD, we noticed there's no "Gather Information" skill. Is there some existing skill used as an equivalent,or are the options roleplay it out vs create new skill for it?

4) In terms of power balance, it seemed like the Mentalist just kind of plowed through the ship guards with his "thrown" Battleaxes, while the Taoist occupied one enemy and the Illusionist was left with not much to do. Is this an issue, or are we just looking at the equivalent to a DnD 3.5 Fighter--Battle Cleric--Non-Combat Mage dynamic in heavy combat? (So far we've only gone through phase one of the module)

Thanks for any help or answers you guys give. If you're interested I can talk about how the session played out too, but for now I'll just say this: Curses upon flying hulks capable of carrying the party, and the PCs who decide abandoning ship mid-air is the brightest idea ever.

Psychic Ambivalence only applies to different powerst manifested in the same round. Using the same power more than once doesn't count

Ballistics seems awesome now, if he doesn't invest in Ki abilities for Aura Extension the utility of it fades around level 6.

Psychics are cool but PK discipline is best at lowlevel.

Kouryuu said:

1) This is a good question, and very little is explained on it. I cannot say for sure what the rules are officially, but I HOUSERULE (rather it is officially legal or not) to allow Mages and Mentalists to use Psychic and Magic shields with the "Absorb Hits" option in combat by cutting their Defensive Projection in half. They must cut their projection in half or this would overpower them a lot. That is the best information I can give you, sorry.

2.1) The rules are in the Dominus Exxet on page 10, but it is called "Impact", because you throw them between 1 foot to 60 feet (with 6-9STR) and 150feet to 25+miles (With 19-20STR). If you want the full table that will take a bit of time, I suggest buying the Dominus Exxet if you can. The basic idea is a STR check, if the defender loses he gets pushed back.
2.2) The ability can forgo the the Impact ability to instead deal damage, I do not believe it can do both (although I would HOUSERULE you could decrease the STR by 3 to do both). The user can choose to deal impact or damage when he uses the ability.
2.3) You can't use it "simultaneously", but you can cast it in rapid succession. Thus all you do is apply each individually, if they are not using a supernatural shield this would cause them to take penalties for multiple defenses, but would decrease the power of the Impacts/Base Damage (Impact works with STR and is exponential, so decreasing it causes exponentially less damage). If your working with a team this would be a good way to get the enemy weaker for the other members to hammer on him when he has -90 to defense.

3) There is no skill for it. I created it for my game because I find it extremely useful. There is a Streetwise skill created in a later book that is Social based on INT. I do not know where it comes from but it can probably be used as the equivalent of Gather Information (It is on the updated Character Sheet created by Manabu.Agent039 which can be found here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=516093&efpag=1 on the second to last post. It is my favorite character sheet to date ).

4) WARNING, PERSONAL OPINION: Illusion school sucks. It is one the worst schools in terms of offense, defense, and ability to affect the real world (making it bad in and out of combat). My favorite class is wizard and I avoid that book like the plague.
4.1) Slightly less biased answer (still biased though): I had an Illusionist class in my game when we started, and we noticed the illusionist class is a much weaker version of the Wizard. The player chose Illusion magic as well, and he drew up a new character after two sessions because he could not do anything.

4.2) Leaving the Illusionist alone for a bit, Mentalists start out a little higher powered than other classes, but this seems to go away over time. The Taoist is going to be weak against multiple opponents unless he chooses to specialize in AoE's, but Taoists and Technicians are by far the best 1v1 classes in the game. I think what your seeing is exactly as you described, compared to D&D, and the Taoist and Mentalist will be about equal over time. That is one of the best things about this game, all classes are supernatural in some way so it does not create a huge power gap (as there was in D&D3.5). I can not say about the Illusionist because, as you can see above, I have a huge bias against them, so my thoughts won't be that helpful.

Hope this helps

I haven't looked at the Illusion school in depth in quite some time, but something I'd like to point out is that the Illusionist class is not limited to Illusion magic. Really, they're not limited in whatever books they want to learn. If you look at the skill set for the Illusionist, you'll realize that it should more appropriately be called Mage/Thief. If you start thinking like that, and get out of Illusionist = Illusion magic, it might help a bit. The Illusionist I had in my game absolutely rocked. He learned Destruction, and using the spells and skills at his disposal, nothing could keep him out of somewhere he wanted to be. Physical traps, magical traps, doors, walls, it was all easy for him to bypass, using either his skills or his magic. Top that with a couple of well-placed combat spells, and him having found a good place to hide, and the opponents (literally) never knew what hit them. I too thought Illusionists were kind of sub-par until I found out there's nothing tying them to Illusion magic. Something to keep in mind there.

Ranga said:

Very interesting. I have a feeling that bit about Psychic Ambivalence will definitely change his strategies a little bit then. Though as a mentalist, I'm sure he won't bother with the Ki abilities so much as he'll just learn powers from a new school when they become needed.

First: Here is the Impact table: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Atcbw7zOH1wAdGJMRC1ybktlWUN2Ykt5ZmRQRXhDb1E. I still advise buying the Dominus Exxet if you can. It is an awesome book.

Second: While I realize that the Illusionist class does not have to choose from the Book of Illusion, I still say they are weaker than wizards. The main reason is the 10DP higher cost for MA multiples. However I am biased from the one experience I have had of an Illusionist, who chose Illusion magic (which I advised against vigorously).

Though as a mentalist, I'm sure he won't bother with the Ki abilities so much as he'll just learn powers from a new school when they become needed.

Finally: All classes get MK for free and non-Fighter/Prowler Archetypes would be foolish not to spend DP on Ki (considering it comes from Combat Primary, which they do not use). Getting Presence Extrusion only costs 50MK, so its free at level 5 and costs 30DP at level 2, or 15pts of secondary skills. Not to mention the other awesome abilities, such as Ki Healing which lets them heal half the damage they take at the loss of Ki they would otherwise not use.

Lia Valenth said:

Awesome. That's actually the decision we went with at the time to keep the game moving, so I'm glad to hear others have done so too. On the halving though, am I right in interpreting it as halving the bonus? IE, since his Psychic Projection is 60, he gets 30+d100 for his defensive roll to Absorb Hits, rather than (60+d100)/2.

Lia Valenth said:

Hmm, Dominus Exxet is the one book we haven't picked up yet. So that's where the basic rules for it are. I read it had a bunch of stuff on Dominion and Ki, but do you know what other little rules like that are hiding in it?

I do like your suggestion about the decreased STR to both push and damage. I'll bring that up with our player and see what he thinks of it.

So, if they're used in rapid succession instead of simultaneously, does he still have to declare the target for each before rolling? IE, 2 to Target X, 2 to Target Y, then roll and oh well if 1 was enough to finish him?

Lia Valenth said:

3) There is no skill for it. I created it for my game because I find it extremely useful. There is a Streetwise skill created in a later book that is Social based on INT. I do not know where it comes from but it can probably be used as the equivalent of Gather Information (It is on the updated Character Sheet created by Manabu.Agent039 which can be found here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=516093&efpag=1 on the second to last post. It is my favorite character sheet to date ).

Okay, cool. I just downloaded that PDF last night actually. Streetwise definitely sounds more useful than simple Gather Information. I can see plenty of other ways to use it too. I think I will go with that then.

Lia Valenth said:

Haha, well, glad I'm not the only one who thought it was a weaker Path. I'm planning to help her a bit by trying to guide her to the Book of Darkness on the Tol Rakuo ship in Part 2 of the module. As far as character/player goes though, the idea she had with the character was a DnD Bard, so she's not unaccustomed to being back-line support in combat. Do you know which Path might go better with the idea of Bard and be a little more useful? She does have the magic levels to spare thanks to her Advantage.

Lia Valenth said:

Thanks, that has been a big help. I'll probably come back with more questions as the campaign moves on. We may be getting a fourth player too, who's looking at playing a throwing-weapon Ranger.

1) yes you are correct you halve the bonus, not the roll plus the bonus. So in the example it is 30+1d100.

2) Most of the little rules in Dominus Exxet are hidden in the first 13 or so pages. I missed a couple of them when I read through the first few times, so do not assume you know the stuff at the start of the book.

3) on declaring targets...that's up to you. I would say he has to choose before making the rolls because of how fast he is trying to get these off. But then, no one ever said I was a nice GM .

4) Book of Light has the make people feel happy, healing, and buffing. So I would advise it over Book of Darkness for a bard like character. Book of Creation is the real buffing school, it has no offensive spells to speak of, but defensively it is the strongest book in the game (and Destruction is the opposite, no defense awesome offense). As per the other books (In my opinion) in terms of buffs, Water over Fire, Essense over Illusion, and...Air/Earth are both interesting and have a lot of offense, defense, and buffing, so I can't say as to which is better there. [i prefer Fire over Water due to specific spells, but Water has better party buffs]

Lia Valenth said:

Buy Ki with DP? I thought the Ki costs under the classes was for buying points of Ki in a stat to increase the amount of Ki points available. Is it possible to actually buy MK for use on Ki abilities?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't he have to go through the chain of Ki abilities to get to Aura Extension?
Use of Ki (40MK)→Presence Extrusion (10MK)→Aura Extension (10MK), so available at level 6?

Kouryuu said:

Woops, my mistake, I meant MK (and the system won't let me change it anymore). Yes, as of Dominus Exxet (page 6) you can buy MK with DP. It comes from Combat Primary, you buy them in chunks of 5MK for 5DP and you can only spend up to 10% of your DP. Also, while I'm on this, you can also buy Spell Levels with DP, using the same rules as buying MK except they come from Supernatural Primary. This comes from Arcana Exxet, but I do not have the book so I do not know page.

You are correct, I was wrong once again, so it will be level 6 unless they buy MK.

if you're making a Bard-like character, I posted rules for a hause-rules Illusionist-variant of the Bard.

Sincerily I believe all paths are very strong, including Illusion.

Elric of Melniboné said:

From my experience with DnD, the issue with Illusion seems to be that it's potential power and utility are determined solely by the creativity and ingenuity of the PC, while this potential is ultimately capped by how willing and capable their DM is in interpreting the effects of said creativity on the fly.

In our first session the Illusionist cast Illusory Sounds (she took two turns so she could cast it silently and unnoticed) to create an "explosion" coming from behind the three guards slaying passengers, So I had their leader send one of them to investigate it, and I also used that as the cue for the lilting of the ship that the module spoke of, confusing both PCs and NPCs.

(Do you think that was a good way for me to go with it?)

Of course it was a good way of using it. The power of Illusion Spells DEFINITELY depends on the imagination and creativity of the player using it, but I believe it's both its strength and weakness.

Now, confronting the Illusionist with the Wizard, it's pretty clear that the Wizard is a better caster (paying 10 points less for MA and getting +25Zeon per level), but the Illusionist has a very good set of Secondary Abilities bonus and should focus on Secondary Abilities just as much as on Primary Abilities. Having a good Rogue is always good in a party and Illusionst should cover that position in addition to that of caster. Definitely they're not good Battle-Mages, but this doesn't mean they're worse than other casters.

Oh, another question that came up as we were discussing characters with Summoning Abilities.

1) Does a Summoner need to take The Gift in order to summon creatures?
2) Does a Summoner need MA to collect the immense mana costs of summoning a creature or invocation? (IE, do they have to spend that many rounds collecting their Zeon to Summon a beast into combat?)
3) If not, does MA matter to a summoner at all outside of maintaining familiars and bound summons?

4) So is a paladin capable of having a large cache of Zeon specifically for the purpose of Controlling/Banishing supernatural creatures they encounter?

1) No, the Summoner does not have to take The Gift. NEVERTHELESS, I'd allow him to take Magic Nature and Superior Magic Recovery advantages that can usually be taken only by characters with The Gift. I strongly reccomend it, because otherwise the Summoner won't have sufficient zeon.

2) No, Summoners don't require MA...ALSO there's an official rule from Arcana Exxet that allows characters to buy Zeon Regeneration Multiples for half cost of Magic Regeneration Multiples, which may come in really handy, unless your summoner is using a Shelee or has The Gift. Still, for low level summoners, summoning in combat is almost impossible, due to the severe time-penalties to summoning rolls. I don't think Invocations (once the pact is dealt) apply the time penalties...at the very least I don't apply them, because otherwise it would simply be IMPOSSIBLE for summoners to use them in combat, which is exactly when they need them, since they can't "store" them as they do with summoned creatures.

3) As previously said MA is only required if you have The Gift or if you're using a Shelee. Otherwise go all-out for Regeneration Multiples for 30DPs.

One last note about Arcana Exxet: it offers you the possibility to make a Specialized Class of Invoker.

Invokers (and Warrior-Invokers) can only use Summon for Invocations and Incarnations but NOT for summoning creatures. They can use other summoning skills (Control/Bind/Banish) as normal. Still, Invokers halve the Zeon cost for Invocations and Incarnations.

Hope my answers and advices help.

4. Yes a Paladin can have a large sum of Zeon just for Control and Banish. They cal also work pretty well as "Warlocks" that are worse at magic and better armored, but thats not the point at the moment.

Elric of Melniboné said:

Actually, according to the rules, Summoners and Invokers do take the time penalties/bonuses to use Invocations. However, that is why they created The Fool, which removes all time penalties for invocations and lasts an hour per 10 points of success, With a base of merely 120 you can easily cast it and have it last over 24 hours, the level 5 Invoker in my game spends an hour and has it last about 2 days.

Interesting point...but the fool, if I'm not mistaken, only applies to other Arcana Invocations...meaning that Incarnations and Great Beasts Invocations are still completely useless, which I don't like so much...I believe this part of the rules is pretty much fouled, by my point of view, just like the limit of giving Magic Nature and Superior Zeon Recovery to characters with the Gift, greatly disadvantaging Summoners/Invokers (or Mystical oriented Paladins/Dark Paladins and more than anyone else Warrior Summoners). Of course that's just how I rule it out...it's no official ruling or anything.

First: The Fools only power is to remove time penalties and bonuses to all invocations. The ability does not just effect the Arcana, but every Invocation used by the Summoner/Invoker (so Great Beasts included). If you remove time penalties it would make The Fool useless, and you would need to come up with a new ability for The Fool, save for that (as that any good Invoker has The Fool up any time they are in combat, or have a chance of being in combat), and "granting" 100 extra Zeon a day or every other day (to not have to use The Fool), I do not think it would effect the game much to remove time penalties, albeit it would mean one could not use a ritual to use The World or other powerful Incarnations and Invocations at higher levels when you knew you were going into battle, ambushing someone, or just to make the pact with something you have a low chance of summoning.

Second: I do not own Arcana Exxet and so I do not know if the time modifiers affect Incarnations. From my understanding they should, but I don't actually know. If they are affected by the time modifiers, then The Fool does not say it affect Incarnations, but it was created and written before Incarnations existed. Therefore it could not affect something that did not exist. I think The Fool should affect Incarnations, and probably would have, had they existed when it was written.

Your point is very good, Lia Valenth, I believe I'm definitely going to reintroduce time penalties to Invocations now that I see the fool can be used (wisely) to avoid the problem. As for Incarnation, I bet the best way of doing things is: treat them exactly like Invocations, since they seem to be considered Invocations under most aspects. Besides, I've made an Advantage speciafically to allow a character begin the game with one or more sealed pacts, so a pure Invoker just has to choose the right "starting set" to be good to go.

Thanks for this enlightening conversation. It was really useful and insightful.

Okay, so we had our second session, and a few new topics of questions came up, so I'll split up my posts by Topic.

1) Heat, Cold, Electricity, Energy--Are all four of them considered "Energy Attacks"? Do you need to be able to stop Energy to deal with attacks of this nature.

2) Pyschokinetic Shield, for example, says it "protects from physical attacks" and "does not offer protection against spell or energy-based damage." Does this mean the shield offers no defense against Heat, Cold, Electricity attacks? For example, would it be useless against Galael's Cold-Damaging Scythe? Or would the mentalist still get the sheild as defense against that attack because it's only a scythe "that damages energy and attacks on the cold table"? If the shield stops the scythe, would it also stop "pure" Heat damage, IE that of a fireball?

3) Likewise, with Psychokinetic Armor it says it "offers protection against all attacks save those based upon Energy." So does this mean the mentalist would get his AT 8 against Galael's Cold Sycthe as well? Against heat damage from a fireball?

4) If both Psychokinetic Shield and Psychokinetic Armor stop Heat, Cold, and Electricity, then how do keep them from being practically immune to everything that can be thrown at them? Is Energy literally the only threat they need concern themselves with? If so, then how do you stop the psychokineticist from being a better tank than your non-psychic warrior? Are they supposed to be the better tank?

5) Our Mentalist is planning to take Immolate now that he's level 2. Does he deal standard %damage as per combat table on opposed projection vs defense? If so, does he roll his Psychic Projection individually against each target in the area, or once for everything?

6) With spells like Create Energy or powers like Creat Chill, is it possible to use them offensively, targeting the enemy with them? In which case is it a standard combat roll to determine %dmg, using the damage listed in the Intensities table as the base damage?

Also, with that said, should a caster maintain the spell, does it stay in place? can the caster move it while it's maintained? If cast on a moving target such as an enemy or a person, does it move with them? (And in the case of an enemy do they take the initial damage again each round, the full base damage, or is it rerolled for every turn maintained?)

Once again, thanks for all your help.

Curses upon PCs who follow the philosophy "Why let the Final Boss have his dramatic monologue when we can get the drop on him and chuck a battleax into his skull?"

Second Topic involves the 4th player who was joining us.

So, after the character he had ready decided to go investigate the Marques Mansion by himself following their afternoon with him, he... well, died.

So for his new character he was thinking of going towards the "My weapon defines who I am" route. And so we were thinking of having him go with the following advantages/disadvantages:

Artifact (3), Ancient Blood, Starting Gold / Exclusive Weapon, Powerful Enemy (2, Tol Rauko)

With the idea being that he posses an extremely powerful weapon that is, or is derived from one of the Lost Logias, causing the Tol Rauko to actively try and retrieve it.

Now, on that note... how does one go about creating an artifact? Especially one like this that's almost a 5 CP artifact?

I know the latest book released in Spanish is supposed to have rules on it (Prometheum Exxet), but does anyone know what those rules are? If there's an exceprt or something we could look at that'd be awesome. (I can try to work through the spanish if it's not translated).

Third Topic is more on the DM-side of things.

I'm trying to create a monster (Between Worlds Being) for them to face once things are done in Corvinus.

1) With the rules for monster creation, while PCs have to use some of the DP derived from their creation spell, the DMs are not bound by the same, and can simply set the stats anywhere up to 10, right?

2) Likewise, with some of the advantages/disadvantages, as DM must you go by the listed DP cost, or can you use the creation points? IE, if I wanted to give it Danger Sense, Unnatural Size, Quick Reflexes, and Serious Vice, could I do that with Creation Points, or would I need to spend the 60 DP?

3) If I'm trying to build a level 2 creature, and spend 300 DP on Powers, does that leave me with only 400 DP to develop the rest of it's abilities per class and HP (if damage resistance)?

Kouryuu said:

1) yes.

2) The shield will stop cold damage in physical form (such as weapons that deal cold damage) but will not stop a fireball or a weapon made out of energy. I presume the scythe in this example is metal and deals cold energy, not a scythe made out of cold, so it would stop that. Will look into that later. There is a Ki ability that changes your weapons damage to cold, heat, or electricity, but it does not make them made out of energy. Basically if the damage depends on a physical effect the shield works, if it does not the shield fails.

3) As above. It does not help against a fireball, but a scythe is more complicated.

4) Moot point, as that it does not stop Heat, Cold, or Electricity.

5) Yes. I believe it is everything at once, it is an AoE with one attack power used on everyone in the area. It is like an explosion, it goes outward with the same strength in all directions.

6) Yes. As far as I know that is correct, standard attack roll, and you can maintain them and attack over and over again without rolling potential, there is the problem of if they move, it obviously won't effect them again. This is easily solved by combining it with the corresponding Control (Cold, Fire, or Electricity) ability. Then you can move the fire/cold/electricity each round.

Creating artifacts is a difficult and argument inducing problem .

Recently Prometheus Exxet came out in spanish with rules as to this, but I can not read spanish. Here are two links to look at;
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=260928
http://cipher-studios.com/AnimaBB/index.php?topic=5548.0

I dislike giving Artifact, Exclusive Weapon, and Enemy all focused on the artifact for reasons Gimp has in the discussion above, but that is not the point atm. (actually I do not allow the Enemy disadvantage because it limits your choices in game, and often means you have to kill the character)

Kouryuu said:

1) DMs are not set by the same rules and can set stats anywhere up to 20 , seriously though yes anything up to 10 is legal, and anything else is allowed if you want to kill them or make a god or something.

2) Depends on rather or not it has Creation Points. Most creatures do not if they have less than 30Gnosis. However, if they do have CP for one reason or another, yes they can buy stuff with them.

4) Yup. Unless it has more DP based on Gnosis, of course.

Also: It looks like Galaels scythe can be blocked physically (including the mentioned shield), it can "hit energy" but is not made of energy.

Lia Valenth said:

Well, the specific example in which this came up was Galael's Scythe from the module, Galael being a Dark Elemental.

" Arrakesh: Arrakesh is an enormous scythe that Galael has manifested as an extension of his power. To all effects, it acts like an Enormous weapon of quality +5, but it is able to damage energy and it attacks on the Cold Table."

His claws (which didn't come up in-play) were also listed as dealing cold damage.